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

INDIAN SUMMER • Over a 30-year career, Andreas Scholl's voice has retained its remarkable beauty. The German countertenor talks to Clive Paget about the road to fame and fortune, taking care of his instrument, and the music he will sing with the Australian World Orchestra in October.

Cogs in the Wheel • With the upcoming release of Katherine Wiles’ book No Autographs, Please! about life in the Opera Australia Chorus, Jansson J. Antmann talks to the chorister, her colleagues Annabelle Chaffey and Clifford Plumpton, and Chorus Master Paul Fitzsimon about their colourful careers and their favourite directors.

FROM GOTHIC TO LOOSEY-GOOSEY • Brisbane's Shake & Stir Theatre Co is renowned for its stage adaptations of literary classics. Ahead of a tour of Frankenstein, co-produced with John Frost for Crossroads Live, and the world premiere of GRIMM at the Brisbane Festival, Jo Litson talks to two of the company's Artistic Directors.

The Long Climb to the Podium • The number of Australians with their sights set on an international conducting career hasn't changed, but over the past few decades, the success rate has gradually diminished. Megan Steller looks at the reasons why and talks to some of our leading maestri about the changes that need to occur to reverse this trend.

Sea Change • In 2025, Mark Wigglesworth becomes Chief Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra after “a long courtship”. He tells Clive Paget about his approach to conducting, and his passion for cricket.

What's new on disc • Folk-flecked piano trios, Elder's Elgar, Jurowski's Stravinsky, and orchestral songs from Magdalena Kožená and Stanford. This month's releases are strikingly eclectic.

Mythmaker • Sex, demigods and a three-headed beast, Gilgamesh has it all. Composer Jack Symonds tells Jansson J. Antmann about his new opera based on the Mesopotamian epic.

A Neck Ahead • En route to the Adelaide Guitar Festival, Xuefei Yang talks to Jo Litson about her trailblazing career as China's first internationally celebrated classical guitarist.

Nine, Wine and Time • Tan Dun tells Shamistha de Soysa about his choral concerto Nine and violin concerto Hero, which he is to conduct for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra alongside Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Charles Villiers Stanford: Man and Musician by Jeremy Dibble • ✭✭✭✭ 1/2 Dibble's magisterial biography gets a centenary update.

An Ambivalent Woman • Emma Sandall tells Jo Litson about her new solo show, inspired by Sheila Heti's novel Motherhood, which features movement, animations and a score

Thelma • ✭✭✭✭ The elderly vigilante genre is rarely as charming as Josh Margolin's movie starring June Squibb.

Stage by Stage • Peter Eyers chats with Jo Litson about his STAGES podcast, which has released 500 episodes and counting.

ABC Classic concert program – September 2024

ABC listening highlight

Independent radio & streaming – September 2024

Paws for Thought • Realising how much his stepdog calms him down, Guy Noble takes his hat off to adorable...