DON CARLOS Returning to Sydney

Following a triumphant season in Melbourne where it attracted rave reviews, Australian Director Elijah Moshinsky's epic Opera Australia production of Don Carlos returns to Sydney after 15 years, with an internationally led cast of over 200.

Mexico's Diego Torre is performing the title role alongside American Latonia Moore, Australian- Serbian Milijana Nikolic, Italy's Ferruccio Furlanetto and Australia's Jose? Carbo? and Daniel Sumegi.

"We are thrilled to have tempted (Director) Elijah Moshinsky back to Australia to stage Don Carlos," says Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini. "Those who saw the original 1999/2000 production were floored by the audacity of its scale and immense sound, and there is no doubt this refreshed staging will be one for the history books."

Latonia Moore and Milijana Nikolic will again share the stage, after delighting audiences earlier this year in Aida for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour.

Verdi's masterpiece is set at the height of the Spanish Inquisition. Prince Don Carlos falls in love with Elisabeth de Valois, the eldest daughter of the King of France. But politics conquers love, and Elisabeth is married off to Carlos' father, the King, as part of a peace treaty. Horrified his lover is now his stepmother, Don Carlos retreats to the safety of his friendship with Rodrigo, whose humanitarian pursuits have aroused the ire of the Inquisition.

The King cannot understand why his new bride doesn't love him, whilst Princess Eboli pursues an uninterested Don Carlos. Soon the truth is discovered, with marriages, romances and friendships all tested to the extreme whilst the Inquisition's pyre burns ever-closer.