Dane Lam’s quest to make South Australia ‘the gravitational centre of opera’
When most people think of State Opera South Australia, The Matrix trilogy, multiverses, and Disney/Pixar films might not seem like obvious touchstones. For artistic director Dane Lam, it’s all part of a push to court new audiences and build international ties – beginning with a new production of The Magic Flute.
When InReview speaks to Dane Lam, he’s just landed in China for a season of The Marriage of Figaro – part of his other gig as principal conductor and artistic director of Xi’an Symphony Orchestra. Since taking on the State Opera’s directorship last year – not to mention his other role as musical director of Hawaii Symphony Orchestra – Lam has been juggling more than a conductor’s baton. While he admits there are a lot of balls in the air, he stresses that “they’re very exciting balls”.
While Lam was in China, his wife, soprano star Sofia Troncoso, and their two-year-old son Frankie were winging their way to Australia, where Troncoso will make her South Australian debut in the role of Pamina in State Opera’s upcoming season of The Magic Flute. The jet-setting couple will be based in Adelaide for several months as Lam oversees not only The Magic Flute’s Adelaide season, but the upcoming launch of State Opera’s 2026 slate – a year that will see the company hit its 50th anniversary.
“This production marks a bold new chapter for State Opera,” Lam says of The Magic Flute, which is a collaboration between State Opera, Opera Hong Kong, and the Beijing Music Festival, supported by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
Opening at Her Majesty’s Theatre on August 28, its Adelaide run follows a sold-out premiere in Hong Kong earlier this year, before travelling to Beijing in 2026. Directed by acclaimed Chinese film, theatre and opera artist Shuang Zou, this modern-day adaptation blends Mozart’s score with new technology, and epitomises Lam’s ‘Opera Without Borders’ vision for State Opera.
“We’ve got a great young Chinese director who, as well as opera, works in film, so she brings a really cinematic and filmic aesthetic to the way she sees everything on stage,” he says. “It looks fantastic, there’s video projections, there’s a big revolve, and there’s a distinctly Asian flavour.
“So, for example, going between worlds, which would happen in The Magic Flute normally, but they’re down in the Hong Kong subway… and it’s sort of a bridge between worlds, like a Matrix-type of multiverse. There’s animations of the trains going between different stations, taken into different worlds, where the mundane, the ordinary suddenly becomes extraordinary and sacred, profound.
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“It’s such an interesting take on the piece, and it really is unique to our international region. So, I am really proud of Shuang and how this production epitomises us breaking down these borders.”
Lam says the fresh new production, brought to life by award-winning Australian designer Dan Potra, will appeal to younger audiences “kind of like a great Disney or Pixar movie”.
“There are levels of it that communicate to adults and levels of it that communicate to kids, so there’s scaffolding for everybody to cling on to and enjoy,” he says.
Starring alongside Troncoso will be leading Australian tenor Nicholas Jones as Tamino, and a host of performers making their South Australian debuts including renowned Australian baritone David Greco as Papageno, Sydney-based American soprano Danielle Bavli as the Queen of the Night, and Australian soprano Helena Dix in the role of the First Lady.
“Sofia sang in the premiere [of The Magic Flute] in Hong Kong, she’s a great Pamina,” Lam says. “I watched her do it years ago, before we were married, in Scottish Opera, so she brings a lot of international experience to the role.
“It really is an ensemble cast. We’ve got great State Opera debutantes as well as some favourites,” Lame says, namedropping Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Sarastro, Pelham Andrews as the speaker, and Jessica Dean as Papagena.
“I’m really excited about Helena Dix making her debut as the First Lady, that’s pretty luxury casting for us,” he adds. “Helena has sung all over the world, from London to Seattle. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera singing Norma, and she’s a great Australian singer. This is her first real engagement at home with one of the state companies, so we’re very proud to be leading the way with that.”
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Building new and younger audiences is key to Lam’s programming vision, and something he’s built into the 2026 season, predicting that Adelaide and South Australia are going to be “full of opera in 2026”.
“It’s going to be the place, the gravitational centre of opera in the region, not just in Australia, but in our Asia Pacific region,” he says.
For now, however, Lam and his team are also preparing for their final show of 2025, Romeo et Juliette. The brand-new production of Shakespeare’s famous love story is being created, built and produced in South Australia for its world-premiere season in October.
Lam says the creative team of award-winning director Rodula Gaitanou and Olivier-awarded-nominated designer takis has created a contemporary piece that reminds him of the aesthetic of Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film Romeo + Juliet.
“I know that Rodula really wants youth to be at the heart of it, not just, you know, the young Romeo and Juliet,” he says. “It’s a story about young people, and it’s something that I think young people can really connect with. It’s also another great collaboration between us, Western Australian Opera, and then it’s going to go to Irish National Opera. So, that’s a really major international collaboration for a state opera company.
“It doesn’t happen very often, and it’s significant because we’re building it and creating it here in South Australia.”
Looking to the future, Lam says he will remain keenly focused on building new audiences, as well as catering to opera die-hards, through powerful international collaborations and cutting-edge work, to create a State Opera that is a “touchpoint” for all South Australians.
“I think it’s important that people feel connected to the company, and so I want to keep on pushing initiatives that will enable us to be in front and to connect audiences all over the state,” he says.
“People need to feel that they belong, it’s that simple, that this is a place for them and they’re welcome. That’s the legacy I’d like to leave.”
The Magic Flute opens at Her Majesty’s Theatre on August 28, continuing until September 6