Adelaide's UKARIA heralds the arrival of spring with a series of recitals by internationally regarded artists and leading lights in Australian music.

ACO's 2023 season gets off to a scintillating start with Ilya Gringolts, “the violinist’s violinist”, firmly in the driving seat.

The editors of Limelight share their selection of the most exciting classical music, opera and theatre events coming soon.

The Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary with guest artists both new and returning, a number of works by Australian composers, and a new early-evening series.

Featuring two Australian exclusive shows and a host of international acts, UKARIA offers a powerhouse program at the intimate concert hall, in celebration of founder Ulrike Klein.

Melbourne-born Artistic Director, Maurizio Scardovi, discusses the program highlights and shares his hopes for the Italian festival celebrating Bolognese composer Ottorino Respighi.

Highlights include Stephen Hough and the ASO performing all of Rachmaninov's works for piano and orchestra, world premieres by Elena Kats-Chernin, Anne Cawrse and Grayson Rotumah, and the arrival of new Concertmaster Kate Suthers.

Australian and women composers figure prominently in a season that is as inclusive as it is adventurous.

The violinist's stupendous technique was matched by dazzling lyricism – and he directed the concert to boot.

Gringolts nails Stravinsky's sometimes knotty violin output.

Highlights include Steven Isserlis, Nicole Car’s ACO debut, an arrangement of the Goldbergs plus four world premieres. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

★★★★☆ When you think of a composer doing it tough in Soviet Russia, your mind probably jumps to Shostakovich. Of course, he wasn’t the only one who struggled (and ‘struggled’ is putting it lightly). Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish Jew, fled the Germans twice, and met further trouble in the Soviet capital when he was arrested on charges of “Jewish bourgeois nationalism”. Despite hardships, Weinberg managed a 50-year career, completing an impressive 22 symphonies as well as numerous concertos and chamber works.   The Warsaw Philharmonic under Jacek Kaspszyk has chosen this lesser-known composer for its most recent release, with a performance of Weinberg’s Fourth Symphony and his violin concerto. Violinist Ilya Gringolts is a fantastic force on the disc, delivering an impassioned performance that shows off not only his skill but also his emotional depth. The orchestra is similarly fine, with gutsy playing in the faster movements of both works.  In truth, the music pays a huge debt to Shostakovich. