Constantine Costi is an award-winning director and writer working across opera and film.

He was co-Artistic Director of Red Line Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre 2020 – 2023 and was Artistic Director Advisor for The Lysicrates Foundation.

Engagements in 2024 have included Pierrot Lunaire for the Berlin Philharmonic, Il Tabarro for Sydney Festival set aboard the historic lightship The Carpentaria, a national tour of Long Lost Loves (and Grey Suede Gloves) for Musica Viva, and the documentary feature film The Golden Spurtle for Hopscotch Films UK and Hytra Films.

2025 sees Constantine directing a re-imagined version of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serai titled Abduction (Victorian Opera), and he is the co-librettist and director for a new operatic centrepiece for Sydney Festival / LPD Productions, Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera.

In my research into the history of this remarkable operetta I was particularly struck by the words of Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse in their Dictionnaire des Opéras (1881), who dismissed this piece as “a coarse and grotesque parody” filled with “vulgar and indecent scenes” that “give off an unhealthy smell.” Far from being an insult, I found in those words a provocation; a reminder that opera has not always lived in the rarefied air of sacred tradition, but has also thrived on irreverence, mischief, and a deliciously subversive sense of fun. That spirit of unruly play, often buried beneath centuries of reverence, is what we have sought to excavate and celebrate in this production.

In collaboration with designers Alice Vance (sets), Issac Valentine (costume), and Harry Smyth (lighting), and my long time collaborator Shannon Burns (movement direction) we turned to the Golden Age of the Hollywood Musical as our touchstone, a world of impossible glamour and unapologetic theatricality. Within this stylised, larger-than-life universe, gods and mortals are freed to run riot, to dance with abandon, and to embrace their demons in spectacular fashion. The heightened world of MGM soundstages and Busby Berkeley dreamscapes provides both the gloss and the grit, a playground where parody and grandeur, vulgarity and beauty, can coexist.

Equally thrilling has been the chance to work alongside the extraordinary talent at NIDA and the Sydney Conservatorium. Collaborating with such a vibrant young company brings a vitality, and daring that reinvigorates the work from the inside out. Opera is often seen as the realm of the museum piece, preserved behind glass. This production seeks to shatter that glass, reminding us that opera can be outrageous, excessive, and gloriously alive – especially when in the hands of the next generation of opera and theatre makers.

Stephen Mould

Sydney-born Stephen Mould studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, London.During the 1990’s he worked extensively in opera houses and festivals in Europe and Germany, including Opera Frankfurt (1993-6). In 1996 he joined the staff of Opera Australia, where he regularly appeared as a conductor and was appointed Head of Music in 2004.Dr Mould has conducted throughout Australia, as well as in New Zealand and Asia. He is currently Associate Professor in Operatic Studies, Repetiteurship and Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney. Curating Opera, based upon his Doctoral thesis, was published by Routledge, UK (2021). 

His most recent publication is Carlo Felice Cillario, Italian maestro of the Australian Opera (Connor Court, 2024). Dr Mould is currently the recipient of an ARC DECRA award, researching the vibrancy of the Australian opera ecosystem. 

Simon Lobelson

With a distinguished career that has spanned 4 continents and 95 operatic roles from the baroque to the contemporary and the lyric to the dramatic, high respect as a pedagogue, superlative press reviews and a Helpmann Award nomination, Dr. Simon Lobelson has established himself as one of the most versatile baritones of his generation. Since graduating with first class honors from Sydney University and distinction from The Royal College of Music, Simon has worked as a soloist with companies such as Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, Asko/Schönberg Ensemble, Israel Camerata and the Lucerne Festival, under some of the world’s leading conductors such as Boulez, Halsey, Dutoit, McCreesh, De Leeuw and Bonynge. He has appeared on several commercial recordings and is full-time lecturer in voice and opera at the SCM, where his research specialises in contemporary opera and its associated vocalism. He has delivered papers on this at national and international conferences. He is adjudicator for the 2024/2025 Australian Singing Competition, Sydney Eisteddfod and the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition, and has given master classes in both Australia and China. As a highly versatile educator he is known and respected for his erudite, urbane, direct, decisive and critically constructive teaching style: part mentor and part tormentor.

Orphée aux enfers

Jacques Offenbach was one of the great musical satirists, a prolific composer who wrote in a catchy, witty manner – rivalling that of Rossini – from which sprang infectious melodies that became the leading ‘hits’ of the day. German born-Offenbach’s career developed in Paris during Napoleon III’s Second Empire, an epoch that viewed itself much too seriously. The composer took great delight in lampooning the pervading preoccupation with classical antiquity, in particular the revival of Gluck’s Orphée, which was championed by Berlioz. Offenbach’s recasting of the myth presents the title role as a self-absorbed violin teacher, whose unfaithful wife, Eurydice, prefers to remain in hell with Pluto, rather than be reunited with her husband. The wry quoting of Gluck’s most famous aria ‘Che faro’ is a noted feature of the score, and the iconoclastic nature of the reference was not lost on contemporary audiences.

Offenbach was inspired by his two librettists, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy, whose barbed sense of irony perfectly matched that of the composer, and they went on to collaborate on a number of other works together. Orphée aux enfers was Offenbach’s first full scale opéra-bouffe and created a big success in his small Parisienne theatre. Following the premiere (1858) the work steadily gained in popularity, eventually migrating to the international stage, which led the composer to rework the 2-act original into a sumptuous 4-act opéra-féerie.

For this production we have chosen to present the first, more direct version of 1858. We are delighted to welcome the acclaimed director Constantine Costi to create this collaboration between the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and NIDA. The satirical elements of the work are just as cutting and relevant as they were nearly two centuries ago, and the score boasts many of Offenbach’s most famous and enduring musical numbers.

– Stephen Mould

Shannon Burns is an Australian creative, specialising in choreography and movement direction across theatre, opera, film, and major events. In opera, Shannon has choreographed major outdoor productions for Opera Australia, including La Traviata on Sydney Harbour (2021) and Carmen on Cockatoo Island (2022). She also choreographed the company’s new winter season production of Carmen (2025).

Internationally, she choreographed Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (2024) for the Berlin Philharmonic. Her collaborations with Victorian Opera include Abduction (2025), Il Tabarro (2024) and Melbourne Cheremushki (2023). Shannon has worked extensively with Pinchgut Opera in various capacities including choreography, movement direction, direction, and assistant direction. Additional credits include work for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Musica Viva and LPD productions.

Theatre credits include Dear Evan Hansen (2024/2025), a co-production between Sydney Theatre Company and The Michael Cassel Group, The Producers (2025) for Joshua Robson Productions and Orlando (2025) for Belvoir. A frequent collaborator with Hayes Theatre Co, Shannon has contributed to acclaimed productions such as A Little Night Music (2023), Ride the Cyclone (2024), and Murder for Two (2023/2024). She has also collaborated with Redline Productions, Sydney Festival, CDP Theatre Producers and Sport for Jove.

A former professional dancer, Shannon trained at the Queensland Dance School of Excellence and ED5INTERNATIONAL.

Contains adult themes and sexual references. Content advice can change during a production’s development.