New Zealand Opera To Celebrate 25 Years In 2025

Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Ōtautahi, Christchurch – NZ Opera reflects on the past to shape the future as it celebrates 25 years of presenting opera in Aotearoa. The national opera company was formed in the year 2000 through a merger of the Auckland and Wellington opera companies, with Christchurch joining in 2012.

Building on recent momentum, NZ Opera continues to push the artform forward with an exciting 2025 season featuring three major productions: La bohème by Puccini, The Monster in the Maze by Jonathan Dove, and back by popular demand, a South Island season of Mansfield Park, based on Jane Austen’s classic novel.

Tumu Whakarae, General Director Brad Cohen says, “These three productions will cover more of the motu, with more performances and chorus involvement, than in 2024. Each year we are determined to build continuity, distinctiveness and innovation for opera in Aotearoa. We are fierce about our mission: telling stories through the power of the human singing voice.”

Puccini’s beloved masterpiece La bohème serves as the main centrepiece of the 2025 season, with performances in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Since its 1896 premiere, La bohème has become a staple of the operatic repertoire, appearing frequently on ‘best opera’ lists worldwide. With timeless themes of “truth, beauty, freedom, love”, its influence extends beyond the opera house, inspiring the musical Rent and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.

Originating from a concept first performed for Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy, NZ Opera’s production of La bohème will be a poignant and visually stunning take on this timeless story of young love, sacrifice, and artistic struggle. Created by international director Bruno Ravella, this acclaimed staging remains faithful to the original bohemian Paris setting.

Aotearoa stages will welcome the return of Australian-Italian soprano Elena Perroni (Rigoletto, Rusulka, La Boheme), acclaimed for her emotionally resonant portrayal of Gilda in NZ Opera’s Rigoletto, as she takes on the role of seamstress Mimì. Making his New Zealand debut, South Korean tenor Ji-Min Park (La Traviata, La bohème, Don Pasquale) will portray Rodolfo, a role he has received rave reviews for internationally.

New Zealand favourite, soprano Emma Pearson (Le comte Ory, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata) will dazzle as Musetta, showcasing her vibrant stage presence and vocal agility, and Australian baritone Samuel Dundas (Eucalyptus, La Boheme, Tannhäuser) brings humour and depth to the role of Marcello. New Zealand-born Samoan baritone and 2016 Lexus Song Quest winner Benson Wilson (Carmen, La bohème, Così fan tutte) performs Schaunard, and popular Kiwi baritone Robert Tucker (Mansfield Park, The Unruly Tourists, Eight Songs for a Mad King) plays the roles of Benoît/Alcindoro.

In September, NZ Opera will break new ground in community engagement with the Australasian premiere of The Monster in the Maze by Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton. This globally celebrated community-based opera, which has been performed in multiple languages across more than 20 productions since its 2014 Berlin debut, will be staged in all three major cities. The project features award-winning creative Anapela Polataivao ONZM (Red White & Brass, Things That Matter, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt) at the helm in her NZ Opera directorial debut, and performances will be accompanied by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Auckland Philharmonia.

Scored for professional singers, a youth chorus, a children’s chorus, and orchestras of professional players playing alongside young or pre-professional players drawn from the local area, The Monster in the Maze is an opera designed to celebrate the embedding of a performing arts organisation within its community. The highly anticipated casting and community groups involved will be announced in 2025.

Following sell-out performances in Auckland and Wellington in 2024, Mansfield Park, a chamber opera by Dove and Middleton, returns in 2025 for a South Island tour. Directed by Rebecca Meltzer (UK), this acclaimed production from the Waterperry Opera Festival will be staged at site-specific venues in Christchurch, and in Dunedin as part of the Dunedin Arts Festival. Adapted from Jane Austen's 1814 novel, the opera captures the elegance and charm of Regency-era England. 

Rising local star and winner of this year’s Victorian Opera Prize, soprano Michaela Cadwgan (La Rondine, Parrwang Lifts the Sky, Mansfield Park) takes on the lead role of quietly passionate heroine Fanny Price in this season's all-Aotearoa cast. Robert Tucker, Kristin Darragh, Joel Amosa, Andrea Creighton, Joanna Foote, Sarah Mileham, Taylor Wallbank and Andrew Grenon reprise their acclaimed roles from 2024, with London-based New Zealand mezzo-soprano Cecelia Zhang returning home for her NZ Opera role debut as Julia Bertram. Mansfield Park promises to delight South Island audiences with its wit and delightful study of manners and marriage.

The new season kicks off with a very special concert, presented in collaboration with Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival 2025 in March. Led by host Kawiti Waetford and Musical Director Robert Wiremu, Toiere blends operatic arias, te reo Māori and exquisite vocal prowess, for an unmissable night of treasured waiata at the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber.

NZ Opera continues its world-leading accessibility, inclusion and outreach work in 2025, through offering English, Braille and Simplified Chinese subtitle translations. Pre-show talks, touch tours, audio described performances, masterclasses and workshops with guest artists all contribute to a rich and engaging programme of participation work programmed for the year. The company’s annual wānanga for local creatives and practitioners launched this year, will take place again in 2025, to build connections across the sector and support the creation of new opera works from Aotearoa New Zealand.

As part of its annual Opera in Schools programme, The Elixir of Love by Donizetti will embark on a six-week tour from March to April, bringing over 40 performances to schools across the country. Sung in English, this engaging and educational programme introduces more than 10,000 tamariki each year to the world of opera. The Elixir of Love will also make a special appearance at the Hamilton Arts Festival in March, accompanied by the Opus Orchestra.

Over the summer, NZ Opera will also present two free, large-scale outdoor concerts in collaboration with Auckland Council’s Music in Parks series. Opera in the Park takes place on January 25 at Glover Park in St Heliers and February 1 at the Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa. Featuring beloved opera classics performed by outstanding local talent, these events are always a summer highlight.

With a captivating mix of timeless masterpieces and bold new experiences, NZ Opera's 2025 season – celebrating 25 years of national opera in Aotearoa New Zealand – has been crafted to appeal to seasoned opera lovers and welcome new audiences across the country.

Subscriptions are now available from www.nzopera.com or ph 0800 696 737, single tickets go on sale 18 November.

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