Here it is, the November edition of Australian Accent, Limelight‘s unashamedly parochial monthly round-up of Australian music being played on our concert stages, in our recital halls and all manner of venues in-between.

Got a premiere to puff? A piece getting a repeat performance? Email editors@limelight-arts.com.au for inclusion in next month’s round-up (subject to editorial discretion, information overload, etc).

We’ve also have a week-by-week breakdown of the works being performed on our Instagram for something a little more digestible.

Touring

The Australian Chamber Orchestra tours its Cocteau’s Circle to venues in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra this month from 7 November. Alongside the music of the ‘Les Six’ composers, you’ll also hear several pieces by Elena Kats-Chernin. Full details here.

Matthew Hindson‘s disco-inspired morsel Epic Diva lends its name to a tour by Selby & Friends that travels to Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Bowral and Turramurra from 21–30 November.

Luminescence Chamber Singers embarks on a regional tour with Red Dirt Hymns, featuring Andrew Ford‘s work of the same name. With cellist Freya Schack-Arnott and guitarist Harley Coleman, the program tours to Orange, Penrith, Bowral and Queanbeyan across 9–16 November.

Australian Capital Territory

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Ensemble offers an all-Australian program in Other Worlds on 13 November. It features the world premiere of a new work by Sally Whitwell, alongside music from Miriama Young, Andrew Ford and Troy Russell.

New South Wales

Part of the Phoenix Central Park program at The Church in Alexandria (2 November), Mirage à Trois is a concert featuring three works for flute, viola and harp by Debussy and Australian composers Nicholas Routley and Romano Crivici.

Also on 2 November, the Sydney Art Quartet delivers the world premiere of several works by Nicholas Vines alongside works by Haydn at Waterloo’s Freedom Hub.

Glebe Sound Installation is an series in which leading musicians and sound artists create “a living gallery of sound” at Local Edition (at 279 Broadway) using handcrafted objects from around the world, reimagining the space through their unique cultural and artistic visions. It changes weekly. Hamed Sadeghi occupies the space from 2 November, followed by Shervin Mirzeinali & Niki Johnson (from 9 November), Alexis Weaver (from 16 November), Maissa Alameddine (from 23 November) and Chloë Sobek from 27 November. Details here.

Composer Luke Styles‘ Custodians of the Sky draws on field recordings from Australian stargazing sites, texts by Indigenous astronomer Bill Yidumduma Harney and Hugh Cairns (Dark Sparklers), and the poetry of Margaret Bradstock, A. Frances Johnson, David Malouf and Reneé Pettitt-Schipp. You can hear it on 5 November at Emanuel Synagogue, Woollahra, 

Up in Coffs Harbour, guitarist brothers Ziggy and Miles offer a program that includes Christopher Sainsbury‘s Rain Falls, and after and Nigel Westlake‘s Mosstrooper Peak on 6 November. They also play venues in Grafton, Dungog and Bathurst. Details here.

The Sydney Con’s Greenway Series (featuring the SCM Symphony Orchestra and Choir) continues with a 7 November concert featuring works by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon (Tarimi Nulay), Carl Vine (Choral Symphony No. 6) and a selection of ‘microworks’ by SCM staff composers including Fiona Hill, Ivan Zavada, Liza Lim, James Humberstone, Natalie Nicolas, Anna Reid, Bree Van Reyk and Matthew Hindson.

The Bowerbird Collective’s Lyrebird Festival returns across 13–16 November, with Australian works abound – Anne Cawrse‘s Imperfect Fourth, Iain Grandage‘s Black Dogs, and more.

Nigel Westlake. Portrait supplied

Ensemble Offspring is Shire-bound on 15 November with Songbirds – a program that features bird-inspired works from composers including Fiona Loader, Gerard Brophy, Nardi Simpson and Brenda Gifford. Then, in EO’s Future Classics on 22 November in the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House, you’ll hear new works by emerging Australian composers and Hatched Academy participants Georgina Bowden, Beth Roche, Louis Wishart, Callum O’Reilly and Klearhos Murphy.

