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

UNRAVELLING RAVEL • Ravel once said, “I am not one of the great composers.” Many would disagree. On the 150th anniversary of his birth, Clive Paget talks to American conductor Robert Treviño and French pianist Bertrand Chamayou about why his music is so unique and widely loved.

Putting Down Roots • They say it takes a village to put on a show, let alone a festival. That’s certainly true when it comes to Lyndon Terracini’s latest venture, Handa Opera at Millthorpe. Jansson J. Antmann talks to the former Artistic Director of Opera Australia, his patron Dr Haruhisa Handa, and some of the artists and community members who are bringing the event to life.

Piping Hot • The Highland bagpipes are usually associated with Scotland, but one of the instrument’s trailblazers - Erwan Keravec - is French. As he prepares to bring a group of pipers to the Canberra International Music Festival to perform arrangements of music by Philip Glass, as well as new repertoire, he talks to Maddy Briggs about expanding the reach and potential of the instrument.

The Fight for Truth • Journalism is under attack worldwide. A new Australian film called The Correspondent tells the reverberating story of Peter Greste’s imprisonment in Egypt. Screenwriter Peter Duncan, director Kriv Stenders and actor Richard Roxburgh, who plays Greste, talk to Elissa Blake about the challenge of making the movie, and why courageous investigative journalism still matters.

International Chamber Music Festival Nelson 2026 • Immerse yourself in a celebration of premier international and New Zealand musicians who share excellence in performance and collaboration with an equally passionate audience. The 2026 festival will feature the Jupiter String Quartet, pianist, Jeremy Denk, tenor Colin Aisworth, clarinettist James Campbell and wind-players Todd Gibson-Cornish (bassoon) and Shadley Van Wyk (horn) with more artists to be announced. The Adam Chamber Music Festival is presented in one of the country’s finest chamber music venues, set in the vibrant ‘top of the south’ where art and leisure thrive amidst boutique vineyards, golden beaches and a stunning landscape. Find out more at music.org.nz

INTERVIEW An Illicit Passion • Leading Black American countertenor Reginald Mobley talks to Clive Paget about discovering his voice, his national tour with Bach Akademie Australia and his fears regarding the Trump administration.

What’s new on disc • This month features a disc of Donizetti gold, a Mahler Three from the Czech Philharmonic and the best in homegrown chamber music. Simon Rattle’s latest Creation is the icing on the cake.

Composing Australia • Liza Lim talks to Maddy Briggs about her curatorial vision for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s 2025 Metropolis Festival.

Giving Voice to Vivaldi • Joanna Forbes L’Estrange tells Jo Litson about her choral reimagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

BOOKS • Messiaen’s mysteries are illuminated in these two impressive publications.

The Count of Monte Cristo • This superbly realised new screen adaptation of Dumas’ epic novel feels both grand and real.

On...