Sabrina Wall Talks Triple Bill & The Growth of Voxalis Opera

The Scoop Sabrina Wall Voxalis Opera Triple Bill

Brisbane-based Voxalis Opera has built a reputation for championing emerging artists while presenting opera that speaks directly to contemporary audiences. Its latest production, Triple Bill, continues that mission through three intimate works exploring heartbreak, mental health and family, including the Australian premieres of two contemporary operas.

Rather than relying on grand spectacle, the production places emotional truth centre stage, inviting audiences to experience opera at its most personal.

One of the artists bringing those stories to life is soprano Sabrina Wall. Performing in Jake Heggie’s Facing Forward / Looking Back, Wall has witnessed the company’s remarkable growth firsthand while continuing to balance a flourishing performance career with life as a teacher.

Ahead of Triple Bill, The Scoop caught up with Wall to discuss her journey with Voxalis Opera, why the company’s commitment to creating opportunities for Queensland artists is so important, and how this intimate program is helping redefine what opera can be for modern audiences. Read the full interview below.

You’ve been performing with Voxalis since 2024, not long after the company was founded. Looking back over the past few years, how have you seen the company evolve, and what do you think it has contributed to Brisbane’s opera scene?

Joining Voxalis in 2024 felt like getting in on the ground floor of something special. In a relatively short time, I’ve watched the company develop a distinct artistic voice and establish itself as a vibrant part of Brisbane’s cultural life.

What stands out to me is the company’s belief in both excellence and opportunity. Voxalis consistently brings together outstanding artists while creating meaningful pathways for performers to grow. Every project feels driven by a genuine passion for storytelling and connection.

I think its contribution to Brisbane’s opera scene has been significant. Voxalis has shown that opera doesn’t need to be distant or intimidating. It can be intimate, immediate, human and moving. By championing high-quality performances and fostering a strong artistic community, the company has helped broaden the reach and appeal of opera for audiences across the city (and beyond!).

One of Voxalis’ guiding principles is creating meaningful opportunities for emerging Queensland artists. As someone who made your professional debut soon after graduating, how important are companies like Voxalis in helping bridge the gap between study and a sustainable performing career?

My pathway was probably a little different from what people might expect. After graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2019, I went on to complete a Master of Teaching at QUT.

My first professional opera engagement didn’t come until 2022 when I sang with Victorian Opera. That experience taught me that building a career in the arts is rarely a straight line. For many young performers, it’s a balancing act between further study or other employment and continuing to pursue performance opportunities whenever they arise.

Companies like Voxalis play a really important role in that journey. They provide emerging artists with genuine professional experience, but they also give artists a place to belong. Being able to work alongside talented colleagues, perform exciting repertoire and contribute to Brisbane’s artistic community helps make a career in performance feel possible. Those opportunities can be the difference between someone continuing in the industry and deciding to walk away from it entirely.

Triple Bill explores heartbreak, eating disorders, family relationships and identity. Opera is often associated with grand historical stories, yet these works feel remarkably contemporary. What do you think opera can offer audiences when it tackles issues that are so recognisable and relevant to everyday life?

One of opera’s greatest strengths is its ability to take deeply personal experiences and make them feel universal. While people often associate opera with grand stories and larger-than-life characters, at its heart it’s always been about human emotion and relationships.

The works in Triple Bill explore issues that many people will recognise in some way, whether that’s heartbreak, family dynamics, questions of identity or struggles with self-image. What this production offers is a space to engage with those experiences through music, which has a unique ability to communicate emotions that words alone sometimes can’t.

I think audiences are often surprised by just how relevant opera can be. These stories remind us that opera isn’t a museum piece. It’s a living art form that continues to explore the things that matter to us most. When an audience member sees a part of their own experience reflected on stage, it can create a powerful sense of connection, empathy and understanding. That’s what great theatre and great opera do: they help us see ourselves, and each other, a little more clearly.

As both a performer and a teacher, I see that as incredibly valuable. Some of the most important learning happens when we’re invited to step into someone else’s shoes. Opera has the capacity to foster that kind of empathy and reflection, which is one of the reasons I believe it remains such a relevant art form today.

The Scoop Voxalis Opera Triple Bill — Sabrina Wall in rehearsal for Triple Bill by Voxalis Opera Image supplied

The Triple Bill program brings together three very different works, from Poulenc’s The Human Voice to the Australian premieres of Comfort Starving and Facing Forward / Looking Back. Without giving too much away, what emotional journey do you hope audiences experience across the evening?

I hope audiences leave feeling something. That might sound simple, but in a world where we’re constantly distracted and rushing from one thing to the next, there’s something powerful about allowing yourself to sit and feel.

What strikes me about all three works is that they invite us into intensely personal moments. The circumstances are different, but each explores what it means to navigate relationships, identity, memory and loss.

Across the evening, audiences will encounter moments of heartbreak, vulnerability and reflection, balanced with moments of tenderness, connection and hope. While the three works are very different, they’re united by a curiosity about what it means to be human.

Without giving too much away, I hope audiences leave feeling both moved and connected. We often think of art as a form of escape, but some of the most powerful experiences in the theatre happen when we’re invited to engage more deeply with ourselves and others. These works remind us that our struggles, relationships and questions about who we are, are deeply human experiences that connect us, rather than divide us.