Newcastle’s Christ Church Camerata is performing the iconic Mozart Requiem on 16 November, but with a twist: Australian composer and Camerata director David Banney has composed a new ending for the work Mozart left unfinished on his death.

The Affinity Quartet brings Justin Williams‘ Movement for String Quartet to the Windsong Pavilion on 2 November and to Hunters Hill Town Hall on 23 November.

Actor-singer Drew Forsythe, cellist Susan Blake, flautist Jane Rutter, didgeridoo player Lachlan Youll and pianist Terence Clarke unite for Meditations on Australia, a lunchtime concert featuring music from Ross Edwards, Elena Kats-Chernin and Jane Rutter interspersed with poetry and contemporary songs on 26 November.

William Barton‘s Ayatku Muruu earns its world premiere across 26–29 November with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, performed alongside Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

In Walsh Bay’s The Neilson, cellist Timo-Veikko Valve and the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Momentum Ensemble offer a program that includes selections from Peter Sculthorpe‘s String Quartet No. 8 and Olivia Bettina Davies‘ Crystalline on 28 November.

Omega Ensemble wraps up its 2025 season with Rare Sugar, a tour that borrows its name from Nigel Westlake‘s work in tribute to the work of UNSW Emeritus Professor Stephen Angyal. It also features the world premiere of Ella Macens’ Through the Mist. The tour kicks off on 29 November in Sydney, with one date in Melbourne next month.

Sunday 30 November sees the premiere of Cyrus Meurant‘s new work Sentio in a special Sensory Concert program catering for neurodivergent youth (16+) and adults. Carefully curated to engage the senses in a relaxed setting, this concert features violinist Matthieu Arama (Concertmaster, Opera Australia Orchestra), Teije Hylkema (Principal Cellist) and pianist Grace Kim.

Queensland

For Brisbane’s Melt Festival on 5 November, the Australian Vocal Ensemble has put together an exclusive program in celebration of queer voices – setting text from queer Queensland poets to music by Queensland composers. On the list is Stephen Leek & Jarad Bruinstroop, Nicole Murphy & Gavin Yuan Gao, Joe Twist & Rae White, Tara Lynam & Rebecca Jessen and works by Alex Turley and Katie Noonan, both of whom set the words of David Malouf.

The Brisbane Music Festival is on across 14–30 November, and boasts of 54 composers and 20 premiers over its run. It features world premiere works from (deep breath …): Alex Raineri, Samantha Wolf, Gemma Dawkins, Finn Idris, William Barton, Lisa Cheny, Melody Eötvös, Neve Randall, Joshua Jones and Mary Bellamy; and others from Anne Cawrse, Tara Lynam, Lornard Grigoryan, Emma Di Marco, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, Rishin Singh, Kate Neal, George Palmer and Peter Sculthorpe. Jam-packed!

Maria Grenfell. Photo supplied

Camerata – Queensland Chamber Orchestra’s Celestial Choral Baroque calls on One Equal Voices for a program of both contemporary and Baroque hits. On the program is Maria Grenfell‘s Knitting Unicorns, performed in Brisbane and Toowoomba across 20–22 November.

South Australia

From Chamber Music Adelaide comes the On the Terrace mini-festival (2 November, North Terrace Cultural Precinct). Included in the day-long program is composer Jodie O’Regan‘s Leviathan, the first movement of a major new work inspired by South Australia’s whaling history, and The Coruscalia Collective honouring Australia’s migrant composers with performances of works by Meta Overman, Felix Werder and Larry Sitsky.

Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim‘s contemporary cyber-opera Opera for the Dead takes the stage at Norwood’s Odeon Theatre for OzAsia Festival, 5–6 November.

Timo-Veikko Valve and the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Momentum Ensemble also arrive at UKARIA on 30 November, bringing with them Olivia Bettina Davies‘ Crystalline and selections from Peter Sculthorpe‘s String Quartet No. 8.

