Opera in Australia is an art form that competes against a strong sporting culture. Australia has a relatively small population for its land size, so competition between the various art forms for the percentage of potential patrons is fierce. Pitting those factors against the cost of creating new productions to keep each opera company’s repertoire fresh poses challenges financially and artistically. This is being met by a unique collaboration between the professional companies located in various capital cities across the country.

Who are the Constituent Members of Opera Conference?

The Opera Conference began as a dialogue between the regional opera companies in Australia in the early 1990s. At that stage, the national flagship company, Opera Australia, was receiving federal government funding via the Australia Council. By and large, the regional companies received funding mainly from their respective state governments and funding bodies.

The first of what was to become Opera Conference productions was Tchaikovsy’s Eugene Onegin, which began as a co-production between the now defunct Victorian State Opera and The Lyric Opera (now Opera Queensland). It was adopted by the emerging Conference, with funding injected into the production to enable the Australian Opera, West Australian Opera and State Opera of South Australia to use the production by covering freight and creative costs.