From its opening, which takes the audience, without the expected overture, straight into the action of the opera, to the dazzling end of the performance, Pinchgut Opera's December production of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride is, in the words of associate conductor Erin Helyard, "a thrilling drama set to extraordinary music".

For the first time, Pinchgut Opera this year presented a mid-year opera, Salieri's The Chimney Sweep, with Helyard conducting. It was a production acclaimed an unqualified success, "saucy, light operatic relief with a surprising level of compositional aptitude" according to Limelight magazine. What a contrast with the Greek drama and the disturbing story of Iphigenie! Interestingly though, Salieri and Gluck shared common ground. When the ailing Gluck could not complete the production schedule of Les Danaides, a "tragedie lyrique", for which Calzabigi had written the libretto, the work was taken over by Salieri who completed it as a five-act opera.

Iphigenie en Tauride will be conducted by Antony Walker, who has returned to Pinchgut after conducting engagements in Pittsburgh and Washington earlier this year. Helyard will lead the 35-strong Orchestra of the Antipodes from the harpsichord and there will be a stellar cast of five principal singers, joined by singers from Cantillation as the chorus.

"We're really delighted to welcome back Lindy Hume from Opera Queensland to direct the opera," Helyard says. "She's done a really superb job. Then there are costumes by an extraordinary Sydney designer, Alistair Trung - the best we've ever had, I think. Tony Assness, who worked with Baz Luhrmann on The Great Gatsby has designed the set. We're using space in quite a unique fashion. Height is one of the things we have at Angel Place – but I can't give too much away! Antony and I really enjoy the challenge of staging an opera in this way."

The biggest advantage, in Helyard's opinion, is that the orchestra is set, as in the 18th century, on the floor of the theatre. "And that adds its own drama. Not only do you have five extraordinary singers on stage, you also have 35 extraordinary instrumentalists that can be seen too."

It was Wagner who invented the invisible orchestra, playing from a pit such as that at the Sydney Opera House but before his time the orchestra was integral to the drama both visually and aurally.

Helyard says Iphigenie is really very topical. "Crazy religion bent on killing people – that's the Scythians. We didn't do this deliberately but there is a resonance with what's going on in the Middle East at the moment. This opera is an intriguing trans-historical object."

Helyard regards Caitlin Hulcup as the ideal person to sing the role of Iphigenie. "She's one of the most dedicated artists that I've ever worked with," he says.

In 2011 Hulcup sang the role of Griselda in Vivaldi's opera about the legendary heroine from Boccaccio's Decameron, "patient Griselda". This opera was, according to the critic from The Australian, "Pinchgut Opera's finest production yet". Hulcup was praised for her superb dynamic control and her compelling acting.

"And Grant Doyle is the perfect Orestes," Helyard says.

Mezzo soprano Margaret Plummer will sing the role of Diana whose appearance at the opera's end will be, Helyard says, "spectacular – although I'm not going to give away anything about just how we're going to stage it".

"Then we have an amazing chorus in this show. It's often divided and the chorus of priestesses is just women. The sound is very plaintive and sombre. There's something about women's voices; they create a unique sound."

Helyard, who lectures at the ANU School of Music in Canberra, is known as an expert on the history of opera. He says at the time when Gluck wrote Iphigenie there was great argument about whether opera should be sung really high with the words repeated over and over again – a spectacle to thrill the audience – or whether a composer should try to tell a story more like a play and paint the colours.

"And that's what Gluck tried to do. Some of his operas may have been failures but I would single out Iphigenie as one of the most perfect operas ever written," he says.

Berlioz declared that he had been "possessed by an ecstasy" and unable to sleep after seeing the opera. And if you ever question Gluck's place in the operatic oeuvre you have only to think of the aria Che faro senza Euridice from Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice to know that he stands as a giant.

So here we are at the City Recital Hall, awaiting the opening of Iphigenie.

"You'll not only be thrilled but moved by the drama and the music," Helyard says, "by the force and the expressiveness of the singing. The opera is not very long but it's very intense, almost harrowing.

"You'll need your glass of champagne at interval but in the end everything is saved."