In a show of strength to mark the 60th anniversary of Canberra Theatre Centre, an impressive line-up of the Opera Australia orchestra, chorus and soloists will be coming to town for a one-night-only gala concert.

This huge logistical undertaking is also something of a coup for retiring director of the centre, Alex Budd, who will take over shortly as CEO of Opera Australia, to appear here for the first time in 42 years, a signal perhaps of things to come in the future if and when we get a lyric theatre.

Conductor Tahu Matheson will be lead more than 80 artists, including singers such as Canberra-trained soprano Lorina Gore, mezzo-soprano Sian Sharp, tenor Diego Torre, soprano Jennifer Black, baritone Luke Gabbedy and bass David Parkin in a night of big hits from the opera repertoire by composers such as Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, Verdi and Wagner.

When I catch up with Sharp to talk about the coming gala, she’s just taken a day of vocal rest, with lots of steam and gentle warming up after experiencing a bit of hoarseness. That’s the life of a working opera singer, guarding the precious vocal instrument. 

Sharp, whose key roles for OA this year include the title role of Carmen in Bizet’s opera and Prince Charming in Cinderella, is one of the flagship opera company’s most in-demand singers, but one who’s readily put her hand up over the years for gala performances of this sort on New Year’s Eve and at The Domain.

Next year, she’ll be playing Suzuki in what is claimed to be the last showing of the Moffatt Oxenbould production of Madama Butterfly, and Maddalena in Elijah Mojinsky’s 1960s-style Rigoletto, where the chorus does The Twist at one point.

There’s no mezzo-soprano in a new production of Turandot to be created by director and choreographer Ann Yee, so she won’t be part of that next year, but she praises the company’s decision to do new productions of its most popular works and looks forward to its further announcements.

Sharp, like many of her fellow-singers, is curious about the appointment of Budd to Opera Australia, from which he came to the Canberra Theatre, describing it as “an interesting appointment“ and noting how long he had worked with Opera Australia out of its Melbourne office, looking after touring for the company.

“It’s a good thing having someone who knows the institution as a leader,” she says.

She will be pulling out all the stops and singing some of the great favourites, including the seductive Seguidilla from Carmen, which she says stands alone as a concert piece perfectly, The Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakme together with Gore and as part of the trio, Soave sia il vento, from Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

She tells me that her colleague Torre will be singing one of opera‘s best-known arias, La donna è mobile from Rigoletto, while Gore will sing The Jewel Song from Faust by Gounod.

As for Opera Australia’s mighty chorus, the jewel in crown, opera fans can pretty well guess what they’ll be singing – the epic Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore and another Verdi powerhouse, Va, Pensiero, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco, still sometimes suggested as a potential Italian national anthem. 

“The general public loves to hear tunes they know,” Sharp says. “ For most people, evenings like this are simply for enjoyment.”

Opera Australia Gala, Canberra Theatre, October 9.