Ultimately, I hope audiences leave not only having enjoyed an evening of beautiful music and storytelling but having recognised something of themselves in the characters and their journeys.

You’re performing in Jake Heggie’s Facing Forward / Looking Back, which explores the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship. What drew you to this piece, and what has been the biggest challenge in bringing such an intimate story to life?

What drew me to Facing Forward / Looking Back was how immediately human it felt. The first time I heard the work, I was completely overwhelmed by it. I remember sitting there in tears because the story felt so, so real.

At its heart, the piece explores dementia and the evolving relationship between a mother and daughter. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become increasingly aware of my own relationship with my mum and how those dynamics shift over time.

There comes a point where you begin to see your parents not just as parents, but as people, with their own vulnerabilities, histories and challenges. I think that’s something many audience members will recognise.

What I love about this work is that it approaches those themes with enormous compassion. It’s deeply specific in its storytelling, yet incredibly universal in the emotions it evokes.

The biggest challenge in bringing it to life is honouring that intimacy. Dementia touches many families, and the mother-daughter relationship at the centre of the piece feels profoundly authentic. The challenge is being truthful in the small moments. Those moments of love, frustration, memory and loss are what make the work so powerful.

As a performer, you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to live inside those emotions on stage. And that’s also what makes the piece such a privilege to perform. When something moves you as deeply as this work moved me when I first encountered it, you hope you can help audiences experience that same sense of recognition and connection.

Away from the stage, you’ve also built a career as a secondary Music and Drama teacher. Has working with young people influenced the way you approach stories like these, particularly those dealing with mental health, identity and family relationships?

Absolutely. In many ways, teaching has strengthened my belief in the value of storytelling. Every day I work with young people, specifically young men, who are navigating questions of identity, relationships, belonging and well being. While the circumstances may be different, the emotions at the heart of those experiences are often the same ones explored in works like Triple Bill.

As a teacher, I’ve come to appreciate how powerful it can be when someone feels seen in a story or a moment in life. Sometimes understanding begins with recognising that you’re not alone in what you’re experiencing. I think theatre can offer that same sense of recognition.

Whether I’m in the classroom or on the stage, I’m interested in creating opportunities for empathy, reflection and human connection. Ultimately, that’s what drew me to teaching, and it’s what continues to draw me to opera.

The Scoop Poster advertising Voxalis Opera's Triple Bill; a shirtless man sits in a dark, moody setting, with dates and venue in white text at the top and right.

One of the things that stands out about Triple Bill is its stripped-back approach. Without elaborate sets or spectacle, the storytelling relies almost entirely on the performers. As a singer, does that level of intimacy feel liberating or daunting?

Honestly, the older I get, the more I enjoy this kind of storytelling. It’s easy to be impressed by spectacle, but it’s much harder and, for me, more rewarding to hold an audience’s attention with honesty.

In Triple Bill, there is nowhere to hide. The audience is invited right into the emotional world of the characters, and that requires a real sense of vulnerability from the performers. That’s certainly daunting at times, but it’s also what makes the experience so powerful.

Particularly in Facing Forward / Looking Back, the story is so intimate and recognisable that you don’t need grand gestures. The piece trusts that the audience will bring their own memories, experiences and relationships into the theatre with them.

When that happens, something very special occurs… It stops feeling like a performance and starts feeling like a shared human experience.

You’ve already sung roles from Hansel and Gretel to contemporary opera. Is there a dream role, or perhaps an opera, you’d still love to perform one day? What is it about that work that speaks to you?

Oh, that’s easy and impossible at the same time! If we’re venturing outside opera, Eliza in Hamilton would be a dream role. I think she’s the emotional heart of that show. Her journey absolutely breaks me.

On the opera side, I’d love to sing one of the great Puccini soprano roles. Every time I listen to Puccini, I’m reminded why audiences have loved his music for so long. He just understood people.

I suppose that’s the common thread for me. I’m drawn to stories with real emotional stakes. The ones that make you laugh, cry, reflect, or, in my case, call my mum or dad on the way home.

You’re both a professional performer and a teacher, so you’re helping shape the next generation of artists from both sides of the classroom. What advice would you give to young singers hoping to build a sustainable career in opera today?

I think I’d tell young singers that there’s no single path to a fulfilling career in the arts.

After graduating in 2019, I actually fell out of love with singing for a while. I didn’t spend those years desperately trying to establish myself as a performer. Instead, I completed a Master of Teaching because I genuinely wanted to become a teacher. Looking back, I’m so grateful for that and wouldn’t change a thing!

So my advice would be not to panic if your journey doesn’t look like everyone else’s. Careers in the arts are rarely linear. Sometimes stepping away from something can help you rediscover why you loved it in the first place.

Keep developing your craft, stay open to opportunities and don’t be afraid to build a life alongside your artistic ambitions. Some of the experiences that make you a stronger artist happen outside the rehearsal room. For me, becoming a teacher didn’t take me away from music. Ultimately, it gave me new reasons to return to it.

Triple Bill is presented by Voxalis Opera and runs 20 – 21 August 2026 at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, 299 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000.

Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/triple-bill

Website: https://www.voxalis.com.au/triple-bill

Socials: https://www.instagram.com/voxalisopera/