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

Lifting the Lid • Ahead of his Australian tour, British pianist Paul Lewis chats to Clive Paget about finding the tenderness in Beethoven, why Mozart's piano sonatas should not be underestimated and why he feels no need for a holiday.

BRIDGING THE GAP • As the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's Fellowship program approaches its 25th anniversary, flautist and writer Emily Thornton - herself a former Kingsland Fellow at the Canberra Symphony Orchestra – takes us inside Australia's orchestral fellowship and mentorship programs to discover what they offer the participants.

Curtain Up • In welcome news, Arts Centre Melbourne will reopen its newly named Ian Potter State Theatre this month. It's just one of a number of new and revitalised performance venues around the country. Jo Litson reports.

BEYOND THE FLAG • Breandáin O'Shea reports from this year's Musikfest Berlin where three Australian composers featured prominently in the ambitious 75th-anniversary program. Does this mark something significant for Australian music internationally? Or was it simply a wonderful coincidence?

INTERVIEW The Last-Minute Composer • As he puts his finishing touches to his new Flute Concerto, Joe Chindamo tells Jansson J. Antmann how he has translated Dorothy Parker's cynicism into music.

What's new on disc • This month features David Greco and Erin Helyard's latest Schubertiad, orchestral works by de Falla, McCabe and a whole host of Ukrainians, and a look at Handel's Italians in London.

Gratitude Times Fifty • A video of Chloe Kim's ambitious project, Music for 50 Musicians, will receive its premiere screening in Sydney next month. She tells Maddy Briggs about the work.

Turning Heads • Laura Hansford talks to Ceridwen Spark about her new production of Bizet's Carmen for State Opera South Australia, in which Don José is seen to fail as a human being rather than its heroine.

Essential Organs • Virtuoso British-Australian organist Joseph Nolan traces his career and discusses recording the complete organ works of maverick French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan.

The Lucky Son by Li Cunxin • What Mao's Last Dancer did next.

Pressure • ½ In this D-Day war drama, director Anthony Maras forges a connection with the present.

On Air & Online

ABC Classic concert program – October 2026

Independent radio & streaming – October 2026

GUY NOBLE'S SOAPBOX Keeping Things Mum • If you are creating something, Guy Noble recommends you don't show an early draft to anyone for feedback. They may say it's terrible, and they could be right – or wrong, as Tchaikovsky discovered.

WORLD PREMIERE Clarinet Concerto • James Ledger discusses his new Clarinet Concerto, composed especially for Perth-based musician Ashley Smith. Commissioned by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra with support from Geoff Stearn, it pushes the instrument to the edge of its capabilities.

PLAYING UP The Marquis de Corberon Cello • The 1762 Stradivari cello turns 300 this year. Steven Isserlis, who has had it on loan...