Music
Approaching three decades as one of the alternative world’s most celebrated bands, Foo Fighters could almost patent the formula for a stadium rock show.
Music
The latest blockbuster production of Miss Saigon opens in Adelaide this January and one of its stars, former Adelaide performer Kerrie Anne Greenland, says the musical’s messages around war, loss and love remain as powerful and relevant as ever.
WOMADelaide has revealed another 38 acts for 2024 – including a new show by the company behind feather-filled aerial spectacle Place des Anges – with significant changes also planned to the site after concerns this year about overcrowding.
Kristian Winther offered one of the more challenging programs a violinist could ever take on, but his artistry seemingly knew no limit in a remarkable UKARIA concert with pianist Aura Go.
The assassination of John F Kennedy sparked an outpouring of grief all over the world – including in Adelaide. A special local event marking the 60th anniversary of the tragedy will feature heartfelt letters and music sent by mourners to his widow.
Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre’s presentation of Shrek the Musical is a spectacular comedic performance, highlighting Adelaide’s up-and-coming triple threats.
“Setting The Marriage of Figaro in the Houses of Parliament might sound anathema to lovers of this opera, but the comedy it brings is thoroughly up-to-date and worthy of a TV sitcom. This State Opera SA production is brilliant.
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Music
The legacy of Uncle Archie Roach is one that is hard to overstate and it is ever-present in this performance at UKARIA Cultural Centre by Emma Donovan, Jess Hitchcock, Lior and Paul Grabowsky.
Festivals
Nostalgia ruled at the second iteration of Harvest Rock as the rain stayed away and the family-friendly, accessible festival delivered two days of world-class live music with top-notch drops and bites. The only disappointment was the lack of local acts.
The ASO’s cathedral series could not have come a better time, and particularly this one called ‘Glory’. With conflict and tensions around the world, those seeking a moment of sanctity were amply rewarded.
Performer Njo Kong Kie honours the haunting poetry of late Chinese worker-poet Xiu Lizhi through a song cycle that causes audiences to question the human costs of modern global capitalism.
A moving story about on the life of Vietnamese-Australian musician Dung Nguyen, with himself at the centre of the performance, 1988 leaves an indelible impression.
Paul McCartney made a triumphant return to Adelaide with an almost-three-hour set full of culture-defining songs that thrilled fans both old and new. For young musician and writer Shannon Pearce, it was a night to remember.
Festivals
Jamaican musician Ziggy Marley – the son of reggae legend Bob Marley – headlines a line-up of 28 artists from 25 countries in WOMADelaide’s first major announcement for the 2024 festival in Botanic Park.
Music
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 season offers a diverse range of performances, including tributes to film composer Hans Zimmer and songwriter Burt Bacharach, a further celebration of Rachmaninov, a concert featuring Electric Fields, and a street-art-inspired event in Port Adelaide.
Music
Performances of Handel’s Messiah and other celebrated large-scale works from the baroque using historical instruments look set to become a regular feature in the city. It’s all part of a new raft of initiatives from Adelaide Baroque.
Music
State Opera South Australia has appointed a new artistic director, in a change that points to greater international collaboration and a push to launch homegrown local talent to the world.
Verdi’s version of the dark tale of Macbeth is brought to Adelaide’s opera stage with a dynamic ensemble and some outstanding individual performances.
Two and a half years after Michael Gudinski’s death, this new documentary celebrates his life and far-reaching impact on the Australian music scene.
In this music theatre gem, the brilliant Zahra Newman and her band recapture and celebrate the vibrant life, loves, torments and timeless music of Billie Holiday.
This seminal band addressed Adelaide with a performance that took fans on a tour through their memories, while also delivering staunch messages to those in power.
Music
New York-based award-winning jazz vocalist Jazzmeia Horn performed alongside top emerging musicians from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in the captivating concert A Night of Jazz at Elder Hall.
Music
While State Opera gears up for Macbeth, it somehow found time to put together an intriguing, eclectic Shakespearean-themed concert with music from Finzi and Britten to Shostakovich. UKARIA was the ideal setting.
