PALACE OPERA AND BALLET
Experience the best of what's on stage in Europe in Bowral, with new performances screening direct from London’s Royal Ballet and Opera, Opéra National de Paris and Milan’s Teatro alla Scala!
Stay up to date! Subscribe to the Palace Opera & Ballet mailing list for news on this and future seasons, including schedule updates and additions, reviews, giveaways and more.
Royal Opera: Wagner's Siegfried
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Cast: Andreas Schager (Siegfried), Peter Hoare (Mime), Christopher Maltman (Der Wanderer), Elisabet Strid (Brünnhilde), Christopher Purves (Alberich), Soloman Howard (Fafner), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (Erda), Sarah Dufresne (Woodbird)
Composer: Richard Wagner
Directors: Barrie Kosky
Set Design: Rufis Didwiszus
Duration: approx. 5h30 tbc
Sung in German, with English subtitles.
Opera in three acts (1857)
New Production! Raised by a scheming dwarf and unaware of his true family origins, a young man embarks on an epic journey. Soon, destiny brings him face-to-face with a shattered sword, a fearsome dragon and the cursed ring it guards, and a Valkyrie forced into enchanted slumber... Moments of transcendent beauty and heroic triumph sparkle in the third chapter of Wagner’s Ring cycle, brought to life under Barrie Kosky’s inspired eye following his spectacular ‘Das Rheingold’ (2023) and ‘Die Walküre’ (2025). Andreas Schager, in his much-anticipated debut with The Royal Opera, stars as Siegfried, alongside Christopher Maltman’s towering Wanderer, Peter Hoare’s treacherous Mime and Elisabet Strid’s radiant Brünnhilde. Antonio Pappano conducts, drawing out the unspoken tensions and ethereal mysticism of Wagner’s dynamic score.
Screening Wednesday 6 May 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
Paris Opera Ballet Preljocaj's: Le Parc
Conductor: Zoe Zeniodi
Orchestra: Orchestre de l’Opera national de Paris
Cast: Paris Opera Ballet
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj
Designs: Thierry Leproust
Duration: approx. 1 hour 40 mins
Ballet in three acts (1994)
Encore Screenings! ‘What has become of love today?’ asked Angelin Preljocaj in 1994, when he created Le Parc for the Paris Opera Ballet. Thirty years later, the world has changed again, but his timeless ballet has travelled around the world. In a French-style garden, the choreography draws us into the seduction games of the Grand Siècle and the Age of Enlightenment, appealing to our classical musical and literary imagination: famous works by Mozart, the Map of Tendre, Dangerous Liaisons. But Preljocaj breaks with tradition by introducing a contemporary soundtrack and a choreographic language composed of broken lines and sensual movements. Like the final pas de deux, where the bodies whirl around for a languorous kiss: a moment of grace that has become the signature of this ballet.
Sessions preceded by Australian Premiere Screenings of 8-minute short Bartók by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, by award-winning cinematographer Joe Shemesh, which pairs the orchestra’s enthralling performance of music by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók with evocative imagery from across Lutruwita / Tasmania. The film won a Silver Cinematography Award from the Australian Cinematographers Society in 2025.
Screening Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 May 2026 at 1pm
Plus Wednesday 20 May 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
Royal Opera: Mozart's The Magic Flute
Conductor: Marie Jacquot
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Cast: Julia Bullock (Pamina), Amitai Pati (Tamino), Huw Montagne Rendall (Papageno), Kathryn Lewek (Queen of the Night), Soloman Howard (Sarastro)
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Director: David McVicar
Set Design: John McFarlane
Duration: approx. 3h5 incl. an interval
Sung in German, with English subtitles
Opera in two acts (1791)
Princess Pamina (Grammy-winning American soprano Julia Bullock) has been captured. Her mother (Kathryn Lewek), the Queen of the Night, tasks the young Prince Tamino (Samoan-Kiwi tenor Amitai Pati) with her daughter’s rescue. But when Tamino and his friendly sidekick, Papageno (Huw Montague Rendall), embark on their adventure, they soon learn that when it comes to the quest for love, nothing is as it really seems. Guided by a magic flute, they encounter monsters, villains, and a mysterious brotherhood of men – but help, it turns out, comes when you least expect it… Mozart’s fantastical opera glitters in David McVicar’s enchanting production, with the star cast assembled led by French conductor Marie Jacquot in her Covent Garden debut.
Screening Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 June 2026 at 1pm
Plus Wednesday 10 June 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
Opera Di Roma Puccini's: Tosca
Conductor: Daniel Oren
Orchestra: Orchestra of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Cast: Eleonora Buratto (Floria Tosca), Jonathan Tetelman (Mario Cavaradossi), Luca Salsi (Il Barone Scarpia)
Composer: Giocomo Puccini
Director: Alessandro Talevi
Set Design: Carlo Savi
Duration: approx. 3 hours incl. an interval
Sung in Italian, with English subtitles.
