Leading Australian composers, directors, musicians, and vocalists have called for a ''revolution'' to remove gender bias, sexism, and dramatised acts of violence against women in opera.

More than 190 signatories have demanded a national commitment to opera work that resonates with the lives of women and men of all gender identities, and a reframing of women's voices and stories away from victimhood.

Rinat Shaham plays the title role in Opera Australia's Carmen, a character who meets a grisly end. Credit:AFR

''The stories we choose to tell, who is telling them, and how we choose to tell them is of fundamental importance,'' the call to action reads. ''The perception of women in opera as subservient victims remains at odds with the contemporary conversation.''

The seven-point initiative arose out of frustrations around NOW 2019, a public forum hosted by Queensland Opera in April that was to unite Australian and international composers, librettists and producers to challenge, investigate and celebrate new opera works but only highlighted the invisibility of women.