Imagine a cross between a pub choir, a Brechtian-style musical and a pub version of a nine-person boy band who invite the audience to drink with them on stage. This is The Choir of Man, a delightful bro-show that leaves you feeling considerably happier than when you walked in. The pub atmosphere is established before the show even begins. As the audience enters the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, the cast invite audience members onto the stage to collect a free beer, sponsored by

Fijian Flying Circus starts with amazingly high energy before the show has even begun. As the audience enters the big top, the cast greets everyone with warm and enthusiastic cries of “Bula!” It is a simple welcome, but one that immediately establishes the generous, joyful spirit of the performance. Created by internationally renowned Fijian dance company VOU, Fijian Flying Circus is Fiji’s first professional circus. Making its Australian premiere at Brisbane Festival, the pr

There is a particular kind of thrill that only live circus can deliver: the knowledge that the extraordinary thing happening metres in front of you is actually happening. There is no second take, no clever edit, and, at the most breathtaking moments, seemingly very little separating triumph from disaster. Cirque du Soleil's KOOZA understands that thrill better than most. Now playing under the Big Top in Brisbane, KOOZA is something of a return to Cirque du Soleil's roots,

Nearly everyone over the age of 15 knows the feeling of wishing they could edit an awkward moment, and AUTO-TUNE turns that universal experience into a highly entertaining, thought-provoking rock opera. Presented as part of HOTA's Winter Season, re:group performance collective’s AUTO-TUNE sits somewhere between a pub gig, coming-of-age story, live music video, and philosophical thought experiment. Set in Wagga Wagga during the mid-2000s, it follows teenage Silverchair devot

There are productions that entertain, productions that impress, and then there are productions that fundamentally change what you believe theatre can be. Pushing boundaries of live theatre performance by blending finely tuned choreographed camera work with exceptional film and theatre techniques, Night Night is theatrical and cinematographic sorcery. Presented by Western Australian company The Last Great Hunt, Night Night is one of the most original productions to visit the G

Brisbane Music Festival has now for years serves as a platform for bringing rarely performed pieces of classical music, musical curations of personal nature, fresh music and world premieres, and a vast array of chamber music experience that is personal both for the artists and for the audience. Well, this year’s festival program (Part 1) features a Mozart sonata marathon. Yes, you read correctly – all 18 sonatas written by the beloved classical composer performed over a perio

Say hello to the grandeur of Russian modernist music of “Rachmaninoff & Shostakovich” performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Umberto Clerici and with pianist Konstantin Shamray as the guest soloist. QSO Morning Masterworks are daytime sessions, slightly abridged versions of the evening Maestro series, and designed especially for those concert goers who prefer a daytime show. Sergei Rachmaninoff and Dmitri Shostakovich make a great concert pairing. B

Are you a classical music lover with nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon? Then head to the ABC studio, the home of Queensland Symphony Orchestra, as it lights up with surprising and rarely heard pieces performed by the orchestra musicians in an intimate and personal setting. The QSO Studio Sessions feature just two to five performers at a time, and they are full of charm and personality. The latest concert in the series, Chamber Players 1, presented a unique experience of a d

There’s something inherently thrilling about watching a mystery unfold live—particularly when no one on stage has learnt a script. Murder Village: An Improvised Whodunnit leans fully into this risk, delivering a cleverly constructed, audience-driven homage to Agatha Christie that is as unpredictable as it is entertaining. From the moment the audience walks into the theatre they are immersed into the 1950s vibe thanks to a French detective, Monsieur Aragon Pewter (played by

How often do you get to hear a trombone concerto performed by a major symphony orchestra? Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s first Morning Masterworks concert for 2026 not only provides this first unique opportunity to the Brisbane audiences with Gavin Higgins’s concerto, but it does so with a female trombonist as the soloist. Add the Renaissance charm of Ottorino Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano and the bold controversy of Aus Italien by Richard Strauss, and we get a program

What is it that binds me to you? There is a particular vulnerability and risk found only in decades-long friendships. It is a space where the boundaries between "chosen friend" and "unavoidable family" will blur, and amongst a wealth of shared history, pockets of hidden resentment will sprout. They may be suppressed and concealed - or ultimately triggered by a moment which so frustratingly acts as a microcosm of that wider new annoying thing about you that I judge harshly,

Sagittarius is a deeply personal journey of a Brisbane saxophonist, Emma di Marco, filled with introspection, courage, and sense of adventure. Developed over a period of seven years, and now part of Brisbane Music Festival, this concert thoughtfully balances fate with freewill, explores choice and expectation, and asks us to ponder on reaching for new heights and avoiding regret. Opening with a work that references fire, we are thrown into a mix of oscillating sounds, sudd