Limelight

Independent, in-depth and intelligent, Limelight offers Australia's finest coverage of music, arts and culture. Inside each issue, we invite you to take a deep dive into at least four main features exploring the music, opera, theatre and dance sectors, as well as articles addressing the big issues facing the arts and entertainment industry. Additional interviews, reviews and opinion pieces are included in the Soundings and Coda sections. Plus, discover upcoming events across the country in On Stage, and schedule your at-home listening with On Air & Online, which includes ABC Classic, independent radio and online broadcast information.

Limelight

Contributors

On Stage

In the Limelight

Marathon Man • Alexander Briger, the Chief Conductor and founding Artistic Director of the Australian World Orchestra, has programmed Mahler’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies in one concert. Madness or genius? Clive Paget discusses the two symphonies and the task at hand with Briger and two AWO musicians.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME • This year, the Takács Quartet turns 50, while Musica Viva Australia turns 80. Both of their histories include musicians forced to flee from oppression. As the Takács Quartet returns to Australia, Harriet Cunningham talks to its First Violin and author, Edward Dusinberre, about finding a home through music. She also investigates a research project, a symposium and an exhibition exploring ideas around music and migration.

Five-carat dance • In 2012, 45 years after the premiere of George Balanchine’s Jewels, Van Cleef & Arpels commissioned Benjamin Millepied to create a new jewel-inspired trilogy. The three ballets will be performed together for the first time at Brisbane Festival. Rhys Ryan talks to the French choreographer about his adventurous career, making Gems and the power of dance in our disembodied world.

JOURNEY TO THE STAGE • Two musicals by lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty – Anastasia and Once on This Island -are opening in Australia. Jo Litson chats with the Broadway duo, who also wrote the award-winning Ragtime.

INTERVIEW A Talent to Inspire • Star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason talks to Clive Paget about his new album, Shostakovich & Britten, and his new book, The Power of Music, which is both a candid memoir and a call to action.

What's new on disc • This month features operatic fantasies for cello, Shostakovich quartets, new albums from the Seraphim Trio and Andrea Lam, and the latest in Simon Rattle’s Janáček project.

The Radical Art of Listening • Artistic Director/curator Tamara Saulwick and sound artist Monica Lim chat to Maddy Briggs about Chamber Made’s performance and installation series Listening Acts.

Universal Truth • Ahead of his Australian Chamber Orchestra debut, pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk talks to Jansson J. Antmann about his quest for freedom, and the composers who have championed it.

Banking on Australian Music • The Australian Music Centre turns 50 this year. Composer Vincent Plush, who was there at the start, recalls how it all began.

Liszt and Virtuosity edited by Robert Doran • This collection of essays is a sophisticated meditation on virtuosity itself.

Quisling: The Final Days • A satisfyingly complex film about the downfall of Norway’s infamous, pro-Nazi head of state, Vidkun Quisling.

Worlds Within Worlds • State Opera South Australia’s Artistic Director Dane Lam tells Jansson J. Antmann why audiences should expect a thrilling joyride when The Magic Flute arrives in Adelaide.

On Air & Online

ABC Classic concert program − August 2025

Independent radio & streaming − August 2025

GUY NOBLE'S SOAPBOX A Noble Calling • In our 250th issue, Guy Noble explains how he came to write his monthly Soapbox column...