Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Jazzmeia Horn returned to Adelaide to perform with this year’s top jazz graduates from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in a night of joyful expression at the Town Hall that also featured hip-hop group DEM MOB.
Music
Hip-hop artist Kultar Ahluwalia shines as an insightful and poignant wordsmith in this homage to Adelaide, multicultural heritage and positive masculinity.
Music
There was little time for actual reverie in this concert, which featured the premiere of Adelaide composer Graeme Koehne’s emotionally complex Bittersweet Symphony and a performance by dynamic French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
A Beethovenian force in composition, Olli Mustonen delivered his edition of UKARIA’s centrepiece arts event with flair and eccentricity. This pianist-composer from Finland seems to dare the devil, and his performances were tremendously powerful.
Ticket revenue is booming in Australia, yet the music sector is in crisis. Ben Green and Sam Whiting look at how market concentration is affecting the music scene, highlighting the growing interests and reach of multinational promoter Live Nation.
WOMADelaide has announced the first 47 artists in its 2025 line-up, including English singer and multi-instrumentalist PJ Harvey, fado star Mariza, and 47SOUL – the Palestinian band at the centre of controversy when they were ‘uninvited’ this year.
Throughout her long career in music Kasey Chambers has learnt a few life lessons, which she shares with fans in her new book and album.
“It was both a surprise and a delight to see Carl Crossin returning to conduct Adelaide Chamber Singers. His touch was exquisite, imparting an introspective repose on this Elemental concert.
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Music
The Princess Bride movie sits firmly in the happy-ending category of adventure-romances, and this live musical presentation highlighted its enchanting qualities.
Music
LA Philharmonic Wind Quintet sets a wickedly high standard. One of its members is Andrew Bain from Adelaide, and it was thrilling to see this group return to UKARIA.
It’s endured storms, financial hardship and the pandemic but somehow Semaphore Music Festival has survived. Founder Deb Thorsen looks back at the highs and lows, and discusses this year’s line-up – including an emotional return of The Audreys.
The Church is a perennial favourite with Australian music fans and the band is getting ready to tour nationally.
In his first appearance after being announced as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s new chief conductor, Mark Wigglesworth showed his expertise in a fine performance of Elgar. And clarinettist Dean Newcomb absolutely shone in Mozart.
The Cat Empire is returning to Adelaide to join with the ASO for a concert that frontman Felix Riebl says is “the most musically sophisticated performance we’ve ever done”. It will also have special resonance for one particular orchestra member.
Travel Guide: a Global Gathering successfully lived up to its name with music from Brazil, China and other countries that genuinely created a sense of national cultures joining together.
Music
The Rolling Stones Revue gathers some of Australia’s best and fairest singers and instrumentalists for the celebration of a classic album and a non-stop, knees-up eisteddfod of greatest hits.
Music
Flamenco guitarist and composer Paco Peña delivers a timely warning with grace and passion in his Requiem for the Earth, which received a warm reception on the opening night of the Adelaide Guitar Festival.
Adelaide Festival
Acclaimed director Simon Stone’s opera Innocence – which sees the intertwined stories of a wedding and a school shooting in Helsinki unfold via a multi-level rotating set – is one of the first three shows announced for the 2025 Adelaide Festival.
Commentary
Twenty years after the epic 2004 Adelaide production of Wagner’s 16-hour, four-opera Ring cycle wowed audiences and critics alike, dramaturg Peter Bassett gives InReview a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how it all came together and explains why the show is a landmark in operatic history that should make South Australians proud.
New artistic director Dane Lam will this month conduct his first show with State Opera – and it’s a rom-com he likens to a combination of The White Lotus and Love Island. Lam also shares with InReview his longer-term vision for the SA company.
It’s been a while since the Australian Chamber Orchestra has taken on a major collaborative project, but this was one for the ages. With dance overlaying music of Bach and Arvo Pärt, it pushed every boundary.
