This month’s cover star is one of the brightest: the irrepressible Broadway legend Patti LuPone.

Ahead of an Australian tour of her new show, A Life in Notes, beginning at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the three-time Tony Award winner and creator of some of the most iconic roles in musical theatre, talks to Limelight’s Jansson J. Antmann about her extraordinary career as the undisputed queen of Broadway.

No less starry (in different circles) is the English baritone Roderick Williams. Showcased as a singer and a composer at King Charles III’s coronation, Williams is about to flex both muscles at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In this issue, he chats with Limelight Editor-at-Large Clive Paget about being in the right place at the right time, and how he became “the go-to guy” for English song.

This month, we’re delighted to have the acclaimed novelist Christos Tsiolkas aboard to write about his experience co-writing the libretto for Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan, an oratorio about the murder of Dr George Ian Ogilvie Duncan in Adelaide in 1972. In a compelling piece, he explains why he felt compelled to put his fear aside and accept this “gift”, and how the libretto came about.

Chances are that unless you’ve been afflicted by it or know of someone who has, you mightn’t know much about focal dystonia? In which case, you won’t know what an issue it is in music circles. How does it affect musicians? And can it be treated? Steve Dow talks with a musician, a neurologist and a specialist physiotherapist and health researcher to investigate the movement disorder that can end careers.

Limelight Editor Jo Litson sheds light on the great work that Music in the Regions does in taking music beyond the realms of Australia’s seaboard cities, and its new tour of William Barton and Véronique Serret’s Heartland, while First Nations choreographers Moss Te Ururangi Patterson and Deborah Brown talk to Steve Dow about working together on Bangarra Dance Theatre’s first international mainstage collaboration, The Light Inside.

In our regular Five Questions column, we chat to Isobel Marmion, the Artistic Director of Tasmania’s Festival of Voices, about the upcoming event and what she’s most excited to present.

In My Music, the acclaimed French dancer/choreographer Benjamin Millepied reflects on the music that shaped him and explains how he fell in love with Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet all over again, and in this month’s Cutting Edge Limelight’s Maddy Briggs talks to composer Liza Lim about the three world premieres she’s about to unveil. She also explains why she sees artists as “antennae”.

In our World Premiere column, Lachlan Skipworth discusses his new Flute Concerto, written especially for West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Flute, Andrew Nicholson.

Ever heard of the kamancheh? In our Playing Up section, you’ll get to know everything about this “deeply Iranian” string instrument from a virtuoso player, Iranian-Australian musician Gelareh Pour, who explains how it works and why she fell in love with it.

Atop his Soapbox once again, Guy Noble dreams up an explosive festival program (all he needs now is an investor) and in this month’s Soundings column, classical pianist and author Simon Tedeschi reflects on the power of art, having been inspired by Ralf Yusuf Gawlick’s 2022 oratorio O Lungo Drom (The Long Road), recently released by Decca Australia.

And, as always, Limelight brings you reviews of the latest classical and art music releases and our pick of upcoming events in our concert halls and on our stages. Enjoy!

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