Performer: Ryusuke Numajiri

The 2023–24 season at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, opens with straightforward stagings of an unusual double bill of Suor Angelica and L’Enfant et les sortilèges.

There is nowhere to hide in Madama Butterfly. It is a well-known opera, contains very little in terms of stage action and changing scenery, is intensely lyrical in its vocal writing, and its orchestral writing is exposed. None of these factors bothered Opera Australia in their latest production, which was superb from beginning to end in every respect.