Opera Queensland's The Sopranos to soar at Eagle Farm Racecourse
Brisbane Racing Club is proud to host the final performance next month at Eagle Farm Racecourse of the touring production of Opera Queensland’s The Sopranos.
Tickets are now on sale for the Sunday 5 June performance, priced from $10 for general admission and with a range of hospitality packages available. Gates will open at 3.30pm, functions at 4pm, and the performance starts at 5pm. Visit brc.com.au for more information and to book.
The Sopranos celebrates the bold and rebellious roles women have played throughout the history of music. Songs from contemporary female powerhouses such as Sara Bareilles, Helen Reddy and Dolly Parton are woven together with arias sung by Opera’s great female protagonists, like Puccini’s Tosca, Bizet’s Carmen, Lucia (from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor) and The Queen of the Night (Mozart’s The Magic Flute).
Written and directed by Opera Queensland Artistic Associate Laura Hansford and CEO and Artistic Director Patrick Nolan, this intimate touring production of The Sopranos was reimagined from an original, commissioned work by Brisbane poet and writer Sarah Holland-Batt which Opera Queensland premiered at QPAC in March.
The new production showcases the talents of five of Australia’s leading opera singers - sopranos Amber Evans, Eva Kong and Eleanor Greenwood and baritones Jason Barry-Smith and Michael Honeyman – under Barry-Smith’s musical direction.
The final performance at Eagle Farm will bring to an end the production’s five-week, 11-stop tour of Queensland that began in Bundaberg and will extend to as far north as Cairns and as far west as Longreach and to many of the state’s iconic locations.
It will also mark the second year of the partnership between Opera Queensland and Brisbane Racing Club. Last year, Eagle Farm Racecourse was the setting for the final performance of the company’s celebration of Opera and Country music, Are You Lonesome Tonight, after its extensive and successful tour around Queensland.
“Building a strong arts culture in Queensland takes passion and partnerships with like-minded organisations who are committed to providing access to the arts within their communities,” Mr Nolan said.
“Our partnership with Brisbane Racing Club in 2022 offers many more opportunities to share the art form within the precinct in dynamic and relevant performances like The Sopranos.
“By hosting the finale of The Sopranos tour at Eagle Farm Racecourse we will once again bring Opera and the arts into a vibrant, community-focused precinct.”
Brisbane Racing Club CEO Tony Partridge said the Club was excited to welcome Opera Queensland back.
“The racecourse is an historic, charming and versatile setting for community and arts events, as the staging of Are You Lonesome Tonight last year demonstrated. It was wonderful to see a standing ovation when the curtain came down from the audiences across the grandstand, on the Members Lawn and in function areas.
“We look forward to hosting The Sopranos finale and to be sponsoring this production as another inclusive, community event.”