Spanish guitar virtuoso Paco Peña has returned to Australia to perform his iconic requiem that celebrates the world’s glories but also delivers a critical message.
Bjorn Again is more than just a tribute band as they travel the country spreading the complete gospel of ABBA.
Harking back to the Jazz Age of the late 1920s, Chicago is full of fizz and low comedy, great song and dance performances, and has a shrewd edge intended to make us think, even as we enjoy the razzle dazzle.
Music
Trombonist Thomas Voss and trumpeter Luke White have set up a new big band residency intended to ensure the longevity of the jazz scene in South Australia.
Music
It’s the golden anniversary of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells – and those bells will keep ringing, as it’s touring Oz.
From Kung Fu Panda and Driving Miss Daisy, to the muscle-bound Pirates of the Caribbean and menacing Inception, film composer Hans Zimmer’s music proved exhilarating in two sold-out live shows by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
World-class, cutting-edge sound and performance warmed up a cold mid-winter weekend at the Dom Polski Centre in Adelaide, cementing Unsound as one of the most vital music festivals in the state.
Audiences came in from the cold for this special concert celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Adelaide Guitar Festival Orchestra and featuring a line-up of musicians including flautist Jane Rutter and guitarist Giuseppe Zangari.
Joep Beving’s audio-visual Hermetism performance was a strikingly memorable and thoroughly impressive experience.
Theatre
He may be best known for his role on Kath & Kim, but actor and comedian Peter Rowsthorn is also a talented singer who is set to show his chops when Chicago the Musical opens in Adelaide.
Music
Dutch composer and pianist Joep Beving sheds light on his unique artistry and ‘impressionist’ approach to making music ahead of a national tour of his live audio-visual show Hermetism.
In an intimate chamber setting, violinist Satu Vänskä and pianist Konstantin Shamray presented a program that was unique in both selection and delivery.
Unexpected programming led to ear-opening results in Australian String Quartet’s Vanguard concert. And as with so many times before, this group’s music-making was exemplary.
With the ASO magnificently in harness again, Andrew Litton applied full cinematic power and sweep to Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony while also bringing precision to all its wonderful detail.
Daring and full-flavoured, Andrew Litton’s Rachmaninov is a force to be reckoned with. His accounts of Symphonies 1 and 2 redefine this music, especially when played as magnificently as this by the ASO.
Arts
Are we ever going to see their faces again? Yep, because The Angels have a new album and a national tour coming your way
Cabaret Festival
Patti LuPone comes back to Adelaide to perform a program of memorable songs and show us what timeless cabaret looks and sounds like.
Cassie Hamilton’s ingenious new musical confronts complex sociopolitical issues without failing to be highly entertaining and heartfelt.
British ensemble VOCES8 demonstrated their dazzling prowess at UKARIA’s A Cappella Academy, with their public performances also showcasing local vocal talent.
This homage by queer musicians to the queer songs that shaped them had all the feels – plus a sweet sapphic surprise.
ABC’s The Book Club leapt back to life in glittering style as a cabaret show, bringing the jazz age to the stage in a musically-bedazzled discussion of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby.
Arts
Singer songwriter Deborah Conway grew up with the music of Carole King and she teams up with country star Darren Coggan to pay tribute to her and James Taylor.
Cabaret Festival
With four outstanding singers and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at its expansive best, this celebration of Australian music legend Olivia Newton-John is a Cabaret Festival highlight.
British musical comedy duo Flo & Joan weave their spell with keyboards, drums, a sparkly shaker and truth bombs in this hilariously clever cabaret show.
Kirill Gerstein has been described as the poet of the piano and he is currently on tour for Musica Viva Australia.
The Adelaide Guitar Festival will return in September with a line-up ranging from a star-studded Rolling Stones celebration to a showcase of First Nations country music and a concert take on The Princess Bride.
A collection of life experiences encapsulated in her most memorable songs, Catching Diamonds finds Kate Miller-Heidke at her mesmerising best.