Tasmania

Victoria

On 1 November, Join MYRIAD (the Percussion Ensemble of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music) for their latest repertoire instalment. Alongside a performance of  Steve Reich’s classic Six Marimbas, you’ll also hear works by faculty composers including Miriama Young and Stuart Greenbaum.

Miriama Young. Photo © Ishna Jacobs

Up at Wodonga’s The Cube, Gordon Kerry sees the world premiere of his Violin Sonata No. 2, performed by Duo Gaku, on 2 November.

Divisi Chamber Singers presents the inaugural Big Sing fundraiser concert, celebrating queer Australian composers with a night of drag, singing and funk music on 4 November. Performed works include Robert McIntyre‘s Syrup and Silicone in a new arrangement.

Tempo Rubato’s month kicks off with an Aussie work: clarinettist Phil Arkinstall, violist Christopher Moore and pianist Kristian Chong perform Michael Bakrnčev‘s Trio on 6 November at Tempo Rubato. Also at the venue is a set of original works from Abiy Sahle (8 November),  the launch of new album First Snow from Nick Batterham (10 November), Linda Kouvaras‘ A Gwen Harwood Cycle (13 November) and Ziggy and Miles with Nigel Westlake‘s Mosstrooper Peak (20 November). The Flinders Quartet also showcases the labours of its 2025 Emerge program’s rising stars Naomi Dodd, Ben Hoadley, Jessie Leov and Callum O’Reilly on 29 November.

Australian National Academy of Music faculty member and tuba player Karina Filipi leads a program that includes works by Josh Rogan, Katy Abbott and Louisa Trewortha on 7 November.

Joseph Twist. Photo © Pascal Haim

The Consort of Melbourne surveys the history of birdsong in music with a performance at Kingston Arts on 16 November. The program features Joe Twist‘s Magpie amongst other classical and contemporary works.

The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra gives air to a brand new Melody Eötvös work in its Nightingale program, performed in Melbourne and Geelong across 20–23 November.

Australian Art Orchestra premieres To Kill A Magic We Got Used To, a daring and culturally-coded new work by Artistic Director Aaron Choulai with narrative and spoken word performance by Roman MC. This 60-minute work across three movements is a reimagining of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat for a digital age, and follows a modern artist trading authenticity for social media fame. Hear it on 28 November.

Western Australia

Wundig wer Wilura is a Noongar language opera by Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse that tells a tale of star-crossed lovers from the Dreaming. “All the elements of grand opera, of the epic history play, are here: love and war, trust and betrayal, intimacy and the sublime,” wrote Will Yeoman reviewing last year’s premiere.
 It plays on 5 November, Albany Entertainment Centre; 7 November, Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre. Visit this link for details.

The West Australian Symphony Orchestra concert Pandaemonium on 6–7 November features works by six Australian composers – Jordan Moore, Olivia Davies, Lachlan Skipworth, Stephen de Filippo, Melody Eötvös and Kate Moore – including two world premieres, under the baton of Australian conductor Sam Weller.

On 9 November,, the WASO Chorus will be performing a selection of sacred choral works including Perry Joyce’s Ubi Caritas.

Vanessa Perica. Photo © Pia Johnson

The Australian String Quartet is playing the Margaret River Festival (7–9 November). On the bill of fare is Vanessa Perica‘s String Quartet No. 1, No Feeling is Final.

Lime Cordiale complete its epic Australian symphonic tour with WASO On  14–15 November. And on 16 November at the UWA Conservatorium of Music, Southern Stars, the final concert of Mirabilis Collective’s 2025 Unveiled Series features the world premiere of Katherine Potter‘s setting of Caitlin Maling’s poetry exploring the contradictions of motherhood (from her 2023 collection Spore or Seed), as well as chamber arrangements of songs by Kate Miller-Heidke, Stiff Gins and Angie McMahon alongside original works by Melody Eötvös, Elena Kats-Chernin, Brenda Gifford, and Jessica Wells.