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

A GOOD REED • Arriving in Australia this month, renowned British clarinettist Michael Collins chats with Clive Paget about his fast-paced career, surviving two terrible setbacks, and why he's determined to be more choosy about the work he undertakes in future.

Her Own Spotlight • Lisa Simone, daughter of the legendary Nina Simone, returns to Australia with a show celebrating her mother's legacy. She explains to John Shand how she found her true calling after a decade in the US Air Force and why she was intent on making music on her own terms.

Music Without Sauerkraut • Erik Satie was one of the most iconoclastic classical composers of the 20th century, an eccentric oddball who described himself as a “phonometrographer” rather than a musician. On the centenary of his death, Albert Ehrnrooth explores the life and music of the composer once described by John Cage as “indispensable”.

Staying Power • On the 150th anniversary of Bizet's famous opera, Deborah Jones explains why Carmen is so regularly reinterpreted, and talks to director Anne-Louise Sarks about her new production for Opera Australia.

INTERVIEW Mix and Match • Ahead of his Australian tour, British organist James O'Donnell tells Jansson J. Antmann how he keeps the repertoire fresh.

What's new on disc • This month features a double helping of Ravel, contemporary music by two leading Brits, the latest from the Takács Quartet and Benjamin Grosvenor, plus a Ponchielli rarity.

A DIY Spirit • Mat Schulz, the Australian co-Artistic Director of Kraków's Unsound festival, chats with Maddy Briggs about the history of the event and its 2025 program at Illuminate Adelaide.

100 Years Forging Human Connections • La Boite Artistic Director Courtney Stewart tells Jo Litson about the company's centenary season.

Teenage Dreams • The lead character in Kimberly Akimbo is 16 going on 70 due to a rare ageing disease. Jo Litson talks to director Mitchell Butel and Marina Prior who plays Kimberly.

Breaking into Opera • US-based Australian soprano and director Miriam Gordon-Stewart tells Jo Litson about her new documentary YAPs, which follows five aspiring young opera singers.

Britten, Opera and Film by Peter Auker • Auker dives in to discover what makes The Turn of the Screw so cinematic.

The Friend • ½ It's hard not to fall for Naomi Watts and canine actor Bing in this friendlier version of the bestselling novel.

On Air & Online

ABC Classic concert program – July 2025

Independent radio & streaming – July 2025

GUY NOBLE'S SOAPBOX Not So Smart • This month, an e-scooter running out of battery causes Guy Noble to ponder the dystopian horrors that await if electricity and the Internet fail.

WORLD PREMIERE Machnamh • Asked by his neighbour to compose a string quartet based on the famous Irish song Mná na hÉireann, Andrew Ford explains how he was given permission to write his “free ramble”, which has its premiere at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.

PLAYING UP The Historical Clarinet • Raised in Western...