Welcome to the October edition of Australian Accent, Limelight’s unashamedly parochial monthly round-up of the Australian music being played on our concert stages and in our recital halls.

Got a premiere to puff? A piece getting a repeat performance? Submit your works via our Google Form or email editors@limelight-arts.com.au for inclusion in next month’s round-up (subject to editorial discretion).

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

Touring

Andromeda Sax Quartet. Photo supplied

The Andromeda Sax Quartet play Sydney (3 October) and Canberra (4 October) this month. The program’s title, Mass Transit, is also its centrepiece, Sam Wu‘s work about the Shanghai Metro, which sees its Australian premiere here.

Intimate chamber music specialist Contra Concerts is on the road in early October with harpist Alice Giles, flautist Jonathan Henderson and violist James Wannan playing works by French composers alongside Elena Kats-Chernin‘s Winter from her Seasons. Catch them in Newcastle (2 October), North Sydney (4 October) and in Brisbane on 7 October. Details here.

Ensemble Offspring is touring a new Avant Gardens program from 17-25 October. Claire Edwardes, Jason Noble and rising star trumpeter Arkie Moore play contemporary works by Jane Stanley, Nardi Simpson, Gerard Brophy and more.

Canberra’s Luminescence Chamber Singers is touring its Particles of Light program this month to venues in Braidwood, Sydney (the Opera House Utzon Room) and Bundanon from 25–31 October. In a varied program, you’ll hear works by Dan Walker, Elena Kats-Chernin, David Lang, Andrew Ford, Gareth Farr, Colin Bright, James Wade, Andree Greenwell and Nardi Simpson.

Gerard Brophy. Portrait © Jim Rolon

Australian Capital Territory

At the Wesley Music Centre (on 17 October), pianist Ronan Apcar airs his virtuosic Brahms and the Opposite of Brahms program, which includes Abraço by Gerard Brophy.

Then, on 21 October, the Wesley Lunchtime Concert series presents pianist Edward Neeman performing selections from Brahms’ Klavierstücke, Op. 76, and the Book of the Bells by Anne Boyd.

As Canberra marks the celebration of spring with Floriade, the Wattle Trio invites you to Bloom on 24 October at Wesley Music Centre. Join 2024 Canberra Symphony Orchestra Kingland Fellowship alumni Dante Costa (flute), Enola Murphy (cello) and Jojo Yuen (piano) as they reunite to perform works by Gaubert, Weber, Sally Greenaway and more.

Elena Kats-Chernin. Portrait © Jacintha Nolte

New South Wales

In the Hunters Hill Music series on 10 October, soprano Siobhan Stagg and pianist Jonathan Ware will weave an intimate opera gala from works spanning the centuries, from Hildegard von Bingen’s O vis aeternitatis to Brett Dean‘s Arioso ‘Nach Haydn’ .

Also on 10 October, at 21 Shepherd St, Marrickville, Australian musician and composer Ronan Apcar launches his new project, The Clouds Are Gathered for the Final Storm, an immersive electronic music album exploring grief, transformation, ecology, and impermanence.

Showcasing their albums Ancient Letters and Butterflying, composer Elena Kats-Chernin and pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska will be performing in NSW regional centres (Bellingen, Port Macquarie, Taree and Maitland) from 21-25 October.

Presented by Musica Viva Australia, flautist Joshua Batty and pianist Somi Kim play the Concourse in Chatswood on 21 October. Alongside works by Schubert and Bartók, Songs without Words by Aristea Mellos and Nocturne by the British-Australian pianist Stephen Hough.

Sydney Opera House is hosting a special presentation of the silent film-era Danish director Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 horror film Häxan, featuring a live score performed by composer and producer Madeleine Cocolas on 31 October.

Imogen Ferdinando. Photo © Annabel Hendrie

Queensland

Holly Harrison‘s Hi-Vis gets yet another airing, this time thanks to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, which is playing it in its Old Worlds, New Sounds program on 11 October (at QPAC) alongside works by Bizet and Dvořák. The concert opens with an overture by First Nations composer Christopher Sainsbury.

Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra showcases the music of Lior in an intimate show at Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns on 16 October and at Brisbane’s Powerhouse on 17 October.

On 16 and 17 October at QPAC, Queensland Symphony Orchestra presents its Scheherazade program (Rimsky-Korsakov and Greig) with Release by Ella Macens opening the show.

On 24 October, Camerata presents a Gala show at Stanthorpe Civil Centre. Sandwiched between Mozart and Beethoven is Threnody For The Amoy Shepherds by Brisbane/Meanjin composer Imogen Ferdinando.

Joe Chindamo. Photo © Cat Li

South Australia

Trio Henri (bassoonist Mark Gaydon, oboist Celia Craig and pianist Michael Ierace) play a lunchtime concert at Elder Hall on 2 October. Two of the three works played are Australian: Chroma Fantasies (by Anne Cawrse and a world premiere) and Joe Chindamo‘s Trio Fantastique.

