Eucalyptus Tickets

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

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Available Dates: 22 - 25 Mar, 2027 (3 events)

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Sydney, Australia

Duration: 2h 30min with 1 interval

Intervals: 1

Sung in: English

Titles in: English

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Choose the date to see the peformers

Creators

Composer: Jonathan Mills

Librettist: Meredith Oakes

Director: Michael Gow

Opera Company: Opera Australia

Overview

Stories in the trees. Weave them out of bark and leaves.

There are more than 800 species of Eucalyptus in Australia. There is only one Ellen Holland.

Ellen’s beauty is famous for miles around. Her overprotective father has created a safe place to protect her from the world: a forest of Eucalypts.

But is the forest a sanctuary or is Ellen imprisoned?

Eucalyptus is a new opera by Jonathan Mills, based on Murray Bail’s beloved novel. It’s part Australian fairy tale and part musical evocation of the Australian bush. In this dappled landscape lurks both beauty and wonder.

Eucalyptus is an ageless story of love and longing about a daughter and a father.

Unable to bear the thought of losing Ellen, her father announces a competition. He sets an impossible task: only a man who can name all the trees on his land may marry his daughter.

As suitors cross the world to try their luck, Ellen encounters a stranger amongst her father’s trees: a storyteller with enchanting tales of faraway lands.

Renowned Australian playwright and director Michael Gow directs this Sydney premiere.

Eucalyptus is supported by Philip Bacon AO and Dame Carol Grigor DBE.

Presented by Opera Australia and Victorian Opera

History

Upon first reading Murray Bail’s novel Eucalyptus, composer Jonathan Mills knew he wanted to turn it into an opera. Eucalyptus viscerally captures the experience of wandering through Australian bushland. It is here amid the sounds and scents of a eucalyptus forest that the dreams of Ellen, the heroine, begin to take shape.

Synopsis

Holland, a widower, lives with his daughter on a property in the country where he has planted every kind of eucalypt on which he can lay his hands.

His daughter has no interest in romance. Holland, anxious to find the right man for his daughter, announces a competition: the man who can correctly name, on the spot, all the species of eucalypts on Holland’s land will become Ellen’s husband.

Ellen is horrified, but contestants come from far and wide, to the amazement of locals. They all fall short before the test is completed. But a likely winner does emerge: a gaunt, middle-aged tree expert called Cave.

Ellen, wandering alone in the forest, discovers a man sleeping under a tree. This Stranger begins to tell Ellen stories, stories inspired by trees that remain nameless.

Ellen is fascinated and shocked by the Stranger’s tales. She becomes obsessed with the stories and attracted to their teller. She discovers a deeper meaning in the stories and finds freedom and courage to be decisive about her life’s path.

The story moves between the house and forest on Holland’s property and locations in the nearby small town. The townspeople, including the ever-watchful Sprunt sisters, comment freely on events. Trees and river play their part as well.

Venue Info

Sydney Opera House - Sydney
Bennelong Point, Sydney NSW 2000

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre at Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the 20th century's most famous and distinctive buildings. Sydney Opera House is the largest and most famous opera house in Australia with an extensive repertoire.

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the building was formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation.

The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour, between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and close by the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Though its name suggests a single venue, the building comprises multiple performance venues which together host well over 1,500 performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people. Performances are presented by numerous performing artists, including three resident companies: Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, more than eight million people visit the site annually, and approximately 350,000 visitors take a guided tour of the building each year. The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, an agency of the New South Wales State Government.

On 28 June 2007, the Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having been listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate since 1980, the National Trust of Australia register since 1983, the City of Sydney Heritage Inventory since 2000, the New South Wales State Heritage Register since 2003, and the Australian National Heritage List since 2005.