By Nick Dent
A new musical created and performed by artists from the Torres Strait will be part of Opera Queensland’s mainstage program in 2024.
Straight From The Strait tells the story of Torres Strait Islander workers who broke the record for the most track laid in a single day while working on the Mount Newman railway construction project, a backbone of the Australian mining boom in the 1950s and ’60s.
For opera audiences who are more used to their opera being performed in Italian, Straight From The Strait’s mix of English, Meriam Mir, Kala Lagaw Ya and Torres Strait creole will provide a striking contrast.
Opera Queensland CEO and artistic director Patrick Nolan says the arts need to reflect the communities they spring from.Credit: Jess Low
The musical, which will open the Brisbane Festival in August, was unveiled in Opera Queensland’s season launch by CEO and artistic director Patrick Nolan.
Straight from the Strait will join a new production of Henry Purcell’s 1689 opera Dido and Aeneas directed by Yaron Lifschitz that features acrobats from Lifschitz’s Circa company, and a staging of Donizetti’s 1835 Lucia di Lammermoor starring Australian diva Jessica Pratt.
Nolan said that contemporary opera companies were obliged to connect to the communities they spring from.
“The Torres Strait is a unique community in Queensland and so when they approached me and said, ‘we’ve got a story that we want to tell with music’ – well, we frame ‘opera’ as telling stories with music.
“So we felt like we could place this musical in the [program] to show how the arts need to continue to evolve.”
Another innovation will be Brisbane Bel Canto, a new annual Opera Queensland festival that uses mid-19th century ‘bel canto’ Italian operas as a springboard, launching with Lucia di Lammermoor conducted by Richard Mills.
Soprano Jessica Pratt is headlining the first Brisbane Bel Canto festival.Credit: Marco Borrelli
Pratt, who will sing Lucia and perform a one-off concert, was a “superstar”, Nolan said.
“Jessica walks into restaurants in Italy and they give her a standing ovation,” he said.
Meanwhile, a culinary superstar, Maggie Beer, will create a Brisbane Bel Canto Long Lunch, including a dessert called La Dolce Jessica.
The highly acclaimed Festival of Outback Opera will return to Winton and Longreach in May for a week of concerts, pop-up performances, lunches and the Gala Ball.
Touring production Do We Need Another Hero? will combine heroic operatic tunes with songs by Bowie and The Beatles.
Nolan said that OQ had enjoyed “phenomenal growth” over the past five years.
“Our productions have travelled all over the state and the country, including two of them in Opera Australia’s summer season coming up in January,” he said.
Nolan said Straight from the Strait was born of the belief that an arts company is a vital member of the community.
“We need to be telling these stories as much as we need to be telling the stories of Dido and Aeneas and Donizetti,” he said.
Opera Queensland subscriber packages are on sale now, with non-subscriber packages going on sale November 1 and single tickets November 20.
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