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A remarkable performance for State Opera of South Australia from Rosario La Spina as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci was evidence of the brilliant tenor he has become.

This vibrant Tosca came together beautifully, melding the rich rawness of the evil Scarpia, the emerging maturity of the passionate Tosca and the poetic artistry of the victimised Cavaradossi.

A great way to celebrate a 40th musical anniversary was to have some fun enjoying many beautiful arias from the pen of Giacomo Puccini.

A revival of Francesca Zambello's production of Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges at the Sydney Opera House is a joy, thanks to the antics of Kanen Breen at the head of a strong cast.

While the billboard advertisements focussed on the presence of the ‘hit aria “Nessun dorma”’, there was much else to enjoy in this Turandot revival in Sydney: a lively, rich production and a strong cast headed by Lise Lindstrom and Yonghoon Lee.

First presented in Perth in 2002, West Australian Opera’s Il trovatore (a co-production with Opera Queensland and State Opera of South Australia) is dedicated to the memory of director Elke Neidhardt, and here the stage becomes hers.

On Thursday, a polar storm swept up New Zealand doing major damage to Wellington and, in the process, trapped the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra there as they prepared to fly to Auckland.

Virtually every reviewer of Aida mentions elephants, generally only to note their absence: the elephant not in the room, as it were. Like most others, the current Opera Australia production was lacking in pachyderms, but few of last night’s audience will have felt short-changed.

Opera Australia pulled out all the stops for their latest production of Puccini’s Turandot: an excellent cast, fabulous choreography, amazing costumes and a great sense of drama all combined to make it a wonderful production at Sydney Opera House. The Opera Theatre is comparatively small by modern standards and is a very intimate venue in which to see an opera.

As the curtain rises at the beginning of Act I, we are greeted with violent flashes of light, rocks strewn across the stage and the witches almost slithering among the rocks, as they make their prophecies to Macbeth that he will eventually become King, prompting him and Lady Macbeth in their murderous, Machiavellian pursuit of power.