Season Preview: Your guide to the arts in 2022

Melbourne’s Australian Contemporary Opera Company has announced its 2022 season, with seven productions – all directed by women – including five Australian premieres, and partnerships with The Wheeler Centre and Melbourne Recital Centre.

“In a year that redefined the word ‘thwarted’, we want to remind people that there is no such thing as an idle arts company,” said ACOCo Artistic Director and CEO Linda Thompson.

“Even without live performance we have continued to work, practice and prepare to head back into the rehearsal room. We are emerging from lockdowns inspired, renewed and game fit with an array of stories demanding to be told — from the fun and fantastical to the gut-wrenching.”

The season kicks off outdoors, with the Australian premiere of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Canadian writer Maggie Gottlieb and UK composer Will Todd. Not to be confused with the ballet with music by Joby Talbot, this is an opera for all ages that was a huge hit in London, selling out five consecutive seasons at London’s Opera Holland Park, described by the Guardian (UK) as “slick and zany – a tonic for...