Queensland’s premier chamber orchestra Camerata created its own arthouse cinema in the Concert Hall of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, with Cinematheque, taking audiences on an eclectic cinematic journey as part of the Brisbane Festival. Eight short, bespoke films created by Oscar-nominated independent Brisbane filmmaker Anthony Lucas accompanied the music of the large string orchestra.

The popularity of Camerata’s 2015 halloween concert, Things That Go Bump In The Night, inspired Camerata to commission Lucas to create four more less spooky, but equally quirky films to accompany selected local compositions and film scores.

Camerata Cinematheque. Photo © Alex Jamieson

Renowned for its innovative concerts, Camerata was founded in 1987 by Elizabeth Morgan as Camerata of St Johns, for students to learn and experience the wonders of a chamber orchestra. It has since flourished to become an internationally acclaimed orchestra, celebrating a decade as the Company-In-Residence at QPAC under Brendan Joyce as Artistic Director.

The concert opened with a loud fanfare from a mobile phone, met with a cry of frustration from the audience, until Joyce launched the concert with Grieg’s Holberg Suite, composed to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of humanist...