Opera Queensland is an opera company based in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. 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 The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank, Queensland, South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it ...

(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 was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

'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

, 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 democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

, the Federal Government through

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as 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 announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

, 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