Opera Queensland unveils a diverse and vibrant 2026 season, offering everything from masterclasses and recitals to operatic fairy tales and grand musicals. Dive into the world of opera, where timeless arias, beloved classics, and new interpretations promise to enchant audiences across Queensland.

Opera Queensland's Spectacular 2026 Lineup: A Melodic Journey

Come in your riding boots and ballgown and be ready for a gala like no other.

An evening of fine dining, sublime singing and dancing set among the coolaibah tree-lined Thomson River at Smithy’s Camp. This relaxed, yet stylish gathering embodies the spirit and iconography of the Outback with just enough glitz to ensure the evening is a memorable one.

Atmospheric lighting sets the mood as some of Australia’s finest singers deliver a series of opera favourites throughout the 4-course meal, each perfectly paired to the culinary offering. After dessert, the dancefloor opens with an upbeat DJ set and you’re invited to continue the celebrations as the bar remains open while you dance the night away.

Looking for something extra special? Start the evening with an optional Sunset River Cruise or Silverbullet Rail Experience to make the most of your Festival of Outback Opera experience in Longreach.

Opera Ball

Smithy's Camp Longreach

Treat yourself to fabulous singing and socialising, led by talented Opera Queensland artists.

Sing Sing Sing is a fun-filled session of music making and merriment for singers of all levels of experience and ability. Revel in your love of song in the fresh morning air outside The Drover's Place across from the iconic Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame.

Sing Sing Sing

The Drovers Place

Singing in the Night returns to Camden Park Station again in 2026!

This majestic concert takes place on an 18,000-acre working cattle station with 360-degree views of uninterrupted horizon, which has played host to everyone from the country’s first stockmen to Queen Elizabeth II.

On this very special evening some of Opera Queensland’s finest singers perform under the stars, accompanied by an orchestra joined by musicians from the University of Queensland.

As the sun sets over the desert horizon, the performers are illuminated by the spellbinding colours of the outback complemented by Bernie Tan-Hayes' spectacular lighting. Get out your cameras, this is Insta-grand!

Singing in the Night

Camden Park Station

Opera Queensland partners with Sheehan Events to offer a day-return Charter Flight for Singing in the Night in Longreach (Saturday 23 May 2026).

Secure your seat for a day to remember at Festival of Outback Opera.

Start your journey with a Champagne breakfast and fly to Longreach on an exclusive Alliance Charter Flight with fellow travellers to Opera Queensland’s scintillating performance Singing in the Night at Camden Park Station, an 18,000-acre working cattle station with 360-degree views of uninterrupted horizon, which has played host to everyone from the country’s first stockmen to Queen Elizabeth II.

Day Trip Charter Flight to Longreach

ibis Brisbane Airport Hotel

The Adventures of Figaro is a high-energy, colourful riot of sunny-Spanish madness in which three young opera talents sing, dance and act their way through a 50-minute version of Rossini’s much-loved opera, The Barber of Seville.

Directed by the multi-award-winning team at Shake & Stir Theatre Co, this madcap tale follows the lively Figaro as he attempts to help Count Almaviva find the courage, nerve and skills to tell Rosina she has the perfect singing pipes to be in his band!

The Adventures of Figaro

Longreach Cultural Centre

Winton Shire Hall 

Join us at the iconic "Way Out West" sign in Winton for sunset and a gin tasting hosted by Western Queensland Spirit. This free event is the perfect way to unwind on the last evening of the festival in Winton.

OQ will provide a musical backdrop whilst our professional photographer captures your portrait in this iconic Outback location, ensuring you leave with the perfect memory of what is guaranteed to be a spectacular afternoon.

The Sundowner

Way Out West Sign Winton

Join us at the iconic North Gregory Hotel in Winton for a lively panel discussion on opera’s unique role in regional life. Together we’ll explore how this multifaceted artform not only connects communities through music and storytelling but also drives cultural tourism when presented in regional spaces. The conversation will also consider how a commitment to sustainable, greener practices in the performing arts can strengthen this impact and help shape a vibrant, resilient future for regional cultural tourism.

Cultural Conversation

North Gregory Hotel

Enjoy glorious music and dazzling night skies.

Dark Sky Serenade returns to the picturesque Jump-Up at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, for a concert 75 metres above the breathtaking surrounding landscape. As the sun sets, sublime music fills the crystal clear air, with breathtaking views and constantly transforming skies as you look out across the vast landscape. As night falls, the stage becomes a cathedral of light amidst the infinite starry sky. This is opera as you have never experienced before.

Dark Sky Serenade

Australian Age of Dinosaurs

Opera Queensland partners with Sheehan Events to offer a day-return Charter Flight for Dark Sky Serenade (Winton, Thursday 21 May 2026).

