Performer: Nicholas Jones

Eugene Onegin returns to the Sydney Opera house in Kasper Holten’s slightly awkward production but the singing and orchestral playing are exemplary. 

Yaron Lifschitz mesmerises from the opening tableaux’s row of candles in his Purcell staging for Opera Australia, featuring Circa, a Brisbane-based circus company. 

80% less of Shakespeare's text adds up to more intensity in Brett Dean's Hamlet as Neil Armfield's staging is mounted by Opera Australia.