Speech notes for The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC for the launch of Opera Australia's 2009 Oz Opera Primary Schools Tour of NSW at the Joan Sutherland Studio, The Opera Centre, 480 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills on Friday 27 February 2009 at 9:45am.
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Acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation whose land we are on today and pay respects to their Elders past and present.

It is my great pleasure to be here today.

The Premier has asked me to pass on his apologies and best wishes for today's event and for the rest of the tour.

In the olden days when I was at primary school I remember clearly the time that we had a visit from an orchestra.

The orchestra played the most beautiful music.

It was music that I had never heard before.

The big shiny instruments and the fantastic and sometimes funny sounds made me want to find out more about this person called Mozart.

I also decided that I wanted to join to school band.

In the same way that I was exposed to classical music for the first time through school so it is the case that since 1996 over 1.3 million kids in NSW and Victorian schools have been exposed to Opera.

This year with the support of Australia Post and the NSW Government through Arts NSW... the seven month tour of NSW in 2009 will perform to an estimated 45,000 primary school children... that is over 265 performances in more than 160 primary schools.

In Coffs Harbour, Goulburn, Orange and Dubbo...students will experience this wonderful performance.

There will also be two weeks in Western Sydney where performances will reach schools from Milperra to Liverpool and Winmalee, and Camden to Pitt Town.

Oz Opera is going to be very busy.

But Oz Opera is also doing an incredibly important job.

Exposure to the beauty, excitement and drama of Opera can open up a whole new world to the kids who will have never seen or heard anything like it before.

It assists teachers in classrooms across the state bring to life the appreciation and love of music they are teaching every day.

Helping to lay the foundation for the creative and cultural life of our people into the future.

The commitment of the NSW Government to making sure that our kids can experience the arts - no matter where they live is uncompromising.

As we are about to see, this year's tour is based on the opera by Rossini of the classic story of Cinderella... a story we all love.

Congratulations to the all Australian creative team who have especially designed this production.

The production also features a cast of emerging opera singers from NSW.

Let's hope that many more singers will emerge after the tour.

On behalf of Premier Rees and the NSW Government... it gives me great pleasure to launch Oz Opera's 2009 Primary Schools Tour of NSW