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

My Brilliant Musical • Anne-Louise Sarks was so taken with a workshop performance of My Brilliant Career, written by Dean Bryant, Mathew Frank and Sheridan Harbridge, that she decided to dive in and direct her first musical. Jo Litson talks to the show’s creators ahead of the Melbourne Theatre Company season.

TRUMPING CAESAR • From Shakespeare’s play to Handel’s opera and various films, artists have long been fascinated by Julius Caesar. Parallels have recently been drawn between Caesar and populist politicians such as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro. As the US presidential election looms, Steve Dow talks to academics, historians and stage directors about Caesar and his ongoing resonance.

A GOOD WICKET • As a new production of the seminal rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar embarks on an Australian tour, lyricist, EGOT winner and cricket-lover Sir Tim Rice talks to Jansson J. Antmann about his extraordinary career, in which he has penned everything from Disney hits to a James Bond theme song and rock operas about Jesus Christ and Eva Perón.

What Ever Happened to Nannerl? • Like her younger brother, Maria Anna Mozart was a child prodigy, but she stopped performing aged 16. In her new documentary, Mozart’s Sister, writer/director Madeleine Hetherton-Miau explores the fascinating theory that Maria Anna perhaps played a bigger role in Mozart’s music than previously thought. She talks to Harriet Cunningham.

A Belated Bow • Harriet Constable talks to Jo Litson about her bestselling debut novel, The Instrumentalist, which centres on Anna Maria della Pietà, Vivaldi’s almost forgotten star pupil.

What's new on disc • This month features a Kurt Weill trifecta, idiomatic Dvořák symphonies from the Czech Phil, a major Joshua Bell rediscovery and a radical take on Mozart’s Requiem.

Ten Years in the Making • In a chat with Maddy Briggs, the Dots+Loops co-directors reflect on an incredible decade of post-genre music and art presentation.

Re-Veeh-ered • Sally Greenaway talks to Jo Litson about composing for the Veeh Harp, which can be played by just about anyone.

Strange Things Happen • Paul Hodge tells Jo Litson how a pongy nappy inspired him to write a new musical based on the iconic children’s TV show Round the Twist.

The Shortest History of Music by Andrew Ford • ✭✭✭✭ ½ Ford’s non-linear storytelling weaves a multicoloured web of musical history.

The Moogai • ✭✭✭ Jon Bell’s First Nations suspense drama is disquieting at times, but not scary enough, despite its top cast.

On Air & Online

ABC Classic concert program – November 2024

Independent radio & streaming – November 2024

Hung Up • Sick and tired of unsolicited calls and ID checks, Guy Noble turns the tables on call centres.

Hyphae • Kirsten Milenko hopes the delicate musical branches in her new work for Ensemble Offspring will grow and resonate, much like the forest networks that inspired them.

The Rabab • Based in Phoenix, Arizona, the Afghan-American rabab master Qais Essar explains why evolution is the...