Opera in three acts (1900)
To celebrate the 125th anniversary of Puccini's most Roman masterpiece, Opera di Roma presents a special performance of Alessandro Talevi’s lauded staging. Created in collaboration with the Archivio Storico Ricordi, it is a remarkable revival of the opera's original 1900 production, featuring gorgeous sets and costumes (by Carlo Savi and Anna Biagiotti respectively) that painstakingly reconstruct Adolf Hohenstein's original designs, crafted by hand using traditional techniques. On the podium is Daniel Oren, while the exceptional leading voices on stage include Eleonora Buratto (Tosca), Jonathan Tetelman (Cavaradossi), and Luca Salsi (Scarpia).
Faithful to the libretto and original direction, this performance offers a rare occasion to see Tosca as Puccini’s first audiences did!
Screening Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 June 2026 at 1pm
Plus Wednesday 24 June 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
Opera Di Roma Wagner's: Lohengrin
Conductor: Michele Mariotti
Orchestra: Orchestra of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Cast: Dmitry Korchak (Lohengrin), Jennifer Holloway (Elsa), Clive Bayley (Heinrich der Vogler), Tómas Tómasson (Friedrich von Telramund), Ekaterina Gubanova (Ortrud)
Composer: Richard Wagner
Director: Damiano Michieletto
Set Design: Paolo Fantin
Duration: approx. 4 hours 20 minutes incl. 2 intervals
Sung in German, with English subtitles.
Opera in three acts (1850)
New Production! Opera di Roma opened its season with Damiano Michieletto's new production of Wagner’s compelling romantic opera. Acclaimed tenor Dmitry Korchak sings the title role of the mysterious swan knight who comes to the rescue of the virtuous duchess Elsa (American soprano Jennifer Holloway in her Teatro Costanzi debut) after she is wrongly accused of murder - on the condition that she never asks his name. Ekaterina Gubanova sings the scheming Ortrud, and Tómas Tómasson her husband Telramund, who ensure Elsa won’t be able to resist temptation. Opera di Roma Music Director Michele Mariotti conducts the magnificent score, filled with ethereal strings and angelic choruses, including the famous Bridal Chorus.
Screening Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 July 2026 at 1pm
Plus Wednesday 8 July 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
Paris Opera Ballet Nureyev's: The Nutcracker
Conductor: Andrea Quinn
Orchestra: Orchestre de l’Opera national de Paris
Cast: Paris Dorothée Gilbert (Clara), Guillaume Diop (Drosselmeyer/The Prince)
Music: Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Rudolf Nureyev
Sets & Costumes: Nicholas Georgiadis
Duration: approx. 2 hours 10 minutes incl. an interval
Ballet in three acts (1985)
Celebrate Christmas in July with Rudolf Nureyev’s Paris Opera Ballet reinterpretation of The Nutcracker. Snowflakes, flowers and enchanted landscapes form the backdrop to a dazzling choreography, with sets and costumes emphasising the strangeness of E.T.A. Hoffman’s original 1816 tale that inspired Marius Petipa's 1892 ballet. One Christmas Eve, young Clara (Dorothée Gilbert) receives a nutcracker puppet and dreams of a fantasy world where toys and anxieties come alive. Guided by the wooden puppet who has become Prince Charming (Guillaume Diop), she bravely confronts her fears and desires in a tale of self-discovery, brought to life through Tchaikovsky's sparkling, colourful score.
Screening Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 July 2026 at 1pm
Plus Wednesday 29 July 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
La Scala Bizet's: Carmen
Conductor: Myung-Whun Chung
Orchestra: Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
Cast: Clémentine Margaine (Carmen), Vittorio Grigolo (Don José), Giorgi Manoshvili (Escamillo), Pierre Doyen (La Dancaïre), Loïc Félix (Le Remendado), Slávka Zámečníková (Micaëla), Marine Chagnon (Mercédès), Sarah Dufresne (Frasquita)
Composer: Georges Bizet
Director: Damiano Michieletto
Set Design: Paolo Fantin
Duration: approx. 3 hours 30 minutes incl. an interval
Sung in French, with English subtitles.
Opera in four acts (1875)
New Production! Myung-whun Chung, who from 2027 will become Music Director of the Teatro alla Scala, conducts this new production of Bizet’s Carmen, a co-production with Madrid’s Teatro Real and London’s Royal Opera House (whose premiere staging was screened in cinemas in June 2024). Chung guides a cast that is ideally suited to their roles, with lauded French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as the free-spirited gypsy Carmen, Vittorio Grigolo as the soldier Don José who's willing to risk it all for her love, and Giorgi Manoshvili as the jealous bullfighter Escamillo. Director Damiano Michieletto and set designer Paolo Fantin reduce local colour, crafting instead a minimalist and compelling spectacle that foregrounds the protagonists’ inescapable fate.
Screening Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 August 2026 at 1pm
Plus Wednesday 5 August 2026 at 11am
Adults: $27.00, Concessions: $20.00
