Entering the colonial Fitzroy Town Hall, in Naarm–Melbourne, on a cold and dreary winter’s night felt like a true occasion for the Australian premiere of composer Wally Gunn and librettist Maria Zajkowski’s 2019 oratorio Moonlite, a queer true-crime 19th-century love story about Australian bushranger Andrew George Scott.

The sold-out audience, made up of many of the city’s passionate music community, took their places in this grand space for this latest offering from new music stalwarts Homophonic and The Consort of Melbourne. These two intrepid ensembles have often collaborated to present LGBTQIA+ chamber music as part of Midsumma Festival. This time, they’ve join forces to present Moonlite across a number of venues and festivals in Victoria.

Lachlan McDonald in Homophonic! & The Consort of Melbourne’s Moonlite. Photo © Darren Gill

Moonlite tells the story of Scott and his partner James Nesbit (“amazingly gay bushrangers”, according to Homophonic’s Artistic Director and new music doyen Miranda Hill) via excerpts from Scott’s letters, Zajkowski’s poetic libretto and Gunn’s evocative music. It tells a desperate tale of two men from the desolate Mallee, their holdup of...