Curators Monica Curro and Stefan Cassomenos have set out to examine our heritage and bloodlines, and to rejoice in “the miracle of how millions of notes in the hands of master musicians are crafted into stunning sonic stories,” all the while paying homage to the Ancient Greek mosaic and the inspiration of the Muses. Over three days, master musicians and ensembles – including The Consort of Melbourne, Vox Plexus and the PFSMF Children’s Chorus – will bring these stories to life.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

Victorian Gold Fields history comes to life in Moonlite, an award-winning oratorio inspired by the diaries and letters of Andrew George Scott, an educated Irishman who rose to infamy as the bushranger “Captain Moonlite”. Accused of crimes still considered inconclusively proven today, he was hanged in Sydney in 1880. Scott documented the events of his life in his own words in The Death Cell Letters of Andrew George Scott – revealing that his desire for justice was only surpassed by his love for fellow bushranger James Nesbitt.

Moonlite tells this true-crime queer love story in the form of a 90-minute oratorio for voices, percussion and viola, effortlessly transcending musical genres to paint a picture of Victoria’s own star-crossed lovers, set uniquely in our Gold-rush-era past.

The vocal lines interlace fragments from Moonlite’s death-cell writings in intoxicating six-part harmony, set against a mesmerising percussive backdrop. A solo viola joins the texture—at times, hauntingly, the most human voice on stage.