You might be surprised to learn that Opera Australia’s newest production won’t be coming to your nearest opera house or concert hall. In fact, you won’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home. The company has taken a bold step with the intention of making opera more accessible than ever before by commissioning a brand new Australian work devised especially for television.

Produced in conjunction with ABC TV Arts and independent company Princess Pictures, The Divorce is the company’s first TV-opera. It’s being billed as a modern musical ‘soap opera’, and it boasts a stellar line-up of singers from both stage and screen, plus two of Australia’s favourite creative minds. Elena Kats-Chernin, one of the country’s most successful and popular composers, has produced a dazzling musical score to a sharp and witty libretto by celebrated playwright and novelist, Joanna Murray-Smith.

This latest brainchild of OA Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini is one of the company’s most ambitious projects to date and it’s quite unlike anything they’ve done before. Granted, made-for-TV opera isn’t an entirely new concept (a few notable examples including Gian Carlo Menotti’s Christmas tale Amahl and the...