There is something exciting about a theatre reopening its doors. After months or years of closure, of dust, scaffolding and construction, the moment when the lights come up and an audience takes its seats again feels like an act of renewal. The October issue of Limelight is charged by that sense of anticipation as we look across the changing landscape of performance across Australia.

Our cover story this month is in part inspired by the reopening of the newly named Ian Potter State Theatre at Arts Centre Melbourne. Closed since March 2024 for its first major upgrade since opening in 1984, the 2,000-seat theatre – home to The Australian Ballet and Opera Australia during their Melbourne seasons – emerges from a two-and-a-half-year refurbishment six months ahead of schedule. It is the first major milestone in the $1.7 billion Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation, a project that promises to reshape not only how audiences experience performance but the precinct around it.

But the State Theatre is, of course, one part of a much bigger story. In her survey, Limelight Editor Jo Litson looks at the established venues being renewed, the new spaces reappearing and the ways in which the relationship between infrastructure, artists and audiences is being reconsidered.

We then turn from buildings to one of the great interpreters of the piano repertoire. Ahead of his Australian tour, British pianist Paul Lewis talks to Clive Paget about Mozart, Beethoven and the particular challenges of making music that has been played and recorded countless times before. Lewis has built a formidable reputation through performances of Beethoven and Schubert distinguished by intensity, concentration and emotional depth. Yet Mozart, he reveals, was once a source of genuine anxiety.

Another kind of discovery is at the centre of our look at orchestral fellowship programs. As the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Fellowship approaches its 25th anniversary, Emily Thornton explores the role these programs play in helping young musicians make the difficult transition from conservatorium and study into professional orchestral life. Fellowships offer more than playing experience – they provide mentorship, community and the chance to understand the realities of a career that can be as demanding as it is rewarding. It is a story about passing knowledge from one generation to the next – and about the people who make that bridge possible.

From there, we look beyond Australia’s shores. Breandáin O’Shea reports from Musikfest Berlin, whose 75th-anniversary program featured three Australian composers prominently. Their presence raises a larger question: are we seeing a significant shift in the international profile of Australian composition, or was this simply a remarkable coincidence?

Our regular columns continue those conversations between composers, performers, instruments and ideas. In World Premiere, James Ledger discusses the new clarinet concerto he has written for Ashley Smith and commissioned by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Playing Up sees Clive Paget talking to Steven Isserlis about an enduring collaboration – his 17-year relationship with the Marquis de Corberon Stradivari cello, which turns 300 this year.

Elizabeth Anderson, Assistant Artistic Director and Manager of the Australian Chamber Choir, answers our Five Questions this month, and Opera Australia CEO Alex Budd reflects on music in My Music.

Chloe Kim discusses her ambitious Music for 50 Musicians in Cutting Edge, and in our Soundings interviews, Joe Chindamo talks about transforming Dorothy Parker’s cynicism into his forthcoming Flute Concerto for Eliza Shephard, while Joseph Nolan traces his remarkable career and his fascination with Charles-Valentin Alkan’s organ music.

Meanwhile, Guy Noble considers the perils of showing an unfinished work to others in this month’s Soapbox.

Finally, On the Record surveys the latest releases, from Schubert and de Falla to McCabe and Handel’s Italians in London, and, as always, we turn the spotlight on the must-sees and must-hears in Australia’s theatre and concert halls.

Curtain up!

The October 2026 issue of Limelight will be available online from Monday 21 September. Subscribe by Sunday 13 September, 11:59pm AEDT to receive the print edition as soon as it’s available.