Australia’s Adelaide Festival has announced that Barrie Kosky’s production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel” will be the centerpiece of the 2022 program.

The production, which will open in March 2022, will feature Venera Gimadieva, Vasily Efimov, Andrei Popov, Samuel Dundas, Pavlo Hunka, and Mischa Shelomianski. The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra will be led by former Music Director, Arvo Volmer.

The production will mark Kosky’s return to the Adelaide Festival following two sold-out operas. He previously directed Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of “Saul” in 2017 and Komische Oper Berlin’s production of “The Magic Flute” in 2019. The upcoming production of “The Golden Cockerel” premiered at the Festival Aix-En-Provence in 2021.

In a statement one of Adelaide’s Artistic Director, Neil Armfield said, “We have been hounded by festival audiences to ‘bring back Barrie!’ His operas have such immediate appeal to young audiences and opera first-timers, while also attracting seasoned opera lovers, so we’re thrilled to announce ‘The Golden Cockerel’ as the third part of the Kosky trifecta. If you’re transported by Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, or Flight of the Bumble Bee, you’ll fall in love with this richly melodic, kaleidoscopic work. And we’re doubly proud that this will be the first time the opera has been staged in Australia since it was written in 1908 – your first experience of this glorious work will be in the most beautiful and original production imaginable.”

“The Golden Cockerel” will be performed from March 4-9, 2022.