Oz Opera

Opera Australia's Oz Opera is the touring arm of the company. Oz Opera performs in communities both large and small across Australia, and gives many people of all ages their first experience of opera.

Oz Opera aims to inspire and engage with adult and student audiences in Australia, beyond the mainstage programs in Melbourne and Sydney. It achieves this by:

• A national tour of a fully staged opera that performs in metropolitan, regional and remote communities across Australia. In 2010 Oz Opera will tour Verdi's La traviata to metropolitan, remote and regional locations across Victoria, Tasmania, ACT and New South Wales.
• Oz Opera's Schools Company also gives around 400 schools performances each year in NSW and Victoria, enabling nearly 80,000 primary-aged students to experience the magic of opera in their very own classrooms, many for the first time.

The inspirational work of Oz Opera is supported by it Principal Sponsor Australia Post. In October 2006 the collaboration between Australia Post and Opera Australia's Oz Opera was recognised by the Australian Business Arts Foundation and awarded the 2006 QantasLink Regional Award. The award honours regional business arts partnerships.

The Oz Opera 2010 tour receives crucial funding from Playing Australia, the Australian Government's national performing arts touring program, which gives Australian's across the country the opportunity to see some of our best performing arts, and through the Opera Conference, the national partnership of professional opera companies which is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Oz Opera – Quick Facts

Oz Opera is:

• Well-travelled: Since 1996 Oz Opera has travelled more than 120,000 kilometres by road, air and sea around Australia – that's three times the circumference of the Earth! Oz Opera has also performed in London at the BITE:02 and at the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals
• Widely experienced: Oz Opera has been experienced by nearly 132,000 people across Australia, having given over 300 performances in 95 different communities
• Adaptable: Oz Opera has performed in nearly venue imaginable – from theatres to aircraft hangars, circus tents, hay sheds, basketball courts, school quadrangles and town halls
• Understandable: All Oz Opera shows are sung in English
• Affordable: The generousity of Playing Australia, Australia Post, the Opera Conference and our State Government partners has enabled those living in the regions to enjoy an Oz Opera performance for as little as $30 per ticket
• For people of all ages: Half of Oz Opera's audience is under 55 years
• An integral part of Australia's cultural industry: Oz Opera's regional touring has created more than 2,650 weeks work for artists and technicians, and has been associated with the commissions of numerous new Australian works.

 

Oz Opera is based at the Melbourne Opera Centre

Cnr Fanning and Fawkner St
Southbank VIC 3006

For further information about Oz Opera:
Phone: (03) 9685 3777 Fax: (03) 9686 1441
Email: ozopera@opera-australia.org.au