What’s On at the Sydney Opera House in 2026, From Piano Concertos to Aussie Indie Rock

Aren’t we lucky to have an Opera House that stages all sorts of events? Contemporary live music in the Concert Hall, the invigorating discussions I’ve heard in every theatre under the sails. I’ve seen world-class plays, partied in the Studio, been blown away by the talent at the opera and ballet. I’ve danced outside too, on the steps and on the Northern Broadwalk. It’s a wonderful thing to have a contemporary program at such a historic landmark. We shouldn’t take it for granted.

And with plenty of programming left for the year, you’ve still got time to feel lucky to be involved. Here are ten upcoming events at Sydney Opera House to check out. And it should go without saying that tickets for these don’t hang about.

The Merry Widow

Franz Lehár’s bubbling operetta has never gone out of style – this production by Opera Australia is a reminder why. The story of wealthy widow Hanna Glawari is brought to life through waltzes and gilded with the glamour of the Broadway-style show. Staged in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, it’s led by Julie Lea Goodwin and Emma Pearson. It’s a dose of old-fashioned romance and art deco frocks that’s good for the soul.

The Merry Widow runs until August 18 in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto

Beethoven’s fifth and final piano concerto, also known as Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, is one of the grandest works in his repertoire. From the moment this 40-minute piece opens with a thunderclap, the music takes over the room. In the hands of chief conductor Simone Young, with Javier Perianes on piano, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra brings the Emperor Concerto to the Concert Hall for just four nights.

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto plays in the Concert Hall each night from July 22 to 25. Tickets are on sale here.

Simone Young & Sheku Kanneh-Mason

For just three nights, two extraordinary talents take to the opera house spotlight: Simone Young, one of Australia’s most celebrated conductors, and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the young cellist who played at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Brought together on the Concert Hall stage, this pairing reminds us how electrifying live classical music can be. Kanneh-Mason will perform Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto and An Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss – you won’t want to miss this limited run.

Simone Young & Sheku Kanneh-Mason play in the Concert Hall each night from July 30 to August 1. Tickets are on sale here.

The Drover’s Wife

Leah Purcell’s spirited story of Molly Johnson – a lone pregnant mother in the Snowy Mountains, holding down the fort – was first a play, then a film and a book, and now it’s being transformed into an opera. Award-winning First Nations soprano Nina Korbe is in the lead role, with Marcus Corowa (Bran Nue Dae) as Yadaka, the Aboriginal man who finds himself hiding out on Molly’s property.

The Drover’s Wife runs from August 7 to 15 in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

Gang of Youths

Few bands carry the emotional weight of Gang of Youths. After an uncharacteristically quiet few years, the Sydney-born four-piece returns for a homecoming of sorts. For two nights only, Dave Le’aupepe’s lyrics will ignite the Concert Hall in communal catharsis. This space might just be the perfect setting for a return to the confessional: big enough for the anthems, intimate enough so that the quieter moments hit just as hard.

Gang of Youths play in the Concert Hall on August 8 & 10. Tickets are on sale here.

Mozart’s Requiem with Stephen Layton

Mozart never finished Requiem in D minor, K. 626. He died, leaving the work crushingly incomplete. Yet this masterpiece has become one of his most-iconic works. Choral conductor Stephen Layton leads a stellar quartet of Australian voices in a performance in the Concert Hall that delivers eerie, urgent power. If you’re going to hear one piece of classical music this year, make it this one.

Mozart’s Requiem with Stephen Layton plays in the Concert Hall each night from September 9 to 12. Tickets are on sale here.

Table Top Shakespeare

Internationally renowned English theatre company Forced Entertainment has been making strange but brilliant shows for four decades. This project is quite possibly one of their most extraordinary efforts: a selection of Shakespeare’s plays performed on a dining table using everyday objects as stand-ins for characters. For example, a vase stands in for the prince, a jar for Juliet, a bottle of Dettol for the nurse, and salt and pepper shakers for the king and queen. It sounds absurd. It is absurd. It’s also unexpectedly moving and completely unlike anything else you’ll see on a Sydney stage this year.

Table Top Shakespeare runs from September 22 to 27 in The Studio. Tickets are on sale here.

Ichiko Aoba with Taro Umebayashi & Ensemble

It can be hard to pinpoint where Japanese singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba’s hypnotic fingerpicked guitar and hushed vocals exist in time. This performance is an encore to her sold-out performances at Vivid Live last year as Aoba returns to the Concert Hall alongside her collaborator and co-writer Taro Umebayashi, accompanied by a string ensemble. By adding an orchestral dimension to her already-transportative sound, this is set to be a truly memorable performance.

