We’ve gone all out to deliver the goodies in this final issue of the year, celebrating the adventurous spirit, joy and resilience of the performing arts as 2025 draws to a close.

Next year, Peter Sellars brings his Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, an in-depth portrait of Joséphine Baker, to the Adelaide Festival. It stars Grammy Award-winning soprano Julia Bullock, who in turn reworks John Adams’ oratorio El Niño which Sellars staged at the 2002 Festival. Jansson J. Antmann talks to Bullock and Sellars about these landmark productions and their 15-year association.

Next year, State Opera South Australia marks its 50th anniversary with an ambitious Golden Jubilee season. Artistic Director Dane Lam tells Jansson J. Antmann about the company’s can-do ethos and its commitment to presenting as much opera as possible. “We’re a lean but hard-working company,” he says – and the proof is in a season that pulls out all the stops.

Mama Does Derby is lacing up for the 2026 Sydney and Adelaide Festivals. Lenny Ann Low speaks to co-creators Virginia Gay and Clare Watson about setting a new show in the wild world of roller derby – a heart-thumping, elbow-pumping spectacle...