Opera Australia’s autumn 2026 season announcement landed last week, and I’ve been sitting with it for a few days before writing this. Because my honest reaction was complicated — there’s stuff here that genuinely excites me, and there’s stuff that makes me wonder if anyone in the programming office talked to anyone under forty.

Let’s work through it.

The Headline: Janacek’s Katya Kabanova

This is the pick that made me sit up straight. Katya Kabanova doesn’t get staged in Australia often — the last major production was in 2011 — and it’s one of Janacek’s finest works. The orchestration is gorgeous, all shimmering strings and those characteristic brass punctuations that Janacek does better than anyone.

The cast is strong. Nicole Car returns to the title role, and she’s exactly right for it. Katya needs a soprano who can project vulnerability without ever tipping into sentimentality, and Car has that quality in spades. Her phrasing in the letter scene alone will be worth the ticket price.

The director is newcomer Jess Borthwick, making her OA mainstage debut. She’s done interesting work with Victorian Opera and Chamber Made, and I’m curious to see how she handles the Volga River setting. Janacek’s stage directions are specific — the river is almost a character — and there’s real scope for creative interpretation.

My concern: Katya Kabanova isn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser. It’s dark, psychologically intense, and the libretto in Czech can be a barrier even with supertitles. OA has a habit of programming one “prestige” piece per season and then wondering why ticket sales are soft. This needs proper audience preparation — programme notes, pre-show talks, accessible marketing. Don’t just programme it and hope people show up.

The Safe Bet: La Traviata (Again)

Look, I understand why La Traviata appears on Australian stages roughly as often as magpies appear in my garden. It’s beautiful, it’s accessible, and it sells tickets. Verdi knew what he was doing.

But this is what, the fourth OA production of Traviata in the past decade? At some point, “popular repertoire” becomes “we’re afraid to programme anything else.” There are dozens of Verdi operas that Australian audiences rarely see — Stiffelio, I vespri siciliani, Luisa Miller — that would offer the same musical richness with genuine novelty.

The saving grace is the reported casting of emerging Australian mezzo-soprano Sian Pendry as Flora. Pendry has been building a reputation in Europe, and this could be her breakout moment with home audiences. Sometimes the best reason to see a familiar opera is an unfamiliar voice.

The Wild Card: A New Australian Work

The season includes a chamber opera by composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, based on the Stolen Generations narrative. Details are still scarce, but Cheetham Fraillon’s track record is exceptional. Her 2020 work Eumeralla, a War Requiem for Peace was one of the most powerful pieces of music theatre I’ve seen on an Australian stage — and I don’t say that lightly.

This is the kind of programming OA should be doing more of. First Nations stories told through the operatic form, with a composer who understands both traditions deeply. The intersection of bel canto technique with Indigenous musical traditions creates something that can’t exist anywhere else in the world.

If they give it proper staging resources and don’t tuck it into a 200-seat studio as an afterthought, this could be the season’s defining production.

What’s Missing

No Mozart. That’s… a choice. I know the “too much Mozart” complaint exists, but the complete absence is notable. Marriage of Figaro or Cosi fan tutte would balance the season nicely — accessible, brilliant, and always revealing something new in production.

No Baroque opera at all, which is a missed opportunity given the growing international interest in Handel and Monteverdi productions. Pinchgut Opera continues to fill this gap, but OA has the resources to stage Baroque works with the scale they deserve.

And no Britten, which is a personal grievance I’ll admit. Peter Grimes hasn’t been staged by OA since 2015, and it’s one of the greatest operas of the twentieth century. I’ll keep lobbying.

The Bigger Picture

What this season tells me is that OA is trying to balance two things: artistic ambition and financial survival. Post-pandemic audience numbers still haven’t fully recovered — they’re at roughly 87% of 2019 levels — and every season announcement is a negotiation between “what we should programme” and “what will sell enough seats to keep the lights on.”

I’d argue that timidity isn’t the answer. The companies seeing the strongest audience growth globally — like Opera North in Leeds and Komische Oper in Berlin — are the ones taking creative risks. Audiences can smell caution, and it’s not attractive.

But within those constraints, there are genuine bright spots here. Katya Kabanova is a brave choice. The new Australian work is essential. And if the Traviata casting pays off, even the safe bet could feel fresh.

Season tickets go on sale in March. I’ll be there opening night for the Janacek. See you in the foyer.