On Saturday night we bid Candide bon voyage with a spine-tingling, powerhouse performance. People cried, wolf-whistled and screamed for the artists and rockstar musicians of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra led by the phenomenal Paul Kildea.

This performance of Candide was unlike any other. For the final chorus an 80-strong group of Open Stage Workshop participants rose from the audience to sing ‘Make Our Garden Grow’ with our professional artists. At the curtain calls, the house erupted with a standing ovation and from the top of the balcony to the hallways backstage, there was not a dry eye in the house.

Lastly, a very special thanks to our pirate photographer Bradley Daley for an incredible behind-the-scenes tour of this unforgettable show.

CANDIDE PHOTO GALLERY

It was brilliant and the finale spine tinglingly emotional. Julie-Anne

OperaQ does Bernstein’s genius justice – a fantastic show. John

Didn’t think I’d belly laugh at the Opera. What a wonderful rendition. Thanks Opera Queensland for making Opera increasingly accessible to us, the community. Helen

Brilliant!!!! A must see production! Chris

Do it again!!!!!!!!!! Faina

It was AMAZING!!!!!! So funny and a brilliant experience! Well done OperaQ. Kim

Thank-you for a wonderful week of singing and theatrics and performance. Congratulations to the OperaQ Open Stage team at who always put together a fantastic team of musicians, opera singers, and directors to coach, cajole and encourage the crew of Community Open Stagers into a live opera chorus. It was truly a dream of delight, we were thunderstruck by what we saw, and enraptured last night ! Thank-you for your hard work. Katrina

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