There is a moment in Act III of Attila, when the soprano, tenor and baritone come together for Te sol quest’anima. They sing of love, jealousy and revenge, yet the music is beauteous, lyrical and without the fire and brimstone one expects from Verdi when the emotional stakes are so high. At Saturday night’s opening, Natalie Aroyan, Diego Torre and Michael Honeyman gave a rendition that could only be described as sublime, and Lyndon Terracini, attending his final premiere as Opera Australia’s Artistic Director, must have been proud. Here, for all to see, was the company’s apotheosis as an exponent of Italian opera – something that will continue in the new year with Ermonelo Jaho, Carmen Topciu and Michael Fabiano in Adriana Levouvreur, and Jonas Kaufmann making his role debut in La Gioconda.

Natalie Aroyan as Odabella and Taras Berezhansky as Attila in Opera Australia’s 2022 production of Attila at the Sydney Opera House. Photo © Prudence Upton

After two postponements due to the pandemic, it seems the stars have truly aligned for this season of Attila directed by Davide Livermore and revived by Kate Gaul. As Foresto, a tribune...