![Fiona Allan of Opera Australia quits Fiona Allan of Opera Australia quits](https://oscalenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/3029505cc64ff9980f3bdf314b3f57b73b800e57.jpeg)
Opera Australia (OA) chief executive Fiona Allan has fallen on her sword barely three years after assuming the role, plunging the nation’s biggest arts company into yet another crisis.
In a statement, OA said Allan was leaving “to pursue new opportunities”. She had been noticeably absent for the past few weeks during the crucial season launch period.
Her departure comes less than six months after the abrupt exit of artistic director Jo Davies, the first female artistic director in the history of the company. Davies lasted just 18 months and left after repeated clashes with Allan.
![Chief executive Fiona Allan has abruptly quit Opera Australia.](https://oscalenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Fiona-Allan-of-Opera-Australia-quits.jpeg)
Chief executive Fiona Allan has abruptly quit Opera Australia.Credit: Pamela Raith
Allan and Davies had been touted as the new face of Opera Australia, following the 2022 departure after 12 years of larger-than-life artistic director Lyndon Terracini.
At the time, Allan said Davies’ appointment would herald “new era of renewal for the company”. Now, with both women gone, Opera Australia is left floundering as it faces challenges on multiple fronts, not least the lingering after-effects of the pandemic.
In 2024 the company posted a $7.8 million operating deficit, which it blamed in part on cost-of-living pressures. Then, late last year, corporate adviser Gabrielle Trainor was appointed to conduct a comprehensive review into governance at OA. At the time, Allan called it a “huge opportunity” for improvement in the way the company was managed.
![Opera Australia artistic director Jo Davies left the company after repeated clashes with Allan.](https://oscalenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1738109587_709_Fiona-Allan-of-Opera-Australia-quits.jpeg)
Opera Australia artistic director Jo Davies left the company after repeated clashes with Allan.Credit: Daniel Boud
Trainor is expected to complete her report in March but there has been no commitment to date that it will be publicly released. Trainor’s appointment came after a leaked internal report in 2022 found one in three OA employees believed bullying and harassment was a problem.
Elsewhere, OA has faced repeated criticism over its limited programming in Melbourne with many Victorian opera fans claiming they are being treated as poor cousins. The problems in Melbourne have been exacerbated by the temporary closure of the State Theatre, which is expected to reopen in 2027 after being refurbished.