Opera Queensland recruits 384 new singers

The company’s newest members range from active servicemen and a singing sparky, to an 86 year old great-grandmother.

Opera Queensland’s La bohème. Image by Daniel Bredberg. 

From Townsville to Toowoomba and Ipswich to Mount Isa, a series of open auditions across Queensland has resulted in the casting of 384 people for an ambitious touring production of Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème.

Opera Queensland’s state-wide recruitment campaign, Project Puccini, saw almost 800 aspiring singers vie for a place in the production, which will feature a new chorus of locals in each of the nine locations it visits.

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts