Opera Queensland is an opera company based in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981 under the name ''Lyric Opera of Queensland'' after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980. Opera Queensland is the state’s major creator of opera and music theatre, and delivers opera productions and related projects including three mainstage productions annually at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). Based in Brisbane the company presents works throughout the state.

History

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 Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

's ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

'', opened on 31 July 1982. In 1985, the Lyric Opera moved its productions to the newly opened Queensland Performing Arts Centre, where it continues to present its main stage productions each year. In 1996 the company changed its name to Opera Queensland and moved its offices and rehearsal studio into new, purpose-built premises in South Bank that it shares with Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

Funding

Opera Queensland is funded by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

, the Federal Government through

Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

, corporate sponsors, major philanthropists and private donors.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Musical groups established in 1981 Australian opera companies Culture of Brisbane Companies based in Brisbane 1981 establishments in Australia Music in Queensland