Artistic Director / CEO Major Brisbane Festivals

Lyndon Terracini was appointed in November 2007 as Chief Executive of Major Brisbane Festivals, which currently creates and delivers Brisbane Festival and Riverfestival.

His appointment as Artistic Director of the 2006 and 2008 Brisbane Festivals comes after outstanding success in the same role at Queensland Music Festival.

As Artistic Director Brisbane Festival 2006, Lyndon created the largest program to date, including a major world forum, bringing Mikhail Gorbachev and a host of Nobel Peace Laureates to Brisbane, as well as hosting some of the greatest performing arts companies in the world alongside outstanding free and ticketed events.

Lyndon Terracini has enjoyed a highly successful international opera career as well as a successful career as an actor, director and writer.
He made his debut in 1976 as Sid in Albert Herring with The Australian Opera at the Sydney Opera House.

Notable performances include the title role in the world premiere of ROSA - A Horse Drama (Louis Andriessen and Peter Greenaway) (1994,1998) for the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, the title role in Stephen Climax (Hans Zender) for the Frankfurt Opera, Elliot Carter’s Syringa at the Tonnehalle in Zurich, a Charles Ives Recital with Ensemble Modern at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, 8 Songs for a Mad King at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, the Podewil Theatre in Berlin, at the Barossa Music Festival, the Brisbane Biennial and the Huntington Festival and Sydney Festival, the role of Byron in Mer de Glace (Meale/Malouf) for The Australian Opera, Gregor in Metamorphosis (Brian Howard), Der Alte in Die Gespenstersonate (Reimann) for Opera Factory Zurich in the Stadttheaters of Bern, Luzern and Zurich, the title role in the Australian premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd for the State Opera of South Australia, El Cimarron at the Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Barossa and Darwin (Guitar) Festivals and Sancio Panza in the world premiere of the Henze/Paisiello opera Don Quischotte at the Montepulciano Festival in Italy.

In 1993, Lyndon Terracini founded Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA), which developed into one of the most important performing arts organisations in regional Australia and was awarded the Myer Foundation Group Award in 2002.

For NORPA, Lyndon wrote the text and music and also directed Conversations at the Ryan Hotel, Faces in the Street and The Cars That Ate Paris, which he adapted from Peter W eir’s film of the same name.
Lyndon Terracini has also performed many of the great baritone roles from the traditional repertoire including Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, Escamillo in Carmen, Don Giovanni, Marcello in La Boheme and Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro which he has also filmed for Channel 4 TV in London.

More recent performances include the title role in Alley – The Opera at the New Zealand International Festival, Experimentum Mundi at the Adelaide Festival, the leading role in The Voluptuous Tango (Dominic Muldowney) in Frankfurt which he recorded for the Hessische Rundfunk, Macheath in The Threepenny Opera for the Festival of Perth, Coming Together (Rzeweski), The Orestia and Kassandra (Xenakis) for Contemporary Music Events in Melbourne, the world premiere performance of Dominic Muldowney’s The Fall of Jerusalem and the Mozart Requiem with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra which was recorded and broadcast throughout the United Kingdom, as well as singing the title role in Gaugin for the Melbourne Festival.

In 2002, Lyndon Terracini again performed the title role in Sweeney Todd for the State Opera of South Australia, Mr Barbecue in Lismore for NORPA and at Brisbane Powerhouse with the Queensland Orchestra and the world premiere of Love in the Age of Therapy for the Melbourne Festival and the Sydney Festival in January 2003.

In 2004, he sang the role of the main character and was nominated for an AFI Award (best adapted screenplay) for the film entitled The Widower. Also in 2004, Lyndon sang the title role in Sweeney Todd at the Derby Playhouse (U.K.) and Mr Barbecue at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

In June 1999, Lyndon Terracini was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music Theatre by Central Queensland University. In February 2000, he was awarded a Fellowship by the Music Fund of the Australia Council for the Arts. In 2001, he was awarded an Honorary D. Univ. from Southern Cross University and in July 2005 he was awarded the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Cultural leadership Award by Australian Business Arts Foundation. In 2005 Lyndon Terracini was also appointed Adjunct Professor at University of Queensland and in 2007 he was awarded a D.Univ. from Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
In 2006, Lyndon wrote the widely acclaimed platform paper, A Regional State of Mind, which was published by Currency House. He was also a member of the International Jury for the Venice Biennale for Music in 2006.

Lyndon Terracini was appointed Artistic Director and CEO of the Queensland Music Festival in July 2000 and directed the, 2001, 2003 and 2005 Festivals. He was appointed CEO and Artistic Director of Brisbane Festival in 2005 and is currently the Chief Executive of Major Brisbane Festivals and Artistic Director Brisbane Festival and Riverfestival.

Click here for Lyndon's Biography