Opera Australia is in the awkward position of promoting Jo Davies' 2025 program just weeks after her departure as artistic director.
The British director, who was the first woman to hold the position, left abruptly in August nine months into the job due to differences of opinion about how to balance artistic innovation with the company's bottom line.
Reports Davies underwent company-sponsored mediation to repair her relationship with chief executive Fiona Allan are incorrect, Allan told AAP.
"I always liked Jo. Jo is very good company, she's a very good person, she's got a really strong artistic voice," she said.
Promotional images of both women along with a joint statement still feature in the 2025 season booklets for Sydney and Melbourne.
An independent review of the company's artistic leadership structure is underway, and Allan expects Opera Australia will start recruiting fresh artistic leadership in early 2025 - with the position of artistic director in question.
"We're going to be looking at exactly what structure we want moving forward, and whether it's a sole artistic voice or whether it's more than one," she said.
While Allan emphasised the team effort involved in the 2025 season, the program belonged to Davies, according to the company's head of music Tahu Matheson.
"What's happened in the last few months, it's difficult, there's no question, but we're still strong. We're still going to be fine," he said.
Davies leaves behind a slate of eight fully-staged operas in Sydney and three in Melbourne, and a tour of La Bohème across Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
While the company's Sydney offering is usually more substantial than the Melbourne slate, this is especially the case in 2025 due to the closure of Melbourne's State Theatre, with productions moved to the city's Regent Theatre, Allan said.
Opera Australia received more than $22 million in federal government funding in 2023, posting an operating deficit of $7.8 million and an overall net deficit of $1.7 million.
Musical theatre is a box office money-spinner for Opera Australia, and Allan promised the 2025 season will have the company heading in the right direction financially.
"That's certainly the intention, and it needs to be for our future sustainability - we've publicly stated that we need to be back in the black by 2026," she said.
The annual outdoor Handa Opera production on Sydney Harbour will be a musical, with five-time Tony Award winning musical Guys & Dolls.
Winner of eight Tony Awards, Hadestown will have its Australian premiere at Sydney's Theatre Royal in February followed by a run in Melbourne, and Shaun Rennie’s production of Rent will play at the Sydney Opera House in September.
Leonard Bernstein's Candide starring Eddie Perfect and Hamilton star Lyndon Watts will also play at the Opera House following its run with the Victorian Opera this year.
As for straight opera fare, the Sydney season opens with the Australian debut of Massenet’s Cinderella followed by Rossini's The Barber of Seville and a return of Sarah Giles’ production of La Traviata.
Then there's Opera Queensland's acrobatic production of Dido & Aeneas, presented in association with Circa and directed by Circa’s Yaron Lifschitz.
A new production of Bizet's Carmen will be directed by Melbourne Theatre Company’s Anne-Louise Sarks followed by Dvořák’s Rusalka, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Puccini’s La Bohème.
The Melbourne season begins with The Barber of Seville, followed by Sarks' Carmen and Orpheus & Eurydice along with a Verdi concert and the return of free opera in Federation Square
As for current shows, after Sunset Boulevard's troubled run in Melbourne with star soprano Sarah Brightman missing shows due to injury, a Sydney season playing at the Opera House is "like a different show", Allan promised.