Stuart Maunder’s production of Macbeth for State Opera South Australia promises to be a fearsomely truthful account of Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece, performed with some of Australia’s finest singers on a set reminiscent of Game of Thrones.
In the fifth instalment of this series since 2017, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra brought to life the iconic soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in an immersive group experience for the fans.
New data shows women are hugely under-represented in conductor and director roles within Australia’s five major opera companies, with risk aversion in programming exacerbating gender inequality.
AACTA-award winning performer Zahra Newman separates artist from legend as she tells Billie Holiday’s story in the musical play Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.
At the end of a long national tour, the Australian String Quartet arrived home in relaxed fashion and served up a most remarkable performance of Haydn. But it was not in their usual venue.
Music
The Australian Chamber Orchestra delivered a tough but invigorating program centring on Bartók’s Fifth String Quartet in an artistically well-judged arrangement of this work by artistic director Richard Tognetti.
InReview
To mark the 30th anniversary of the landmark album Night of the Wolverine, Dave Graney ‘n’ The Coral Snakes have got the band back together. InReview spoke with Graney and his wife and the band’s drummer Clare Moore, reflecting on music in the ’90s, the legacy of Wolverine and the influence of Adelaide’s Sister Janet Mead.
After COVID-related delays beginning in 2020, the ASO’s date with Pinchas Zukerman finally materialised and with it a most magical performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
A new book by photographer Eric Algra captures Adelaide’s live music scene over the past three decades, including the golden years in the ’70s and ’80s when names such as Gumbo Ya! Ya!, The Bodgies and Exploding White Mice loomed large.
The Firm’s mission to turn the course of contemporary art music found intriguing success in the hands of Adelaide’s returning pianist Marianna Grynchuk with a performance in the remarkable setting of the North Adelaide Baroque Hall.
French and Korean duo Antoine Boyer and Yeore Kim charmed their Adelaide audience with a virtuosic performance of classical-inspired gypsy jazz in a show that also featured Australian musician Kathleen Halloran.
Festivals
A full house responded joyfully to a tight band of nine performers as they gave fitting homage to guitar god Jeff Beck in a thrilling performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Festivals
Oud master and engaging raconteur Joseph Tawadros traversed a category-defying mix of influences and musical styles in this Adelaide Guitar Festival show, which also featured rising star of the classical guitar Connor Whyte.
Yothu Yindi wove their sonic magic to create a poignant reaffirmation of truth, treaty and tribal voice for a revering Adelaide audience at this NAIDOC Week performance.
Anne Cawrse’s new marimba concerto is a gorgeous, skilfully conceived work, and with a dazzling performance from soloist Claire Edwardes, it was the standout item in the ASO’s Embrace concert.
Beloved nanny Mary Poppins works her magic on Adelaide with this energetic production brimful of charm and nostalgic delight.
If you’re going to make your public singing debut, why not do it with a beer in hand among a thousand strangers of vastly varying vocal abilities?
Music
Jo Lawry masterfully brings jazz to UKARIA’s stately space, to the delight of an audience charmed by her and bandmates Sam Anning and Ben Vanderwal.
Music
Two very different musical cultures will come together when the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra premieres Grayson Rotumah’s Creation, a unique and evocative work inspired by the First Nations artist’s own lived experience and heritage.
SA arts and culture news in brief: A Grammy-nominated international star of vocal jazz to join local up-and-comers on stage, encore screenings for an Adelaide documentary and more concerns from the arts sector following the State Budget.
In Haitian Creole, M’ap Boulé means “I am on fire”. This is true for both Nancy Denis and anyone in the room with her: she sets the entire theatre alight.
New York-based powerhouse provocateur Rizo enchants with a show pulsing with soul, sass and sensuality.
An orchestra pit transformed into a lake and puppeteers who double as acrobats are among the inventive elements of director Robert Lepage’s The Nightingale and Other Fables – announced as the centrepiece of the 2024 Adelaide Festival.