Secure your seat for a day to remember at Festival of Outback Opera.

Start your journey with a Champagne breakfast and fly to Winton on an exclusive Alliance Charter Flight with fellow travellers to Opera Queensland’s scintillating performance Dark Sky Serenade at the extraordinary Australian Age of Dinosaurs and a jam-packed day of sight-seeing.

Day Trip Charter Flight to Winton

As part of the Festival of Outback Opera, OQ invites all visitors and Winton locals to come together for a session of Music Trivia! Test your knowledge in this annual festival experience in a fun and engaging pub trivia that asks questions about all musical tastes. Grab a beverage and make your way to the historic North Gregory Hotel courtyard to play along, stick around afterwards to hear the bush poetry of Banjo Paterson performed by Gregory North.

Music Trivia

Join Opera Queensland and Red Dirt Tours on a half-day birdwatching tour to experience the beauty of bird song and rugged rock formations in Bladensburg National Park. You will visit the old homestead of Bladensburg station for a morning tea and be serenaded by artists from the Festival of Outback Opera. Take a break from driving; sit back, relax and let us take the dirt roads for you!

Bladensburg National Park is home to nearly every ecosystem in the Winton region - black soil plains with Mitchell Grass downs, riverine channel country, clay pans, jump up country, and water holes. The area is home to endangered animal species and is rich with European and Indigenous histories.

Meet outside the Tattersall's Hotel for pickup by Red Dirt Tours at 7:00am. The Balamara bakery will be open from 5:30am if you would like a light breakfast or coffee before departing. The tour will return to Winton at approximately 11:00am. (Please note, this means it will not be possible to attend both the Dawn Chorus Friday tour and the Long Lunch taking place in Longreach that day.)

The Dawn Chorus

Bladensburg National Park

Join us for an evening of exciting opera moments live and on screen to kick-start Festival of Outback Opera 2026. Our Festival Opening takes place in the beautiful location of The Royal Theatre Winton, one of the world’s most unique cinematic and live performance venues under the beautiful Winton sky.

The evening will begin with an official Opening Ceremony for the festival. Audiences are invited to attend the official welcome and speeches commencing at 6pm.

From 6:30pm there will be a 40-minute recital by an Opera Queensland artist followed by an interval before audiences enjoy a screening of acclaimed film Tinā under the stars commencing at 7:30pm.

Experience the power of storytelling on screen with Tinā, a moving New Zealand drama about love, family, and resilience. Set in the wake of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Tinā tells the story of Mareta Percival, a grieving Samoan teacher who finds hope through music. By forming a choir at an elite private school, she weaves the cultural symphonies of her heritage to connect with her students and heal. A moving portrait of resilience, community, and the power of song themes that resonate deeply with the Festival of Outback Opera.

Festival Opening: Ceremony, Recital & Movie

The Royal Theatre Winton

All Together Now! is touring South-West, Central-West and North-West Queensland in May – June 2026 

Let’s raise our voices and celebrate the joy of singing together.

Get ready for an unforgettable evening with All Together Now!, a celebration of the power of song and the opportunity to sing your heart out. Starring Queensland’s own Jason Barry Smith and singers from Opera Queensland’s Young Artist program, All Together Now blends beloved operatic classics with toe-tapping sing-alongs, bringing audiences together with the magic of music. From timeless arias by Bizet and Puccini to feel-good favourites like Sweet Caroline and Waltzing Matilda, this show is a joyous reminder that music is the great connector. 

Whether you’re a seasoned opera lover or simply love to sing along, All Together Now is the perfect night out to celebrate harmony in every sense of the word.

All Together Now!

Barcaldine Town Hall

Blackall Cultural Centre

Bond University

Cloncurry Shire Hall

Diggers Entertainment Centre

Dustarena

Goondiwindi Cinema and Theatre

Longreach Showground

Mount Isa Civic Centre

Tambo Shire Hall

Wallumbilla Hall

Working with poets including Sarah Holland-Batt, John Kinsella and Ellen van Neerven, Ford has created a collection of songs that sing praise to the everyday. Be it in the shape of a vase or desire by a river at dusk, Red Dirt Hymns sings of an Australia we all know and love.

If The Birth of Bel Canto is a concert exploring the beginnings of bel canto music, in Red Dirt Hymns we invite you to explore the art of song today.

Red Dirt Hymns

Opera Queensland

Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle  (Little solemn mass), written in 1863, is anything but little and solemn, set to fill the iconic QPAC Concert Hall with over 100 performers on stage. This is a glorious celebration of sacred music written towards the end of Rossini’s life, a work of profound beauty and exultant joy. 

