to our 2015 Season, designed especially for you.
Around the world the opera
landscape is transforming as it
adapts to new global realities.
For over 400 years, this remarkable
and resilient art form has evolved
by responding to audiences and
keeping up with changing cultural
and social trends. At OperaQ we’re
very aware that our audiences
want more flexibility in purchasing,
a broader range of events and
new experiences. We’re listening,
and our long-term audience will
notice some changes in the way
we’re offering our 2015 program.
Firstly, you’ll notice that this
brochure presents our offerings
only until August. Be assured
we have more in store for
you after that date, and we’ll
share those plans later in the
year. In the meantime, in 2015,
Queensland’s major showcase of
opera excellence features some
of Australia’s finest international
opera artists alongside our
first-rate local singers.
Lovers of classic opera will
enjoy our lush new production
of Verdi’s immortal love story
La traviata and music theatre
fans won’t want to miss Leonard
Bernstein’s deliciously satiric
operetta Candide - one of my
favourite works of all time and
absent from Brisbane stages for
too long. And we introduce a new
stage for OperaQ in 2015 with
performances of Candide taking
place in the QPAC Playhouse.
But the opera experiences in 2015
aren’t limited to sitting in a theatre.
Opera at Jimbour is a uniquely
Queensland opera event where
audiences enjoy a free concert
featuring orchestra, fabulous
singers and a picnic atmosphere
in the spectacular Darling Downs
landscape. This year, with our
friends at Queensland Music
Festival, we present a semi-staged
concert of Fledermaus, Johann
Strauss’s ‘champagne’ opera,
transforming the Jimbour paddock
into the world’s biggest ballroom,
complete with waltzing and masks.
In this brochure you’ll find
a range of events and new
experiences designed especially
to give you and your friends
plenty of opportunities to dress
up, party and get close to the
artists you’ll see on stage.
There’s so much to be excited
about - join us for the experience
of opera voices unleashed in one
of Brisbane’s most incredible
nightclubs, the creative thrill
of participating in one of our
Open Stage workshops. And I’m
especially delighted that 3,000
seats over the 2015 season will
be released at just $25 to give
every Queenslander the chance to
experience great opera, regardless
of means. It’s all about connecting
opera with new audiences.
OperaQ is grateful for the
support of Arts Queensland,
The Australia Council, our
corporate partners, trusts &
foundations, our Patrons and you,
the Queensland community.
Join us in 2015 for a new season,
new venues and new experiences.
Lindy Hume
Artistic Director
OperaQ