Opera Australia has announced the inaugural New Year’s Eve Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island.

The Cockatoo Island event is in addition to Opera Australia’s annual New Year’s Eve opera performance at the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House.

The gala will feature a two-hour concert of opera classics under the stars, hosted by Jonathan Biggins and will see Tahu Matheson conduct a full orchestra. The concert will star Stacey Alleaume, Natalie Aroyan, Chanyang Choi, Diego Torre, and Luke Gabbedy.

“We’ve all been starved of live entertainment so we’re inviting everyone to come and celebrate New Year’s Eve with us, to say farewell to 2021 and its lockdowns, and embrace the beginning of a fresh and invigorating new year,” said OA’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini in a press statement.