Written for two pianos and harmonium, with four soloists and choir, our collaboration with The University of Queensland sees us joined by renowned organist Dr Graeme Morton and two virtuosic pianists –  Liam Viney and Mia Huang.

Perfect for seasoned concertgoers and newcomers, Rossini combines orchestral and choral textures, to create a work distinguished by its unashamed romanticism.

Petite Messe Solennelle

Queensland Performing Arts Centre

The Birth of Bel Canto traces the roots of bel canto opera back to the madrigal. 

Known for its romantic poetry, intricate musical textures, and emotive vocal lines, the madrigal forms the basis of the bel canto operatic style. Five solo voices, accompanied by continuo (cello and harpsichord), will bring to life the expressive works of Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Strozzi, and other leading composers of the time. 

These early songs explore themes of love, heartbreak, and the complexity of the human condition – the emotional terrain that laid the foundations for opera as an artform.

The Birth of Bel Canto

St Brigid's Church

La Cenerentola (Cinderella) is a tale of heart and humour full of clever disguises, unlikely heroes, a midnight ball and the kindness of one very determined young woman.

Part of the Brisbane Bel Canto festival, La Cenerentola is set to the sparkling and exquisite music of Rossini and swaps pumpkin carriages and fairy godparents for an evening of magical music and theatrical mischief.

When an invitation to the Prince’s Ball arrives, the gentle and warm-hearted Angelina (Cinderella) is overlooked by her selfish stepsisters and father Don Magnifico. However, kindness can conjure an unpredictable magic; when Cinderella captures the heart of Prince Ramiro, it’s not the slipper that fits, but the heart that shines.

There are plenty of laughs, thanks to the antics of Magnifico and Dandini, a pair of scheming stepsisters, and a mix-up at the ball. Add some dazzling singing and you’ve got a night at the opera offering the rare and joyous conclusion that fairytales really can come true.

La Cenerentola

Jessica O’Donoghue and Jack Symonds’s undead. is a virtuosic celebration of Australian musical and literary talent.

Opera’s greatest stories are still being written, here and now.  Jessica’s performances are known to be a “tour de force of dramatic range held together with brilliant vocal precision and control” (Sydney Morning Herald) which “deftly juggle vocal virtuosity and searing energy” (Limelight).

The arias in undead. have all been especially composed for and tailored to Jessica’s unique musical and theatrical abilities, mostly premiered within productions of Sydney Chamber Opera, where Jack is Artistic Director. 
 
This recital not only showcases Jessica’s deep commitment to representing modern, complex female characters but also includes premieres and original works by both Jessica and Jack, offering a compelling cross-section of Australia’s contemporary operatic landscape. As a spectacular finale, Thomas Ades’s Life Story, a wild portrait of a Tennessee Williams one-night stand as seen through the vocalism of late-period Billie Holiday receives a scorching interpretation by these two artists who have “redefined operatic performance in Australia” (Australian Book Review).

Jessica O’Donoghue & Jack Symonds perform their album ‘undead.’

Sip, sing and socialise with Opera Queensland’s next Sing Sing Sing, a fun-filled night of music making and merriment for singers of all levels of experience.

With cocktails and cosy camaraderie, opera lovers and newcomers gather together to become performers at Opera Queensland’s community participation event, Sing Sing Sing.

Guided by host Jason Barry-Smith, you are invited to sing familiar songs from the world of opera. As voices soar, the room resonates with the passion and power of opera, creating a truly unforgettable fusion of high culture and casual conviviality.

It’s an ode to the democratising force of music, reminding us that the magic of opera can be found in the most unexpected places and that the power of song can unite people from all walks of life in a shared appreciation of the arts.

This workshop is for singers aged over 18 with solo experience. Collaborate with Opera Queensland’s leading principal performers and seasoned pianists during a group session where you present and polish a solo operatic or classical vocal piece of your own choosing.

This experience will help you refine your vocal abilities, from breath management and music reading to phrasing, language, and pronunciation.

Solo Vocal Workshop: Opera & Classical

he incomparable Allan Clayton and Kate Golla set out once again on A Winter’s Journey, warmed by Fred Williams’ glowing visions of Australia.

Following triumphant performances in Australia and the UK, Musica Viva Australia is thrilled to present A Winter’s Journey in association with Opera Queensland. 

The wanderer bids farewell to his lover and steps out into the night. Why does he leave? Where is he going? We don’t know. The journey is the thing.

Franz Schubert’s last song cycle, A Winter’s Journey, sets the poems of Wilhelm Müller as a landscape of emotions from loneliness to courage. Roadside features – a linden tree, an icy river, a malevolent crow – become characters in the drama, triggering old memories and new hope. And throughout it all, Schubert’s exquisite writing for voice and piano paints the emotional and physical surroundings in sound.

