March 2024 issue of Limelight magazine

March 2024

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Features

A Tonal Masterwork

Simone Young on the Sydney premiere of Schoenberg’s epic Gurrelieder.

by Clive Paget

A Dignified Pairing

The serendipitous collaboration between Lior and Nigel Westlake.

by Jansson J. Antmann

Opera, Pure and Simple?

Can a concert opera really compete with a fully staged production?

by Shamistha de Soysa

The Next Stage

A survey of the latest renovations at some of our leading arts venues.

by Steve Dow

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Soundings

Interview

A Year of Magical Thinking

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson makes his Australian debut this month. He talks to Clive Paget about his world tour of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

by Clive Paget

On The Record

What's new on disc

A Finnish find features as our Recording of the Month, plus Tognetti’s resounding Beethoven, Vänskä’s blockbuster Mahler and a perfect pairing of Whitwell and Withers.

by Clive Paget

Cutting Edge

Are You Up For It?

The second outing of Brisbane Powerhouse’s ΩHM Festival of Other Music marks Queensland as an international player in left-field, contemporary arts.

by Maddy Briggs

Vocal and Choral

Faith in Poetry and Song

Kate Llewellyn’s new poem Faith has been set to music by Anne Cawrse for the Adelaide Chamber Singers. Jo Litson discovers how the commission came about.

by Jo Litson

Books

Minna Wagner: A Life, with Richard Wagner (Eva Rieger)

★★★★★ Behind every great man, there’s a great woman (frequently airbrushed out).

by Clive Paget

Film

The Zone of Interest

★★★★ Jonathan Glazer’s coolly observed, unsettling film takes place on the periphery of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

by Jason Blake

In the Limelight

Newsworthy

A round-up of our recent news reports.

Comings and Goings

The latest arts appointments and departures.

On Stage

The buzz around live performance.

On Air & Online

Radio and streaming concert highlights.

Coda

Playing Up

The Cello

After his Lorenzo Guadagnini was stolen in 2003, virtuoso German cellist Alban Gerhardt bought a beaten-up 1710 Matteo Goffriller cello, which has a warm, dark sound – but, as he explains, it’s a challenging instrument to play because it’s so large.

World Premiere

Earth

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon explains how her new work Earth – commissioned by MSO as a celestial addition to Gustav Holst’s The Planets – broke her compositional silence after the devastating outcome of the Voice to Parliament referendum left her mute.

Guy Noble's Soapbox

Tantric Music-Making

Pondering the passion in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Guy Noble discovered the composer was something of an Italian stallion.

5 Questions For

Raehann Bryce-Davis

The American mezzo-soprano is delighted to be making her Australian debut in Mahler 3 with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She just wishes she could have brought her dog.

My Music

Marcia Hines

Australia’s disco queen is currently playing Teen Angel in Grease and is back on TV as a judge on Australian Idol. She explains why her recent gospel album feels like a homecoming and why she enjoys having such a versatile career.