Ichiko Aoba with Taro Umebayashi & Ensemble plays on October 5 in the Concert Hall. Tickets are on sale here.

Strong Is the New Pretty

Sheridan Harbridge was the first actor to play criminal lawyer Tessa in the global hit Prima Facie by Suzie Miller, so it feels right – no, thrilling! – that they’re reunited for the world premiere of Miller’s Strong Is the New Pretty. Swapping courtrooms for drama on the field, Miller’s play is all about the birth of AFLW. It’s directed by another collaborator, Lee Lewis who directed Prima Facie and the Helpmann Award-winning The Bleeding Tree.

Strong is the New Pretty runs from October 22 to December 5 at Sydney Opera House. Tickets are here.

Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett’s lyrics – deadpan and achingly precise about the mundane details of modern life – have delivered a devoted following for the Aussie singer-songwriter. But it’s her brand of storytelling combined with an aptitude for live performance that has solidified Barnett’s status in the music industry, at home and overseas. Off the back of her long-awaited fourth album Creature of Habit, she returns to the Concert Hall for the first time since 2018 with a hotly anticipated performance for one night only.

Courtney Barnett plays on November 6 in the Concert Hall. Tickets are on sale here.

Past Events

Hannah Joy

Middle Kids frontwoman Hannah Joy has gone solo, and she’s sharing new unreleased material in two intimate back-to-back sets. Her distinctive indie-rock sound is ever present in her new songs, and the Aria award-winner will play a few Middle Kids faves too.

Hannah Joy performs in the Playhouse on February 19. Limited tickets are on sale here.

Opera Up Late

Dolled up and dramatic, all the performers in Opera Up Late bring unapologetic flair to the annual showcase of sass and singing. It’s Reuben Kaye’s fourth year as host, and the line-up includes soprano Emma Matthews, tenor Daniel Macey, mezzo-soprano Ruth Strutt and baritone Anthony Mackey. Expect plenty of laughs and stunning costumes.

Opera Up Late takes place in the Joan Sutherland Theatre on February 21. Tickets are here.

Grace Jones

Slave to the Rhythm and Pull Up to the Bumper transcend generations so it’ll be a party for the ages when Grace Jones plays Sydney for the first time since 2018. Her one-night-only Forecourt gig is also her first performance at the Sydney Opera House, where she’ll play a career-spanning set in her unique and drama-filled way.

Grace Jones performs on February 28. Tickets are on sale here.

All About Women

Emily Maitlis will share her thoughts on the Epstein Files. Jacinda Ardern will talk about leading with kindness. Antoinette Lattouf moderates a panel about starting over in a new country. Zadie Smith will coax us back to nuanced storytelling. The toughest part about the All About Women program is knowing what to book first. If you’re only looking now, I’m sorry to say a number of sessions are sold out. If you’re lucky, you might still get a ticket for talks on how to best raise boys and the wisdom of aging.

All About Women takes place on March 8. Tickets are on sale here.

The Normal Heart

Forty years since its debut, Larry Kramer’s semi-autobiographical play returns. This time, Sydney Theatre Company’s newly minted artistic director Mitchell Butel stars as New York writer Ned Weeks. It’s the ’80s, during the first years of the AIDS crisis, and Weeks is determined to understand the mystery illness affecting his friends and colleagues.

The Normal Heart runs until March 14 at the Drama Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

Turandot

Even if you’ve never seen Puccini’s last opera, you probably know its famous aria Nessun dorma. Pavarotti sang it at the 1990 Fifa World Cup, and it’s become a soccer anthem. If you do know Turandot, then what’s interesting about this production is its focus on the psychological trauma embedded in the story, thanks to director and choreographer Ann Yee. Australian soprano Anna-Louise Cole astounds as the icy, misunderstood princess.

Turandot runs until March 27 in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

Gatsby at the Green Light

Audiences can’t seem to get enough of partying like it’s 1922. Following its previous sold-out season, the daring and dazzling cabaret show is back for more literature-adjacent good times. There’s aerial acrobatics, tap dancing, sexy singing and jazzy dance moves. Forget the trauma of F Scott Fitzgerald’s tragedy and sink into the magic of this low-lit speakeasy.

Gatsby at the Green Light runs until March 28 in the Studio. Tickets are on sale here.

Badu Gili: Story Keepers

Rather than happening in the Opera House, this display is happening on the Opera House. Every night, the eastern sails of the iconic building will be lit up with a six-minute-long projection. The production was a collaboration between Gooniyandi artist Mervyn Street and Ninhiukulu Teevee, an Inuk artist from Canada.

