With a mission to bring opera to all Queenslanders, regardless of where you live, and a true passion for the art form, Opera Queensland is delivering another dynamite season this year. One such bucket-list-worthy showcase is the Festival of Outback Opera, which is coming to some of the state’s most charming regional towns this May. At the inaugural festival last year, audiences were treated to performances in unique places like a hundred-year-old plane hangar and atop a raised plateau where dinosaurs once roamed under the night sky. This year’s edition continues to celebrate the wonder of opera in Queensland’s iconic outback with a program of genuinely spectacular outdoor concerts and pop-up performances in storied locales. Of course, it goes without saying that there are no concerts without the sublime musicians behind them, and this year’s festival is headlined by Greta Bradman with music direction by Dane Lam and Kang Wang, leading the sensational UQ Pulse Chamber Orchestra.

The 2022 Festival of Outback Opera boasts two spectacular open-sky concerts at Winton and Longreach, treating audiences to classical compositions as the Milky Way explodes out of
the night sky. On Friday May 20, Dark Sky Serenade explores some of the most beautiful love songs ever written by Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Tosti. The concert stage is perched 75 metres above the surrounding landscape at the spectacular Jump-Up in the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum – talk about a sky-high gig! Singing in the Night is set on Camden Park Station, under the vast horizons of the historic 18,000-acre working sheep and cattle station. Taking over the famed Longreach destination on Saturday May 21, this unmissable concert features music by Dvorak, Richard Strauss, Handel and Mahler, as well as a special excerpt from Vivaldi’s The Seasons with the UQ Pulse Chamber Orchestra. The festival also features four performances of the regional tour of The Sopranos, and Opera Queensland’s popular community singalong Sing Sing Sing in Winton’s North Gregory Hotel – yes, you can belt out your best Pavarotti in the pub where Banjo Paterson first debuted his poem ‘Waltzing Matilda’. Now, pack your bushranger hat and fill up the car – this is one set of starry serenades worth travelling for. If five-star air travel is more your style, all-inclusive day-return charter flights tickets are available from just $1149* per person. Psst .. you can learn more here.

Tickets are on sale now for Opera Queensland’s Festival of Outback Opera. Click here to take a deep dive into the program and to buy tickets.

Opera Queensland’s Festival of Outback Opera is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

This article was written in partnership with our friends at Opera Queensland.