2026 Season
Royal Drama. Romantic Chaos. Pure Comedy.
Blending moments of tragedy with razor-sharp comedy, Serse overturns the conventions of opera seria to deliver a delightfully unpredictable evening of romance, rivalry, and intrigue.
Follow the infatuated Persian King Xerxes (Serse) as his obsession with a plane tree gives way to a chaotic pursuit of a woman who loves his brother. Filled with mistaken intentions, shifting allegiances, and comic misunderstandings, Händel’s masterpiece culminates in one of opera’s most entertaining finales. The score also features one of classical music’s most beloved melodies, the celebrated aria “Ombra mai fu”.
Directed by Beng Oh, and starring Sally-Anne Russell in the title role, alongside a cast of some of Melbourne’s finest singers, this fresh production brings Händel’s irresistible comic opera to life.
Cast:
Serse - Sally-Anne Russell
Arsamene - Naomi Flatman
Amastre - Olivia Federow-Yemm
Romilda - Kate Amos
Atalanta - Rebecca Rashleigh
Ariodate - Christopher Hillier
Elviro - Luke Belle
Songs of Devotion
& Desire
Works by Britten &
Kevin March
Venue: Church of All Nations, Carlton
Sunday 12 April 3:00pm
The season opens with an intimate concert centred on Benjamin Britten’s extraordinary Canticles - miniature dramas that distil complex emotional and spiritual themes into concentrated musical forms.
Often described as “operas in miniature”, Britten’s Canticles serve as profound psychological portraits. They trace themes of love, sacrifice, transcendence and doubt, revealing the fragile boundary between the sacred and the deeply human.
Britten openly acknowledged that Henry Purcell’s Divine Hymns provided the creative impulse for the Canticles - part of his broader engagement with the English Baroque tradition established by Purcell and later shaped by Handel.
In a powerful contemporary response, Lyric Opera of Melbourne will present the World Premieres of Sacred Songs Books I & II by Australian composer Kevin March. Presented in dialogue with Britten’s Canticles, March’s new works offer deeply personal reflections on faith and meaning in the modern world.
2025 Season
Song from the Uproar
The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt
Music by Missy Mazzoli Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Venue: fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders St, Melbourne
Duration: 90 minutes
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Australian Premiere October 17-25
Melbourne’s multi-award-winning Lyric Opera returns to fortyfivedownstairs to present the Australian premiere of this “dazzlingly original score”. First staged at The Kitchen in New York, it has been hailed as a masterpiece of modern opera, drawing influences from baroque to minimalism to indie rock.
Isabelle Eberhardt’s journals were a rich source of inspiration for Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. Eberhardt, born in 1877, led an extraordinary though short life. After the deaths of all her immediate family, she travelled unfettered to North Africa on a journey of self-discovery. She rode through the desert dressed as a man, outraged authorities, married an Algerian, converted to Sufism, and died in a flood, all by the age of 27.
The role of Eberhardt will be sung by the “commanding and captivating” mezzo-soprano Olivia Federow-Yemm supported by a cast of Melbourne’s most talented young singers and instrumentalists.
Photo by Jodie Hutchinson
Their Voices Will Rise
Wednesday 14 May 2025
Venue: fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders St, Melbourne
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Prepare for an electrifying evening of world premieres and daring musical narratives. Australian rising star Meta Cohen unveils a thrilling and major new song cycle Kiss My Sword. With a libretto by Evan Bryson, this fiercely queer reimagining of history plunges into the untamed world of Julie d’Aubigny—the 17th-century opera singer, swordswoman, and unapologetic rebel. A lover of women, a defeater of men in duels, and a trailblazing performer, d’Aubigny’s story blazes across the stage – this opera explores her mythologisation and the multiplicity of stories about her.
Scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and piano, this premiere promises a powerful fusion of drama and desire. Being developed into a forthcoming full-scale opera production by renowned dramaturg/director Alyson Campbell, this daring work is a major new addition to the classical Australian art song repertoire.
Alongside Kiss My Sword, the evening features Sally Whitwell’s luminous song cycle (He)art Songs—a deeply personal exploration of love, identity, and resilience, written for tenor and piano with texts by Whitwell and Alex Gorbatov. The program concludes with Kevin March’s compelling Songs for Dark Times, a raw and urgent outcry for our era, set to the evocative words of Brecht, Rilke, and Bachmann.
With an internationally renowned cast bringing their talents to three exciting song cycles – mezzo-soprano Jessica Aszodi, soprano Breanna Stuart, soprano Livia Brash, tenor Alex Gorbatov and pianist Coady Green, and hosted by Lyric Opera Artistic Director Patrick Burns, this is an unmissable night where music ignites the stage, queer voices break boundaries, and stories are told with unflinching truth.
The performance of Meta Cohen's Kiss My Sword is made possible through the generous support of City of Melbourne's Arts Grants Program.