A Winter’s Journey

Redland Performing Arts Centre

Brisbane-born mezzo-soprano and former Opera Queensland Young Artist Xenia Puskarz Thomas presents a captivating recital exploring the depths of desire, longing, and memory.

Joined by her husband David Belkovski, the first half immerses audiences in the sensual world of Baroque and French repertoire, music alive with passion, immediacy, and irresistible physicality. The program then turns inward with Schumann’s Liederkreis, a hauntingly beautiful song cycle that delves into dreams, reflection, and the ache of what remains just out of reach. 

A graduate of the Juilliard School and Queensland Conservatorium, Xenia has already earned international acclaim, most recently at the 2024 Salzburger Festspiele in The Idiot, where she was named one of The New York Times’ Top Five Breakout Artists of the Festival. Her artistic journey began at Opera Queensland, where she first discovered her passion through the Moving Opera workshop in Grade 10. 

This recital promises a compelling journey through desire, intimacy, and reflection, delivered by one of Australia’s most exciting young voices in a program that balances sensuality, depth, and lyrical beauty.

Xenia Puskarz Thomas and David Belkovski: Desire and Longing

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, this fairytale opera tells the story of the luminous water nymph Rusalka. Seduced by a Prince, Rusalka abandons her family and everything she knows in the hope of finding true freedom. But all that glitters is not gold. 

Dvořák’s score shimmers with sweeping romance and the many colours of glorious folk music, anchored by the spellbinding and much loved aria ‘Song to the Moon’. 

A breathtaking production of grand scale, by the award-winning team who created La Traviata.

Rusalka

Alma Latina! explores the vibrant soul of Latin music, featuring the much-loved Colombian tenor Carlos Bárcenas in a performance that brings to life the passion and rhythm of Latin America. 

Well known to Opera Queensland audiences, Carlos was most recently seen alongside soprano Jessica Pratt as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. 

Joined by acclaimed pianist John Woods, Carlos will lead audiences on a musical journey through beloved Latin classics and contemporary favourites. His expressive voice and deep connection to his South American roots promise an unforgettable experience.

Carlos Bárcenas & John Woods: Alma Latina!

Celebrate the centenary of one of Australia’s greatest operatic legends in a dazzling recital of vocal and instrumental brilliance. 

Coloratura sensation Alexandra Flood joins flutist Jonathan Henderson and pianist Vatche Jambazian for an unforgettable evening that honours the artistry of Dame Joan Sutherland – “La Stupenda” herself. 

Experience the brilliance of arias and works made famous by Sutherland, alongside breathtaking music that captures the dialogue between the soprano voice and its closest companion, the flute. From the emotional drama of Hamlet and Dinorah to the shimmering elegance of Ravel, Delibes, Händel and Bach, this program promises moments of pure virtuosity and radiant beauty. 

A celebration of voice, virtuosity and one of opera’s most iconic stars. This is a concert not to be missed.

Alexandra Flood with Jonathan Henderson & Vatche Jambazian: There’s nothing like a Dame

For more than 35 years, the Opera Queensland Young Artist Program has nurtured the next generation of Australian opera talent, providing unparalleled opportunities to perform at the highest standards both locally and on the world stage. 

This beautifully diverse program presents solo and ensemble operatic repertoire from Mozart to Puccini in an exuberant celebration of what it means to be young. Experience dazzling voices, passionate storytelling, and exhilarating musicality as these performers reveal the joy, vitality, and promise of the next generation.

Young Artist Program Showcase: Viva La Voce

Four decades since its Broadway premiere, Into the Woods has established itself as a beloved musical classic.

In 2026, Opera Queensland, Queensland Theatre Company and Queensland Symphony Orchestra collaborate to bring a new production of this Tony Award-winning masterpiece to QPAC’s sparkling Glasshouse Theatre.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, Into the Woods follows iconic and well-loved characters like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and Rapunzel. In a world where fairy tales collide, this timeless musical asks what happens when the story ends and “… everyone lives happily ever after”.

When deepest desires are fulfilled, not all wishes are granted without a cost…

Into the Woods dazzles with its unforgettable score, cast of dearly loved characters and a plot that refuses to play by the rules.

Opera Queensland

Jun 25 - Jul 4, 2026

Rusalka

Mar 11 - Jul 15, 2026

Solo Vocal Workshop: Opera & Classical

16 - 18 Jul, 2026

Carlos Bárcenas & John Woods: Alma Latina!

20 - 22 Aug, 2026

Alexandra Flood with Jonathan Henderson & Vatche Jambazian: There’s nothing like a Dame

10 - 12 Sep, 2026

Young Artist Program Showcase: Viva La Voce

May 24, 2026

Opera Ball

May 24, 2026

Sing Sing Sing

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