Titled 'Watch and Act: The Black Summer Rock Opera', the performance is based on the many accounts he heard of shock, sorrow, survival and resilience Rheinberger heard during his time reporting on the fires that ravaged the South Coast.

He described writing the opera as "an act of self-therapy".

"As the Black Summer bushfires rolled on, most of us at the radio station cancelled our holidays and just broadcast as often as we humanly could," he said.

"It was only towards the middle of January when it started to die down that they told me to take a week off...and the songs just started pouring out of me."

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Having completed most of the show in his week off, Rheinberger said he hopes the opera will represent a kind of "secular service" for the South Coast community.

"The opera isn't religious, but I'm hoping it represents some sort of a secular service. There's a certain flow to vigils...there's moments of pain, fellowship, laughter, joy and triumph. I'm hoping this opera represents this flow.

"It'll end on a really triumphant note to show that we've got through this together and we're going to be okay."

Rheinberger will be joined by special guests throughout the opera, including the Glorious MUDsingers from Milton Ulladulla.

The Black Summer Opera will be playing Friday, June 11 at 8pm at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre. Tickets can be purchased here.

When booking seats for the event, you can choose to donate to the Shoalhaven City Mayor's Relief Fund, with funds going towards assisting victims of the Black Summer bushfires in the Shoalhaven area.

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