Opera Queensland

Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.

Opera Queensland (OperaQ) is the state opera company. It has three activity streams: its major metropolitan productions, its extensive touring program through regional Queensland, and its Education and Engagement programs. OperaQ also nurtures and showcases emerging talent through its OperaQ Studio Project, which encourages the development of new music theatre works.

For the first two years of operation (1982–1983) the Lyric Opera of Queensland performed at Her Majesty's Theatre in Brisbane. The first production, Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, opened there on 31 July 1982. In 1985, the Lyric Opera moved its productions to the newly opened 2,100 seat Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, where it continues to present two of its three main stage opera seasons each year. Smaller productions are staged at the 650 seat Queensland Conservatorium.

In 1996 the company changed its name to Opera Queensland and moved its offices and rehearsal studio into new, purpose-built, premises on South Bank, which it shares with Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

Free events performed by Opera Queensland include pre-performance 45 minute talks, performing arias of forthcoming productions in Brisbane's Queen Street Mall, and lunchtime concerts in the Main Auditorium of Brisbane's City Hall.

Exploring Opera! is Opera Queensland’s education program for school students and adult and community groups. In 2008 and 2009, it toured schools with Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. Other projects include the two-day workshops for primary schools, The Wombat Story and The Storm and What Came of It.

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