Opera At The Dish – Reviewed

We weren’t sure of what to expect from the Opera at the Dish, especially as we had experienced torrential rain on a daily basis leading up to the event. Everything had been very well organised, so that we could park in Parkes and catch a shuttle bus out to the Dish.

Vintage Car in Paddock

Bianca holding the Dish

We found a drier patch of ground towards the back for our picnic blanket spot and got settled into our gourmet feast and ginger lemonade. There was a ban on alcohol so the event could be ‘family friendly’ which I found completely ridiculous, since when does having a glass of wine at an outdoor event become such a taboo? The people attending the opera at the Dish are hardly likely to be a group of thugs ready to get boozed up and then start a fight using their cutlery (plastic cutlery only was allowed!).

Enjoying our picnic

Th crowd settles in for some music

The Macquarrie Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied 4 opera soloists with a selection of well known opera numbers and broadway hits. The backdrop for the concert was stunning, the huge dish was just behind the stage and the sky was full of stars and an almost full moon. I’m not sure our pictures do justice to the scene which was breath taking. The dish was lit up in pink as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and did a few turns at the start of the night to get us all in the mood.

We enjoyed our picnic of ingredients picked up at the farmer’s market in the morning and watched the sunset to relaxing operatic music. It did get colder as the night wore on but not nearly as bad as we had imagined and besides we had taken lots of extra blankets with us.

The food stands at the event left a lot to be desired, especially if you are used to the smorgasboard of treats at the concerts in The Domain. There was just a pretty basic selection of sausage sizzles, mediocre pizza, some cakes and a coffee stand (which ran out of milk).

The Dish At Sunset

Marking the 50th anniversary of the Dish the Australian Governor General and American Governor General were both in attendance. We all agreed we had a great night in a beautiful location doing something a bit different.