Australia Post is proud to be the principal sponsor of Opera Australia's touring arm, Oz Opera.  This year Oz Opera will be performing Madame Butterfly across locations in Victoria, ACT, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia as part of their regional tour.  Oz Opera's Schools Company will present Cinderella to primary school students across New South Wales and The Sound Garden to students in Victoria. 

Each year, the Oz Opera Schools Company performs to approximately 80,000 children in schools throughout Victoria and New South Wales.  It is estimated that nearly 1.5 million primary school students experienced performances by the Schools Company since the program commenced in 1978.

A visit from the Schools Company is often the first experience of opera for primary school students.  It introduces them to the excitement of operatic performance in their own school environment.

Like Oz Opera, Australia Post believes that this experience should be available to as many students as possible; this is why our organisation has made such a significant investment in the work of Oz Opera and its Schools Company.  Our partnership with Oz Opera ensures that the cost to schools is minimised and the Schools Company can visit both regional and metropolitan areas. 

Australia Post is proud to support Oz Opera, delivering more for children's education in literacy, the environment and the arts.

What is opera?

Opera is much more than 400-year-old musicals. It is an exciting and innovative form of artistic expression. Opera singers are specially trained to sing without microphones and to capture the passion and meaning of the dramatic works in words, actions and songs. Opera is changing all the time to make use of modern technologies and to connect with modern audiences.

What happens behind the scenes?

A whole range of jobs go on behind the scenes of every opera. Before an opera can begin, an enormous amount of planning and problem solving takes place. Taking an opera 'on the road' when it has been designed as a production for the theatre requires a great deal of rewriting and recomposing. A creative team consisting of a director, conductor, designer, lighting designer and reorchestrator is responsible for the production.

To find out more about Oz Opera visit www.opera-Australia.org.au