Thank you for attending SECRET OPERA, presented by West Australian Opera in association with Perth Festival.

We hope you enjoyed stepping into the unknown and sharing in an experience of music, drama and mystery.

Now, it’s time to go behind the curtain.

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Secret Opera 2026

One of the world’s best-loved, most-performed operas returns to His Majesty’s Theatre for the first time in a decade.

Puccini’s beautiful and powerful opera shatters the hearts of its audience with its devastating story of betrayal set against the backdrop of 1904 Nagasaki, Japan.

The American, Lieutenant Pinkerton, marries young geisha Cio-Cio-San, and she believes his love is true. After Pinkerton returns to the United States, she bears a son and waits faithfully for his return. What follows remains one of opera’s most tragic stories.

Madama Butterfly

His Majesty's Theatre

Hurrah for The Pirate King! Gilbert and Sullivan’s uproariously silly operetta The Pirates of Penzance storms the stage of His Majesty’s Theatre for a timeless romp across the high seas and to the Motherland.

Bursting with much-loved music, the score will leave you grinning through the classics including ‘I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General’, ‘Poor Wandering One’ and ‘I am the Pirate King’.

The Pirates of Penzance

Hurrah for The Pirate King! Gilbert and Sullivan’s uproariously silly operetta The Pirates of Penzance storms the stage of His Majesty’s Theatre for a romp across the high seas and to the Motherland.

Bursting with much-loved music, the score will leave you grinning with classics including ‘I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General’, ‘Poor Wandering One’ and ‘I am the Pirate King’.

In this enchanting opera, Rusalka shimmers with magic and transformation before the final echoes of tragedy.

Rusalka

The devastating heartache of Purcell’s beautiful 1689 masterpiece fills Government House Ballroom at an exclusive evening of dinner and performance. Dido, the Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, the Trojan Prince, are torn apart when witches hatch an evil plan to destroy them. Known for its exquisitely tender aria Dido’s Lament, this moving opera is filled with joy and sorrow set to pierce your heart and will transport you to another time and place.

Dido & Aeneas

Government House, Western Australia

A Child of Our Time is a powerful hymn for peace and humanity, brought to life through collaboration between West Australian Opera and the UWA Conservatorium of Music. This moving choral and orchestral work unites emerging student musicians and singers with professional artists, offering mentorship from the state opera company while showcasing the extraordinary talent of the next generation.

A Child of Our Time

The University of Western Australia

Step into a world of sweeping music and raw emotion in this beautiful production from Northern Ireland Opera, hailed “undeniably gripping”. Tchaikovsky’s masterful score transforms Pushkin’s novel into a thrilling, heart-wrenching experience. Grand ballrooms, duels at dawn, whispered confessions, and heartbreak echoing across time.

Eugene Onegin

Shakespeare’s tragic tale of love and family conflict has echoed through the centuries and in Gounod’s opera the drama becomes even more intimate, more fragile, more achingly human. Roméo Montague and Juliette Capulet fall deeply in love, but their families are bitter enemies, fate is cruel, and time is short.

Christopher van Tuinen

Events

Upcoming events

May 23, 2026

A Child of Our Time · West Australian Opera

6 - 15 Aug, 2026

Eugene Onegin · West Australian Opera

15 - 24 Oct, 2026

Roméo et Juliette · West Australian Opera

Past events

Feb 14 - Mar 1, 2026

Secret Opera 2026 · West Australian Opera

Jul 26 - Aug 9, 2025

Madama Butterfly · West Australian Opera

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Rusalka by Dvořák

West Australian Opera

Conductor in Madama Butterfly by Puccini

West Australian Opera

Conductor in The Pirates of Penzance by Sullivan

West Australian Opera

Conductor in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod

West Australian Opera

Conductor in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell

West Australian Opera

Conductor in Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky

West Australian Opera

Conductor in A Child of Our Time by Tippett

West Australian Opera

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