Australia's national opera company has been in a state of flux, but its 2027 season heralds a return to fully-staged productions at Melbourne's State Theatre, with Wagner's Tannhäuser the centrepiece of the program.

Directed by one of the world's foremost opera directors Sir David McVicar, it will be the company's first new production of the Wagnerian opera in three decades.

It's a scene change both for Opera Australia and its Melbourne audiences, who have been served smaller productions at the city's Regent theatre as the renamed Ian Potter State Theatre has been closed for renovations.

As for the company, it turned around a $10 million deficit in 2025 and restructured its leadership after the departure of chief executive Fiona Allan and short-lived tenure of UK artistic director Jo Davies.

Alex Budd returned to Opera Australia as chief executive in late 2025, while music director Andrea Battistoni started in January and director of opera Amy Lane will take up her new role in September.

The company's offering in the Victorian capital includes Ann Yee's version of Puccini's Turandot, Leah Purcell's adaptation of The Drover's Wife, and a steampunk version of Mozart's The Magic Flute from the Scottish Opera, which will first premiere at the Sydney Opera House.

"The variety that we're trying to go for this year is to try and find new audiences, and that will be appealing - you're not expecting opera to be steampunk," said planning and programming director Ruth Thomas.

Thomas steered the 2027 slate during the company's leadership turmoil, and points out the growing number of female directors for its productions such as Claudia Osborne and Edwina Strobl.

There's also Purcell, whose opera version of The Drover's Wife drew rave reviews in Brisbane earlier in 2026 and is currently playing in Sydney.

At the Sydney Opera House, the slate includes the first Gilbert and Sullivan production since 2011 - The Pirates of Penzance, which should prove a crowd-pleaser, said Thomas.

Sydney will also see La Bohème directed by Constantine Costi, Sir David McVicar's production of Gounod's Faust, and a second Australian opera - Sir Jonathon Mills' Eucalyptus, based on the Murray Bail novel.

There's also the Australian premiere of Verdi's A Masked Ball with the production coming directly from Parma's Verdi Festival, and a double bill of French operas, La Voix Humaine and L'enfant et les Sortilèges.

The company has not yet announced an expected musical theatre production or its popular Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, both of which are usually money-spinners.

Its national tour of Mozart's Don Giovanni continues in 2027, travelling to Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.