Sydney has the Opera House. Melbourne has the Arts Centre. And in Brisbane, the home to the best shows in town since 1985 has been the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Perfectly situated on the river next to the Queen Victoria Bridge opposite its sister venue, the Queensland Art Gallery, QPAC is an elegantly brutalist design of towering concrete and airy open spaces.
A year-round program of major concerts, opera, theatre, comedy and special events takes place here across four venues: the Lyric Theatre, Concert Hall, Playhouse Theatre and the intimate Cremorne Theatre. The Tony Gould Gallery on the ground floor is a museum dedicated to the performing arts that is named after QPAC's founding director. Dining-wise the complex offers a bistro, café and upmarket Lyrebird Restaurant.