West Australian Opera has launched its 2025 season, opening with … well, that’s a secret.

Opera lovers and the curious are being invited (on Valentine’s Day, 14 February, until 16 February) to join fellow adventurers at an undisclosed meeting place known only to 100 ticket-holders on the night and the WAO company. The only clue thus far: “Picture an intimate venue, where you might not expect to enjoy fine music …”

The repertoire and the cast also remain a mystery until the curtain rises. All you can know for now is that West Australian Opera’s reputation for excellent performances will ensure the surprise is a delightful one. 

There’s rather less mystery attached to WAO’s second offering for the year. Directed by Stuart Maunder, The Pirates of Penzance has been a hit nationwide. Packed to the gunwales with Gilbert & Sullivan’s peerless music, this WA premiere staging stars Ben Mingay as the swashbuckling Pirate King, Andrew Foote as the Major General and Prudence Sanders as Mabel. You can read Limelight’s five-star review of its Adelaide season here.

Ben Mingay (centre) in The Pirates of Penzance.

July brings with it one of the world’s best-loved, most-performed operas, Pucini’s Madama Butterfly, which returns to His Majesty’s Theatre for the first time in a decade.

A devastating story of betrayal set against the backdrop of 1904 Nagasaki, Japan, it tells the story of the American Lieutenant Pinkerton, who marries a young geisha, Cio-Cio-San, who believes his love is true and forever. After Pinkerton returns to the United States, she gives birth to a son and waits faithfully for his return. What follows remains one of opera’s most tragic stories.

Moffatt Oxenbould’s exquisite production stars Mariana Hong as Cio-Cio-San and Paul O’Neill as Pinkerton.

West Australian Opera’s Madama Butterfly. Image supplied

In October, the curtain rises on one of the truly grand operas: Verdi’s Il trovatore.

A tangled web of vengeance, rivalry, and regret. This is opera at its most dramatic.

The story is a grim and bizarre one: When a gypsy woman is burnt at the stake for allegedly bewitching a child, her daughter, Azucena, swears revenge.

Azucena steals the child’s brother to throw him into the flames of her mother’s burning pyre but accidentally throws in her own child. Horrified by her mistake, she brings up the stolen child as her own. This haunting family secret lays the groundwork for Verdi’s tragedy.

Originally directed by the late Elke Neidhardt in 2002, with the action transposed to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, this revival (helmed by Matthew Barclay) features an all-star cast of Paul O’Neill (as the revolutionary leader Manrico), Naomi Johns (Leonora), James Clayton (Count di Luna) and Nicole Youl as Azucena.

Under the baton of West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Asher Fisch, Verdi’s rich score – famous for the iconic Anvil Chorus – will come dramatically alive.

For more information on Season 2025 and ticketing visit the WA Opera website.