Badu Gili: Story Keepers runs until March 31. Times available online.

Julius Caesar

Ambition. Power. Envy. Murder. Shakespeare’s famed tragedy has it all, and this Bell Shakespeare production brings a modern slant to the Bard’s words with a set reminiscent of ’90s Eastern Europe. Artistic director Peter Evans has cherrypicked an elite squad including Leon Ford (Elvis), Peter Carroll (Aftertaste), Brigid Zengeni (The Artful Dodger), Mark Leonard Winter (The Newsreader) and Septimus Caton (Coriolanus).

Julius Caesar runs from March 7 to April 5 at the Playhouse. Buy tickets here.

Eugene Onegin

Ever regretted not asking that hottie out? Or saying “no” when they asked you? This Tchaikovsky opera is all about what could have been. Years after Eugene Onegin rejects Tatyana’s advances, he looks back on his decision with longing and regret. In this beautifully staged production, Lauren Fagan is Tatyana and Andrei Bondarenko is Onegin.

Eugene Onegin runs from March 17 to 28 in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Tickets are here.

In Conversation With Stephanie Alexander

Many Australian cooks owe it all to 1990s cookbook The Cook’s Companion. Stephanie Alexander’s hugely influential “food bible” is now 30 years old and another food legend, Danielle Alvarez, will be joining her on stage to talk about farm-to-table cooking, kitchen garden programs in schools, and what we can gain from understanding ingredients.

Stephanie Alexander is chatting to Danielle Alvarez on March 30. Tickets are on sale now.

The River

Jez Butterworth’s eerie drama will have the whole audience suffering from cabin fever. Ewen Leslie and Miranda Otto play a new couple spending the night in a remote shack on a clifftop. They’re readying themselves to go night fishing, or so it seems. In just 80 tense minutes, The River is a puzzle to piece together, and once you have it figured out, it’ll be hard not to replay it over and over again in your head.

The River runs from March 30 to May 16 in the Drama Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

Flora

Bangarra’s artistic director Frances Rings has choreographed a dynamic and transcendental new dance, which will be performed by 35 dancers from Bangarra and the Australian Ballet. It’ll feature set design by Elizabeth Gadsby, an original score by William Barton and costumes from Grace Lillian Lee – with themes of landscape, people and change.

Flora runs from April 7 to 18 in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

Sydney Comedy Festival Gala 2026

Need a laugh? Autumn sees an influx of comedians descend on Sydney, including Bron Lewis, Harry Jun, Sammy J and Felicity Ward, all for Sydney Comedy Festival. There are gigs all over the city, but the big Opera House gala is always a hot ticket. The line-up is yet to be announced, but tickets are on sale now.

Sydney Comedy Festival Gala is on April 20 in the Concert Hall. Tickets are on sale here.

Parasite: Live in Concert

Who wouldn’t want to watch Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite with a live 41-piece orchestra? South Korean composer Jung Jae-il has created his own composition for the thrilling film, which he’ll perform on the piano while conducting other musicians through a baroque-style score. How very dramatic.

Parasite: Live in Concert takes place on April 24 & 25 in the Concert Hall. Tickets are on sale here.

Generations and Dynasties

Last year the First Nations series celebrated the talented Anu, Barton, Lawrie and Wenitong families. This year, the stage is set for the Donovans and the Knoxes. In April, Emma Donovan and her uncles – Merv, Hilton, Michael, Leon and Ashley – will share their love of country music, and in May three generations of the Knox family will play the blues with Roger Knox taking the lead. Each set includes storytelling and audience questions.

Generations and Dynasties is on April 29 and May 13 in the Utzon Room. Tickets are here.

An Evening With Fran Lebowitz

She’s worked for Andy Warhol, written a children’s book, driven a New York taxi, starred in two Scorsese documentaries about herself, and she’s everyone’s favourite critic. Whether Fran Lebowitz is commenting on Donald Trump, AI, young people or smoking bans, she’ll have something witty and insightful to say.

Fran Lebowitz will be in conversation in the Concert Hall on May 19. Find tickets here.

Mitski

My Love Mine All Mine and Nobody singer-songwriter Mitski returns to Sydney for the first time in seven years, fresh off the back of her new album Nothing’s About to Happen to Me. Mitski will perform songs from her latest album, as well as highlights from her discography. Sydney Opera House head of contemporary music and Vivid Live curator Ben Marshall calls her a “generation-defining artist”.

Mitski plays in the Concert Hall each night from May 29 to June 1. Tickets are on sale now.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 18, 2026. It is updated regularly. The latest update was July 8, 2026.