For the first time the annual Handa Opera on the Harbour will be a repeat production, of 2013’s staging.

Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on the Sydney Harbour is one of the most hotly anticipated events of Australia’s cultural calendar, combining internationally-sourced operatic talent with an exceptional creative team to delight tens of thousands of opera-loving guests during its annual resdiency at Mrs Macquarie’s Point. Since 2012, an eager public has excitedly waited to hear what production will be the next grand opera to transform the Sydney skyline, but this year’s announcement has offered a different type of surprise. For the first time, Opera Australia’s harbour opera will be a repeat performance, of 2013’s staging of Bizet’s Carmen. 

Now in its sixth year, the reveal of the latest production to receive the Handa Opera treatment has become a major PR moment for Opera Australia, which makes the news of this repeat staging somewhat head-scratching. Known for being a groundbreaking event, the HOSH has won several awards for its innovative solutions to outdoor production, sound and lighting design, but its staging of Carmen is one of the least ambitious of the series so far. The annual...