Opera Goes to the Beach on the Gold Coast

As part of the Bleach arts festival, Greenmount (one of the Gold Coast’s most famous beaches) will become a stage for an operatic performance of The Magic Flute.

According to Director of the Bleach festival, Louise Bezzina, this will be the Gold Coast’s largest cultural event ever held. Ms Bezzina explained that, essentially, a theatre will be created on the beach and that to do this a huge range of quite complex logistical arrangements need to occur.

Lyndon Terrancini, Director of Opera Australia, was first introduced to the Bleach festival in 2012 and was inspired to create Opera on the Beach. Terrancini has specifically created this version of The Magic Flute for the beach setting.

The 2014 Bleach festival runs from March 7-23 and there will be three Opera on the Beach performances from May 9-11. It is anticipated that as many as 9,000 people will attend these performances.

Ms Bezzina said that the effects of sound in the outdoors need to be considered when thinking about these performances. She believes that performances will be enhanced by the sound of waves crashing in the background, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.