Here’s a quick look at what’s happening in the arts with HELEN MUSA’s latest “Arts in the City” column.

NATIONAL Opera has surfaced from the ashes of Peter Coleman-Wright’s departure as artistic director to announce a grand celebration of Puccini during the 100th anniversary year of his death in 1924. They’ve scored a huge coup in getting diva Cheryl Barker (actually Coleman-Wright’s wife) to direct “Madama Butterfly” in August at The Q. But first there’ll be “Suor Angelica” (Sister Angelica) in March, starring Emma Mauch and Sonia Anfiloff. Then in July there’ll be a cocktail- evening performance featuring Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg with repetiteur Nico de Villiers. 

“AYLA’S Christmas Wish”, by author Pamela Jones and illustrator Lucia Masciullo, is a new Australian Christmas picture book from NLA Publishing. For Ayla, a young girl living in a drought-stricken town in Australia, there’s one thing missing at Christmas – a snowman like the ones she’s read about in books. But with no snow in sight, it’s an impossible dream. Or is it? The tale compares European Christmas traditions with the reality of a hot, dry Australian summer. Available at the National Library.

CANBERRA arts-lovers have been saddened to hear of the death, at the age of 91 on November 30, of librarian, scholar, author, actor and theatre director Pamela Rosenberg. She is probably best-known for her work as director of the Australian Folk Trust and for her many, many productions for Canberra Rep. She was my theatre student at Canberra CAE in 1974.

PHOTOACCESS identity Wouter Van de Voorde, who recently won a Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for his photobook “Death is Not Here” has released a new book with Paris publisher, Area Books. Titled “Nucleo”, the book follows Van de Voorde’s family life, starting with the birth of his son, Felix, and extending to the most recent moments captured during a twilight walk on Cooleman Ridge. Available at PhotoAccess.