Melbourne's scrappiest opera company just turned 10, and they're throwing a party at Brunswick Ballroom loud enough to prove it.
BK Opera is celebrating 10 years of chaotic, unapologetic opera-making with one huge fundraiser party at Brunswick Ballroom.
Founded a decade ago by Kate Millett and James Penn, BK Opera has built more than 20 productions without a single dollar of government funding or a board telling them what audiences can handle.
The company has carved out a reputation for opera that’s loud, physical and occasionally a little dangerous, and a milestone birthday isn’t about to slow that down. Ten years in, BK Opera is marking the occasion the only way it knows how: with a packed room, a full bar and absolutely no apologies.
BK Opera at Brunswick Ballroom
- When: 3 July
- Where: Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne
- Doors 6:30pm, Show starts 8:30pm
- Tickets here
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For this one-off celebration, the team is pulling one song from every opera they’ve ever staged, spanning Carmen, Macbeth, Bluebeard and Don Giovanni, alongside works by Poulenc, Verdi, Maxwell Davies and Offenbach.
The whole thing wraps with the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, closing out a decade of opera with about as much Wagner as one room can reasonably handle.
Beyond the music, the night doubles as a fundraiser, with every dollar raised going straight back into BK Opera’s next decade of work.
Ticket sales, drinks at the bar and a bit of generosity from the crowd are what’s kept the company running without outside backing so far, and organisers are hoping the night keeps that streak alive.
Expect a room that swings from grand drama to total chaos within a single song, and a crowd that’s there for both the music and the cause.
It’s a fitting way to mark 10 years for a company that’s never had a safety net to begin with, built instead on a community of artists and audiences who reckon opera deserves a bigger, weirder stage than it usually gets in Australia.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Brunswick Ballroom.
