Limelight

Independent, in-depth and intelligent, Limelight offers Australia's finest coverage of music, arts and culture. Inside each issue, we invite you to take a deep dive into at least four main features exploring the music, opera, theatre and dance sectors, as well as articles addressing the big issues facing the arts and entertainment industry. Additional interviews, reviews and opinion pieces are included in the Soundings and Coda sections. Plus, discover upcoming events across the country in On Stage, and schedule your at-home listening with On Air & Online, which includes ABC Classic, independent radio and online broadcast information.

Limelight

Contributors

On Stage

In the Limelight

Free Radical • As Patricia Kopatchinskaja returns to Australia for the first time in a decade to tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the mercurial, Moldovan-born violinist tells Clive Paget why art needs “all your strangeness and differences” and why she likes asking uncomfortable questions.

BREAKING POINT • If Australia is to maintain a thriving arts industry, it needs to rethink its cultural leadership and governance, argues Samuel Cairnduff. He explains why in his ongoing investigation for Limelight.

The Bold and the Terrifying • Alexander Berlage's bold aesthetic makes for exciting theatre. The young director and lighting designer chats with Steve Dow about his current projects – the Australian premiere of a musical that could do with his inspirational touch, and the world premiere of a new opera commissioned by Sydney Chamber Opera.

MOVING ON • Ahead of her one-woman show on the BRAVO Cruise of Performing Arts, West End star Celinde Schoenmaker talks to Jansson J. Antmann about life after Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies.

INTERVIEW One Voice • Sam Allchurch talks to Shamistha de Soysa about his love of choral music, his various plans for the Sydney Chamber Choir, where he is Artistic Director, and its 50th-anniversary gala, which features five world premieres.

What's new on disc • This month features three homegrown blockbusters, two new takes on Ravel, women's-eye views of Venetian Baroque, a haunting Faerie Bride and a Flying Dutchman for the library.

Full Flight • Eugene Ughetti tells Maddy Briggs about his new work for Speak Percussion, which involves trap machines, flying clay and two live percussionists.

Finger Painting • Loribelle Spirovski is a finalist in this year's Archibald Prize with a portrait of didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton. She tells Jo Litson how she met him and why she painted it with her fingers.

In Search of Nijinsky • Jill Rivers tells Jill Brown about meeting Vaslav Nijinsky's daughter and his decidedly odd grandson while researching her book about the legendary dancer.

Die Walküre - The Royal Opera • The second opera in Barrie Kosky's Ring Cycle is darkly dramatic, suggesting the Earth has burned. Catch it at cinemas here.

Nellie Melba: The Legend Lives by Richard Davis • ½ This life-and-times biography explores Melba as others saw her.

The Story of Souleymane • Boris Lojkine's film about a migrant surviving in Paris gets your pulse racing.

On Air & Online

ABC Classic concert program - June 2025

Independent radio & streaming - June 2025

GUY NOBLE'S SOAPBOX Virtually Anything • After spending a relaxing time on a virtual tropical beach, Guy Noble wonders if a little more virtual reality might be in order.

WORLD PREMIERE Tilted Scales • Jack Frerer discusses his new work, commissioned by Musica Viva Australia for Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene and Australian pianist Jennifer Marten-Smith, and explains why he likes composing for instruments he can't play.

PLAYING UP The Tuba...