This is Opera Queensland’s 2021 Season
Opera Queensland celebrates its fabulous 40th year with a stylish return to the spotlight.
Opera Queensland is soaring into its 40th year with a full slate of fresh new works, intimate concerts, a regional road trip and the return of a few favourites.
Artistic Director & CEO Patrick Nolan announced Opera Queensland’s packed 2021 season program at a glittering Opera Queensland Under the Stars concert at Brisbane’s Riverstage on Saturday 28 November.
Mr Nolan revealed Season 2021 would be anchored by major productions of Lorelei, The Marriage of Figaro and Aida playing to full houses at QPAC venues accompanied by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
He also announced an expanded Opera Queensland Studio Series, rescheduled dates for the inaugural Festival of Outback Opera and the premiere of Are You Lonesome Tonight, Opera Queensland’s most significant regional tour to date, travelling 6000km to visit more than 25 communities.
“Season 2021 heralds a welcome return to the main stage for Opera Queensland – and a return to full audience capacity – after COVID-19 threw a spanner in the works of our 2020 program,” Mr Nolan said.
“Despite some major disruptions, Opera Queensland continued to deliver the joy and wonder of opera to audiences across the state and beyond with An Aria A Day and a live concert series once restrictions eased.
“In total, Opera Queensland produced 167 online performances of An Aria A Day, staged nine live concerts – seven of which sold out – and provided employment for more than 330 artists.
“While these achievements alone are worthy of celebration, Opera Queensland also chalks up a milestone birthday in 2021. We’re 40 and fabulous and we’re inviting everyone to join the party.”
Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch congratulated Opera Queensland on the 2021 season.
“Queensland’s continued health response means that we have been able to open seated, ticketed theatres to 100% capacity and I join Opera Queensland in welcoming a season of rich operatic experiences in 2021,” Minister Enoch said.
“The company continues to pay tribute to and extend the boundaries of their artform – offering classic alongside contemporary Australian works – providing stage and digital programs and commencing a busy touring schedule.”
“The Palaszczuk Government supports Opera Queensland and was proud to invest in the company’s mainstage return earlier this year in QPAC’s Queensland’s Own program, delivered as part of the $22.5 million Arts and Cultural Recovery Package to support the creation and presentation of live performance.
“I look forward to the continued recovery of our arts industry and, in the case of Opera Queensland’s 2021 season, greater accessibility and more engagement opportunities for Queenslanders of all ages, backgrounds and locations.”
Opera Queensland launches its 40th season with Lorelei, a contemporary reimagining of a traditional myth combining cabaret, burlesque and opera at QPAC’s Concert Hall from 6 to 13 March, 2021.
“Lorelei was scheduled to open our 2020 season and we are delighted audiences have another opportunity to see this fun, new Australian work, sung in English, with its original cast of Ali McGregor, Antoinette Halloran and Dimity Shepherd,” Mr Nolan said.
Hilarity meets unbridled tension in The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s comedy for the ages performed at QPAC’s Playhouse from 15 to 31 July 2021.
Rising stars Sofia Troncoso and Jeremey Kleeman shine alongside soprano Eva Kong and baritone José Carbó in this cheeky tale of friendship and devotion, directed by Mr Nolan.
Capping off 2021’s mainstage program is Verdi’s blockbuster Aida, co-produced with Opera Australia and playing QPAC’s Lyric Theatre from 3 to 19 November 2021.
New digital staging technology and opulent costumes combine to create a visually sensational production featuring Australian soprano Natalie Aroyan in the title role.
Are You Lonesome Tonight is a celebration of opera and country music drawing on the histories of both genres to tell a story about love, yearning and life on the road.
Arias by Puccini and Verdi will sit alongside songs by Paul Kelly and Dolly Parton in a cabaret-style touring production that plays to over 25 Queensland communities from 4 May to 16 June 2021.
“Are You Lonesome Tonight is a centrepiece of our 40th birthday celebrations, covering almost 6000km across the length and breadth of our state, combining two great musical styles and stamping itself as the most significant regional tour in the company’s history,” Mr Nolan said.
The bold new production bookends the ambitious multi-region Festival of Outback Opera, bringing opera to communities in Longreach, Winton, Barcoo, Barcaldine, Blackall and Tambo over 10 days in late-May.
The inaugural Festival begins with Singing in The Night, a series of concerts in Longreach and Winton presented in partnership with Camerata, Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra.
The acclaimed OQ Studio Series returns with vigour in 2021, offering singers and audiences a rare encounter with the art of song in the intimate space of the Opera Queensland Studio.
In a coup for the company, soprano, composer and artistic director Deborah Cheetham AO makes her Opera Queensland debut with her Studio Series recital, Songs My Mother Sang to Me from 19 to 20 March 2021.
Also making her debut with the company is Indigenous performer, composer and singer-songwriter Jessica Hitchcock who brings her charismatic stage presence and performance versatility to the Tivoli in Songs that Made Me on 12 September 2021 as part of Brisbane Festival.
Opera Queensland will reach more Queenslanders than ever before with an expansion of Sing Sing Sing in 2021.
Artists will lead the social sing-along at Emporium Hotel South Bank’s Piano Bar, the new home of Sing Sing Sing, on the last Wednesday of every month.
A dedicated schools and youth program will nurture a lifelong learning and love of song for all ages including a series of classical, contemporary and choral youth workshops from 12 to 13 April and 27 to 28 September 2021.
Opera Queensland partners with shake & stir theatre co. to stage The Frog Prince with an energetic cast of young performers introducing primary-aged students to composers such as Mozart, Rossini and Bizet from 22 to 25 September 2021.
The two companies collaborate again to stage Puccini’s La bohème, an exploration of how young people cope with the uncertainty and pressures of today’s world, for secondary school students from 24 to 25 September 2021.
Opera Queensland’s commitment to diversity and authentic storytelling is boosted in 2021 with the leading arts company implementing its new Disability Action Plan and Reconciliation Action Plan, including the employment of a First Nations Artist Consultant.
“We are thrilled to be launching our Disability Action Plan in 2021, creating opportunities for our company to work with artists from a diverse range of abilities,” Mr Nolan said.
“Our work with First Nations artists and communities is going to be a vital part of Opera Queensland’s operations over the coming years.
“We see both of these relationships as central to the work we create and the audiences we are building.”
Opera Queensland will continue to monitor the advice of health experts and liaise with relevant industry authorities, now and into Season 2021, to meet ongoing COVID Safe guidelines.