There’s something a little bit old and something a little bit new in Opera Australia’s latest suite of winter wonders in Sydney (and later this year in Melbourne). A little something, certainly, for everyone.

How about a cowboy opera, in Italian? Giacomo Puccini’s The Girl Of The Golden West offers a multifaceted, layered production that holds plenty of interest, even beyond the musical drama itself. It’s all very beautiful; an adult fairytale, oh-so-easy in which to lose oneself. For me, resistance was useless and surrender seductive: I went, in suspended disbelief, with the contrived, utterly unbelievable, but thoroughly enchanting tale.

There is something impressionistic in Girl that finds resonance in Debussy. And there are hints of an experimental approach common to Debussy and Strauss. If you listen carefully, you’re also likely to have a eureka moment, in discerning a recurring phrase borrowed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. What is clearer is that Girl is a very coherent piece of work: exceptionally well-structured; lushly orchestrated; melodically attractive. It’s a wonder it isn’t performed more often.

Or what about some Mozart? It’s hard to go wrong with The Marriage of Figaro, the timeless satire on the snooty classes. And this new production from OA is a winner.

What can one say in praise of Neil Armfield, as director, that hasn’t been said before? Dale Ferguson’s design is a fairytale evocation of period, spiced with a dry wit: amidst the bosom-boosting gowns (and that was just the men), a vintage Hoover, an armchair more akin to a ’60s recliner-rocker, electric iron or pedestal hairdryer. Droll, Dale. There is something faintly dark and starkly surreal in the sets that puts me in mind of the seductive genius of Jan Pienkowski.

Having credited Ferguson, this being a co-production with the Welsh National Opera (in which, as far as I know, Julia Gillard is not prima donna), it is that company’s scenery, properties, costumes and millinery in play.

Figaro might be mere steward to Count Almaviva, but there’s nothing humble, modest or mere about the prodigious, indomitable bass-baritone of Teddy Tahu Rhodes, which is richly surpassing and, in its epitome, inevitably dominated. Indeed, absolutely everything chimes succinctly, consummating Armield’s original vision and resolve to reconcile the “unique theatrical paradox” he articulately cites: “That a performance  is alive both in the time of its characters and audience.”

Later in the season, Vincenzo Bellini’s La sonnambula starring Emma Matthews, Elijah Moshinsky’s acclaimed production of Rigoletto, plus Pirate King Anthony Warlow returns in Pirates of Penzance. Take your pick.

The details: The Girl of the Golden West has three more performances at the Sydney Opera House until August 3; The Marriage Figaro has 20 more performances scheduled until October 23; La sonnambula opens on August 5 for nine performances; Pirates of Penzance opens on August 25 and runs through until November; and Rigoletto opens in September. Figaro and Rigoletto open in Melbourne in November. All tickets through Opera Australia.