Jonas Kaufmann, the biggest operatic draw of the musical year, has arrived safely in Sydney despite his luggage winding up in London. The star tenor left Spain following a concert in Barcelona to spend two days acclimatising in Cairns before heading south.

“Fortunately I had my tails in hand-luggage just in case,” he told a packed press conference at the Sydney Opera House where he is due to perform the first of three concerts on Sunday. The German opera sensation chatted informally to Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, joking that perhaps he should keep his (enforced) jeans, shirt and jacket look if opera is to attract a younger crowd.

In a wide-ranging discussion Kaufmann reflected on the profession, choice of program for his Australian debut and the pressures of being the most sought after singer on the planet. In a carefully husbanded career, Kaufmann is remarkable among modern singers for being a German singer equally at home in the Italian repertoire. “My parents went to Italy on holiday and I picked up the language early”, he said, referring to his discovery that he could sing in Verdi and Puccini. “But it took me a long, long time to convince...