Genevieve Lacey calls the Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room “absolutely glorious”.

“To be able to sit and look out at that ever-changing landscape of light on water… it’s a beautiful state of mind in which people can listen and contemplate. I’m excited for anyone to experience the vista as well as the sound,” she tells Limelight.

For the third year, Lacey is curator for Utzon Music, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. She’s highly passionate about programming; being able to invite both Australian and international musical superstars to perform at Australia’s most iconic venue is “such a lovely gift” to give.

The Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room. Photo © Ravyna Jassani

“My real passion is celebrating the incredible depth and breadth of practice in this art form that’s currently existing around the country and in the world,” she says.

“It’s a beautiful chance to really open as many doors as we can for musicians who might not have been in that building before, for ways of playing, for instruments, for emerging genres that are new and exciting. It feels like a place and a context where music’s really alive and traditions are transforming in front of our eyes and ears; that’s pretty exciting.”

One of the most striking parts about the 2027 program is the range of instruments the room will play host to, including Indian tabla, Scottish smallpipes, West African kora, Chinese guzheng and Iranian kamancha.

“Chamber music takes so many forms, and so many different instruments bring with them much broader cultural resonances,” says Lacey. If we can tap into that, then suddenly we get this extraordinary view of music around the world through the instruments themselves.”

Ballaké Sissoko. Photo © Sebastien Moritz

In April, kamancha and tabla duo Melisa Yıldırım and Swarupa Ananth make their Aussie debut with Hues of Imagination, a cross-cultural collaboration that brings Anatolian and Indian musical cultures into dialogue.

In June, guzheng virtuoso Mindy Meng Wang and pianist Paul Grabowsky team up to showcase their 2025 album Between Dreams, fusing Chinese musical tradition with contemporary jazz. Innovative kora player Ballaké Sissoko, whose work crosses traditional Malian music, classical music and improvisation, performs a program of original works for his instrument in July.

American composer Caroline Shaw is another significant presence across the season. In October, she arrives to perform alongside the Finnish Kamus Quartet for some of her compositions.

“Caroline is an extraordinary young woman. She’s found a singular voice very early, and her music is always unmistakably hers,” says Lacey. “I love that combination of contemporary questioning and searching, the kind of partnerships she’s forging herself, and her deep love of musical roots.”

Caroline Shaw. Photo © Kait Moreno

Shaw’s work also appears in new Aussie all-star group Quartet X‘s setlist, opening the season in February with a mix of classical works and pop arrangements, and with the Netherlands-based Rosin Octet in May. One of the centrepieces of the latter group’s program is Australian composer Harry Sdraulig’s Octet.

“The Rosin Octet are brilliant; they’re so young and they’re so can-do. Their approach really stood out – the initial email was about the fact that they wanted to bring Harry’s music home, and we wanted that, too,” says Lacey.

There are also a few debuts on the 2027 program. In February, Sydney joins the lineup for Italian pianist Filippo Gorini‘s Sonata for 7 Cities project – he soaks up each city for a month before his recital. His Sydney debut features music by Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven and a world premiere from German composer Oscar Jockel.

The Haar. Photo © Jeremy Walker

In March, Celtic folk quartet The Haar arrives in Australia for the first time with its unique takes on Scottish and Irish traditional music and in August, French early music ensemble Les Kapsber’girls perform works from the 17th and 18th centuries.

In September, Australian pianist Andrea Lam and Italian violinist Francesca Dego band together for a first-time collaboration; Lacey calls them “both remarkable players”.

“They’re both beautiful collaborators who’ve done a whole series of very interesting projects in their own territories. When I knew Francesca was going to be here playing concertos,  I scanned the horizon for who felt like they’d be a really lovely musical fit for her, and that was Andrea.”

Then, closing off the program in 2027 is pioneering Scottish piper Brìghde Chaimbeul, whose music crosses into experimental ambient and avant-garde worlds.

“She’s the most incredible artist, absolutely steeped in the Gaelic tradition, and then takes those instruments into such new and uncharted terrain with incredible intelligence and imagination,” says Lacey.

“To be honest, I would say that about any of these people in the season. They’re all brilliant and such vibrant exponents of whatever the path that they have chosen is. They’re doing that with such integrity and grace. So it’s really beautiful to celebrate them singly, let alone en masse.”

More about Utzon Music’s 2027 season can be found here.