Opera’s Bad Girl: Anna Bishop, the World’s First Daringly Defiant Diva
Humffray Room
Before Melba, there was Anna Bishop.
The darling of the Goldfields, returns at last to Ballarat to tell her story and sing the music that we came to love her for.
Anna’s extraordinary life returns to the stage. Through beloved arias like Lucia’s Mad Scene, The Last Rose of Summer, and Home Sweet Home, Sarahlouise Owens channels Anna’s bold spirit, fierce independence, and infectious charisma — breathing life into a woman who dared to live on her own terms.
OPERA’S BAD GIRL tells the untamed true story of Anna Bishop — opera’s original rebel. A Victorian-era trailblazer who defied her time, she lived fast, sang farther, going where angels fear to tread.
From scandal to spotlight, Anna Bishop was unstoppable. She left her famous composer husband and defied polite society by running off with a virtuoso harpist — embarking on a globe-trotting adventure so wild it reads like fiction: shipwrecks, tiger attacks, hostage-takings, war zones and epidemics — and through it all, she sang. To royalty. To rebels. To packed houses on every continent — including three history-making tours of Australia, helped shape our musical identity.
Opera’s Bad Girl is not just for opera lovers. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt the pull to break free, to dream bigger, to fight harder for the life they want. It’s history with heart, high notes, and a heroine who deserves her place among the legends.
Whether you’re 18 or 80, this show will move you, inspire you — and leave you wondering why you’ve never heard her name before.
One woman. One voice. One unforgettable story.
Don’t miss Opera’s Bad Girl. The rebel diva you never knew you needed.
About Sarahlouise Owens
Sarahlouise Owens: Versatile performer, Sarahlouise’s performance experience embraces Musicals (legit, including Gilbert & Sullivan), Musical Theatre, Opera, Operetta, Music Hall, straight Theatre, Oratorio and Liturgical music repertoire, Early Music and Art Song. A graduate of Australian National University (Hons.) and RNCM Manchester, she has worked in noted international theatres such as Frankfurt, Hagen, Hannover, Paris Chatelet, Brussels La Monnaie, most nobably in the Bayreuth Wagner Festival over several years. She is a sought after soloist in Canberra having sung with many groups. She also formed an early music ensemble, and Opera in a Nutshell. She is passionate about Art Song and performs regular solo concerts. Having learnt of Anna Bishop’s she’s not looked back.
About Kathleen Loh
Kathleen Loh: A graduate of the Canberra School of Music, ANU, Kathleen has been very active in the music scene in Sydney and Canberra. In Sydney, she was the répétiteur for the Nepean Choral Society and official accompanist at the Parramatta Eisteddfod, Sydney Percussion Eisteddfod and the Australian Flute Festival. More recently, Kathleen has worked as répétiteur in various productions for the Canberra Opera and National Opera and was the Musical Director for the Canberra Opera productions of La Boheme, Die Fledermaus and Cosi Fan Tutte. She has worked as the official accompanist for the Australian National Eisteddfod, Art Song Canberra soirées, has performed with the National Capital Orchestra and various chamber ensembles.
Tickets: $35 adults, $30 Concession, $20.00 for full time students.
This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work, learn and create. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.
