Love, class and intrigue unite Opera Queensland’s two mainstage productions for 2018, which will see the arrival in Brisbane of Graeme Murphy’s The Merry Widow and Lindy Hume set to direct Don Giovanni in her final season with the company.

“Graeme Murphy’s The Merry Widow is a delicious celebration of wonderful music, dazzling design, gorgeous costumes and – as you’d expect from one of Australia’s most celebrated choreographers – brilliant waltzes,” says Hume. “Our charismatic cast, [including] David Hobson and Natalie Christie Peluso – ideally paired as the romantic leads Hannah and Count Danilo – features popular local artists including Katie Stenzel, Jason-Barry Smith, Shaun Brown and Virgilio Marino.”

^{The Merry Widow. Photo © James Rogers.}

Hume takes her leave of OperaQ with one of Mozart’s darkest, most complex operas in Don Giovanni. The company’s first Mozart opera since Così fan tutte in 2011, it stars Perth baritone Duncan Rock in the title role.

“As a director I’m drawn to the powerful themes of sex, mortality and Giovanni’s sociopathic behaviour, as he cuts a hedonistic swathe through the lives of the people he encounters in the last thrill-seeking hours of his...