Resident company at Carriageworks, Sydney Chamber Opera, is a fresh and youthful answer to some of the difficult questions facing today’s opera industry. As one of “Australia’s most innovative arts groups” (Sydney Morning Herald) we have “redefined operatic performance in Australia” (Australian Book Review) to show “an astonishing new vision of what contemporary Australian opera can achieve” (Time Out).

Louis Garrick and Jack Symonds established SCO in 2010 and it has rapidly developed into an important and distinctive voice in the Australian music and theatre landscapes. SCO is critically acclaimed for its innovative programming, musical rigour and strong focus on compelling theatre-making. SCO makes opera with a 21st century outlook that resonates with a new, younger audience, and that shows how vibrant and relevant the artform can be. Its program aims for a balance of specially commissioned work by leading homegrown composers, the latest international operas in their Australian premieres, song cycles and cantatas in unusual stagings, and canonical repertoire reinvigorated by the country’s most daring theatrical talent.

SCO has fostered a deep engagement with a wide range of artists across music, text, design, and theatre at the intersection of many cultural practices, and has a unique methodology where it approaches opera as chamber music – where each individual has equal responsibility for their part – a prerogative that it extends to all creatives.

SCO has given the world or Australian premieres of major stage works by Benjamin, Britten, Dusapin, Finsterer, Gyger, Kancheli, Kurtág, Ricketson, Romitelli, Saariaho, Smetanin, Styles & Symonds, and has also been presented by the Holland Festival, Tokyo Festival, Sydney Festival (eight times), Biennale of Sydney (twice), Melbourne Festival and Dark MOFO among others.