Opera Queensland (formerly the Lyric Opera of Queensland) was founded in 1981 with funding from the Queensland State Government. The Company was established following the State Government's expressed desire for a professional state opera company which presented all forms of opera, including light opera and musical comedy.

For the first two years of operation (1982-1983) Lyric Opera of Queensland performed at Her Majesty's Theatre in Brisbane. The first production, Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe, opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on 31 July 1982. In 1985, Lyric Opera moved its productions to the newly-opened Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, where it continues to present at least two of its mainstage opera seasons each year. Much of the centre has recently been refurbished ensuring its primacy amongst Brisbane’s performing arts venues.

In 1996, the Company changed its name to Opera Queensland and moved its offices and rehearsal studio into new, purpose-built, premises on South Bank, which it shares with the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. To celebrate the move, Opera Queensland presented a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni as the inaugural production in the new Conservatorium Theatre.  After a critically acclaimed Brisbane season the full production toured to seven regional centres; an enterprise that the Company undertakes annually as part of its commitment to regional Queensland.

Opera Queensland continues to present a varied annual program of works drawn from the opera repertoire, concert productions (including choral works and opera/musical repertoire) and music theatre pieces. The Company is committed to presenting works in new and exciting productions, which confirm opera's relevance in contemporary society. The acclaimed production of La bohème in 2005 which went on to enjoy great success nationally; the critically acclaimed joint production of The Love of the Nightingale toured to three states in 2007; and the world première of an amazing new youth opera, Dirty Apple developed for and by young people in 2009 being just a few examples. The Company also celebrates major events as it did with its recent 13-centre tour of another new work, Waltzing Our Matilda, for Queensland’s sesquicentennial celebrations, Q150.

As a partner in the Opera Conference, the national partnership of professional opera companies, Opera Queensland is actively involved in commissioning and presenting new productions of a scale which would not be possible without the benefit of combined resources. Our 2010 production of Aida is one of many examples.

The Company's firmly-held belief in the imperative need to nourish the repertoire has also seen it commission entirely new works, such as Seeking True South, The Love of the Nightingale, Dirty Apple,and Waltzing Our Matilda. It has also added a number of very successful chamber operas for children (The Sound Garden, The Song Bird, and Hansel & Gretel) to the opera canon over the last few years. A new Opera Queensland commission, Space Encounters, will be added to these in 2010.

The Company has an enviable reputation as the principal provider of high-quality, purpose-designed opera/music theatre productions and other educational activities to Queensland primary and secondary schools. These are often seen by over 32,000 young people each year. Such is the standing of its education program, Exploring Opera!, that projects within it have, over the last few years, also been toured to selected communities in Australia. This coupled with the company’s commitment to the professional development of young and emerging talent is the necessary precursor to its dedication to excellence in all its production and associated activity.

» Full repertoire of productions from 1982 to 2010