Season Preview 2020

Artistic Director Patrick Nolan’s second season for Opera Queensland has something for everyone. Beginning with Lorelei, an irreverent opera cabaret by Julian Langdon, Casey Bennetto and Gillian Cosgriff, the work’s inclusion reflects the director’s well-established interest in new work. A feminist take on the myth of the Lorelei, beautiful women who lured sailors to their deaths in the Rhine, the work received its world premiere in 2018 by Victorian Opera. Limelight‘s Patricia Maunder hailed it as a “fun, accessible work driven by powerful contemporary ideas.”

Dimity Shepherd, Antoinette Halloran and Ali McGregor. Photo © Pia Johnson

Lorelei subverts the traditional Siren’s tale,” said Artistic Director Patrick Nolan. “We encounter three different versions of the Siren, each questioning the assumptions of their mythic status, changing their tune and their sense of identity in the process. The result is ‘part-cabaret, part-opera, all seduction’.”

“We believe in investing in Australian artists and developing a body of Australian work that will survive and thrive for years to come,” he added.

Its original cast – Ali McGregor, Dimity Shepherd and Antoinette Halloran, described by...