Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said the event has established itself as one of the world’s greatest outdoor opera events, showcasing Sydney to a huge audience each year.
“Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour is one of the State’s most iconic events and I am thrilled to announce that this world-class production will be returning in 2017 with Bizet’s Carmen,” Mr Ayres said.
“Each year Handa Opera attracts audiences from around Australia and the world, and has brought more than 37,000 overnight visitors to Sydney since 2012, providing a huge boost to our local visitor economy.”
Tickets to Carmen go on sale next month and will be available from 2 June.
Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini said the 2017 event would build on the success of the recently concluded season of Turandot.
“This will be the sixth year we’ve presented Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Our recent season of Turandot was a great success, receiving widespread acclaim and attracting large audiences to our unique Harbour stage,” Mr Terracini said.
“This is one of the four most important outdoor opera events in the world now, and people have responded to it incredibly.”
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour – Carmen, joins a stellar line-up of cultural events to be staged in NSW over the coming year including the 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady directed by Dame Julie Andrews, the Australian premiere of Disney’sAladdin: The Musical the Australian premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour was established in 2012 by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW in partnership with Opera Australia.
For further information visit opera.org.au
Download a PDF version of this media release (PDF 165 kb)