There is something wonderfully appropriate about opening this September issue of Limelight with a feature about Jean Sibelius, a composer who continually reached beyond the familiar. He took the established form of the symphony and transformed it, stripping away convention to discover something more elemental and personal. His achievement reminds us that artistic tradition is never static; it survives because artists keep finding new ways to interrogate it.

Ahead of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Sibelius Cycle, Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth talks to Jansson J. Antmann about the Finnish composer’s radical spirit and the enduring power of his music.

Earlier this year, Harry Connick Jr. realised a long-held dream when he premiered a symphony dedicated to his late mother at Carnegie Hall with Jessica Gethin and Orchestra Victoria. In conversation with Limelight Editor Jo Litson, Connick reflects on what he describes as the most significant performance of his life, as well as the recording, book and documentary that have grown from the project.

This month we also look back 400 years to the death of John Dowland, whose music continues to exercise an extraordinary hold on the imagination. British countertenor Iestyn Davies talks to Limelight‘s...