Programmed by Siobhan Stagg, Chamberfest (UKARIA Cultural Centre, 2-4 Octobeer) features several Austrlian works. In Concert #1, Brett Dean‘s Doch war noch alles nicht vollbracht (… after Haydn…) features; in Concert #4, there’s music by Anne Cawrse, Andrew Ford, David Hirschfelder and the late John Rogers.

On 10 October, flute ensemble Coruscalia Collective perform When Birds Do Sing, a program inspired by birdsong that features works from Australian composers: Fran Griffin‘s Bright Dawn from Drying Land, Dying Land?, Rosalind Carlson‘s Forest Bellbirds and Phillip Bolliger‘s Seagulls, plus the ensemble’s own Crimson Rosella.

In a lunchtime recital on 22 October at North Adelaide’s Baroque Hall, Ljiljana Vukelja (piano), Greg Tuske (cello) Hannah Kim (violin) play Julian Cochrane‘s Pegasus’ Travels.

Holly Harrison. Portrait © Steve Broadbent

Tasmania

Australian composer Holly Harrison, known for her rock-inspired, funk-influenced work, has written a piece for the virtuosic accordionist James Crabb. You can hear it, presented by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, on 1 October at Federation Concert Hall, Hobart.

Miriama Young. Photo © Ishna Jacobs

Victoria

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra teams up with pianist Andrea Lam for DuskLit, a concert of Mozart and Mendelssohn that opens with a new work from Miriama Young, DuskLit Meditations. Here it at Melbourne Rectial Centre on 1 and 4 October and and at Bunjil Place, Narre Warren on 2 October. Bookings here.

Duet for One is a collaboration between virtuoso pianist Sonya Lifschitz, composer/media artist Damian Barbeler and interactive media artist Tim Gruchy. Pairing spectacular imagery of the Australian landscape with Barbeler’s colouristic and inventive score, this immersive work was a finalist in the 2026 Australian Art Music Awards. Hear (and see) it at the Primrose Potter Salon on 3 October.

At Tempo Rubato on 3 October, Minah Choe and Daniel Herscovitch perform two 20th century classics by Benjamin Britten, Elliott Carter and Stravinsky and from the 21st century, Velvet by Kate Moore.

High Score returns to ACMI on 3-4 October for its 10th edition as part of Melbourne International Games Week. In this year’s program, curated by Meena Shamaly, host of ABC Classic’s Game Show there is number of composer-led sessions across the program, including one by Christopher Larkin, who unpacks the musical worldbuilding behind Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Christopher Larkin. Photo supplied

Elsewhere, Live Takes, Virtual Worlds, looks specifically at the process of taking a score from composition through to live performance and recording, with composer and pianist Nicole Brady, producer and engineer Guus Hoevenaars and composer Alec Shea.

Thanks to the Marshall McGuire Emerging Composer Commission, University of Melbourne alumni composers Nicole Brady and Arie Madden Welti have the world premiere of their works given by Bronzewing in the Primrose Potter Salon at 2.30pm on 7 October.

Victorian Opera is premiering a new Australian work from 7–10 October – The Spare Room, an operatic adaptation of Helen Garner’s acclaimed novel, with a score by Jane Hammond and libretto by Therèsa Borg. Depicting the difficult friendship at the story’s centre are sopranos Natalie Jones and Antoinette Halloran. Read Limelight‘s feature on the production here.

Violist Katie Yap takes to the stage of the Melbourne Recital Centre’s new Beacon venue on 12 October (11.30am) for a brunchtime feast of JS Bach, Emily Sheppard‘s intimate Aftermath and Aoteoroa/NZ composer Leilehua Lanzilotti’s meditative ko’u inoa.

At Tempo Rubato on 15 October, ELISION Ensemble’s Throat Song program features two Liza Lim works, Jakob Bragg‘sTor Cadenza, Matthew Horsely‘s Wolves in Shepherds’ Clothing, an ensemble improvisation and more.

Playing Tempo Rubato on 16 October, The Cedar Quartet invites you to partake of a collection of Australian string quartets, including works by Jaslyn Robertson, Alexander Laing, Anne Cawrse, Maria Grenfell and Dominic Flynn.

This month, the Blind Creek Ensemble takes to Malvern (17 October), Belgrave (18 October) and Ferntree Gully (25 October) with its latest program, Botanical. It features Stephen Lalor‘s Flute Quartet, Taylee Jurekie-Rofe‘s Les Chiens and Night Flowers by Ross Edwards.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is touring the world premiere of Joe Chindamo’s Flute Concerto. It will feature under the hands of the charismatic flautist Eliza Shephard at The Wedge Performing Arts Centre in Sale on 28 October, at Berninneit, Cowes (29 October) and at Melbourne Recital Cengtre on 31 October. Tickets and information here.

Western Australia

Aaron Wyatt. Photo © Sophie Kesteven/ABC

Composed by Noongar violist and composer Aaron Wyatt for violinist Helen Kruger, The Six Noongar Seasons traces and reflects the changing rhythms of Country through music and spoken word. It has its Perth permiere in His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth on 1 October.

Mirabilis Collective presents its Hear Her Now festival from 8-19 October, Australia’s first chamber music festival programmed entirely with music by women. The opening night 8 October concert, Home Grown, features music by WA composers Katherine Potter and Mia Brine.