‘The Little Green Road to Fairyland’ Post-event Reception

Thank you, Chair, for your very kind introduction.

I’m delighted to have this opportunity, as Patron of the Queensland Music Festival and Queensland Ballet, to express Kaye’s and my appreciation for the whimsically charming performance we have just enjoyed.

The costumes, the scenery, the music, the dancing – all of it, so totally captivating! A gem! I said to Li after – how many times have I said that was ‘brilliant’?

The Australian bush has long been a fertile source of artistic inspiration. Its vast, undulating spaces and magical gums place us firmly in the realm of the spirit.

And today you, our wonderful Queensland Ballet, have brought it to such vivid life.

It is always a great challenge to create a ballet which enchants all ages.

But here today you have done it so well – confirmed by not one, not two, but three generations of de Jerseys (and friends).

You have so wonderfully sparked joy into the littlest lovers of dance and music. For those, I think it is polite to say, “more mature” performing arts-goers, you have led us back to a joyous pocket of our past!

I thank everyone involved in bringing to the stage ‘The Little Green Road to Fairyland’. I especially applaud the decision to take this show last month to appreciative audiences in Roma, Saint George and Goondiwindi.

I extend my wholehearted congratulations to choreographer, Paul Boyd, and Elena Kats-Chernin for her delightful original score. I also thank the board, staff, volunteers and sponsors of the Queensland Music Festival – we have been the beneficiaries of some truly inspired programming this year.

I hope the rest of the season is successful, busy, and rewarding for you all. Thank you.

This afternoon, Queensland Ballet, you have demonstrated this: fairies, like angels, do exist; they are always with you, but they elude capture – though sometimes they leave some tangible memory behind!