With a 2024 season featuring five contemporary operas – four of which are by Australian composers, two of which are brand-new, and two of which will be presented in Melbourne – Opera Australia’s new Artistic Director Jo Davies is making it plain that the company will be changing direction under her watch.

What’s more, her inaugural OA season includes three women conductors and three women directors – an improvement in the number of women creatives in prior seasons.

Opera Australia’s new Artistic Director Jo Davies. Photo © Daniel Boud

Opera Australia’s 2024 Sydney Summer Season, announced in June, was programmed by Lindy Hume before Davies came on board and features La traviata, Orpheus & Eurydice, The Magic Flute, Idomeneo and Theodora in Concert.

Davies doesn’t take up her position officially until next month, but the British director has programmed the rest of the company’s 2024 season.

Speaking to Limelight, she admits that programming the season was “very challenging, unquestionably”, given that she wasn’t in Australia.

“But I had an amazing time when I was...