The best international arts events of 2014

GIVEN the weather we’ve been enduring here lately, you have to envy the Australian lifestyle. They can plan open air events with confidence, and if you were thinking of celebrating the first months of 2014 down under, then Sydney is the place to head for, where on Feb 1 you can enjoy Opera in the Domain free.

Every year, Sydneysiders head to the park in their thousands to hear their brightest stars under the stars, and anyone who claims opera is an elitist art form should look at the size of the crowd at this cultural, communal celebration.

A little later (Mar 21-Apr 12), you can try for a ticket for Madama Butterfly performed on Sydney Harbour. This is the event where two enormous cranes lift a 40-tonne stage from 10 barges onto 16 pylons buried deep in the ocean floor. It’s quite a task each year for the production team, with more than 8,000 hours of manual labour to build the stage and the elaborate underworld of the orchestra pit and dressing rooms. Making the costumes takes another 10,000 hours. The inventory of batteries, light globes, nuts, bolts and screws adds up to mindboggling numbers. To hear Butterfly sung in such a setting is truly unforgettable.