Opera Australia is offering first-time opera goers cheap tickets to its upcoming production of Tosca, which runs from 22 February to 13 March in the Sydney Opera House’s Joan Sutherland Theatre. An initiative of the Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation Access Program, the offer will see 2,000 people see Puccini’s opera – which features the famous soprano aria Vissi d’arte and tenor aria E lucevan le stelle – for just $20 each.

Opera Australia’s Tosca. Photo © Opera Australia

“Susan and I have experienced the joy of opera and have had countless memorable evenings at the Sydney Opera House,” Isaac Wakil said. “We were therefore delighted when Opera Australia approached us to support a new access program which will make it easier for people to experience a night at the opera for the first time.”

Director John Bell’s monumental production of Tosca has been a highlight of OA’s repertoire since it was first staged in 2013. “[Bell’s] deeply felt updating of the action to 1943 Nazi occupied Rome is both appropriate and striking, bringing what can seem a schlock costume drama into sharp focus and reminding us of how Puccini’s issues of freedom, love,...