Post-Performance Reception: Opening Night of Mozart Airborne

Thank you Anne. Leader of the Opposition Tim Nicholls, Brisbane City Councillor Vicki Howard, Expressions Dance Company Chair Marian Gibney; senior representatives from our State’s wonderfully uplifting arts organisations; ladies and gentlemen. I thank Opera Queensland and EDC for inviting me to attend Mozart Airborne tonight. And I’m delighted to have this opportunity, as Patron of Opera Queensland, and lover of the performing arts, to express my appreciation for the thrilling performance we have just enjoyed.

The music was glorious, the dancing was marvellous, and the music and dancing together took the performance to realms beyond both those descriptions.

The fact that this production was the first in QPAC’s refurbished Cremorne Theatre made the evening even more memorable. 

Mozart and dance are not strangers. For instance, those who have seen the film Amadeus might remember a scene in which Mozart was forbidden from incorporating ballet into one of his operas.  Apparently that really did happen, and Mozart did indeed get his way in the end.

Mozart Airborne, however, has a quite different raison d’etre, possesses its own distinctive sensibility, and represents a unique creative collaboration.    

It is absolutely fitting that Lindy Hume, Natalie Weir, and the five other talented choreographers who collaborated on this performance, responded to the work of a composer whose music so often seems to defy gravity in its suppleness and lyricism. Airborne indeed!

It must have been a great challenge for choreographers to work with Mozart arias that speak so knowingly and intimately of human emotion. And yet, it must have been an unmissable opportunity for dancers, singers and pianist to engage closely with this sublime music.    

I extend my wholehearted congratulations to Lindy, Natalie, and her co-choreographers.

I thank Alex Ranieri for his exceptional musicianship at the heart of the work.

I thank and congratulate the Opera Queensland soloists for their moving and masterful interpretations of this wonderful music, and the six Expressions Dance Company performers for their artistry, power, and grace.

I congratulate the often unseen but inestimable production staff for their contributions to the success of the performance.

And I thank QPAC for its pivotal role in bringing Mozart Airborne to fruition.

Now that your hard work is done, for today at least, I urge you to enjoy the evening. Thank you.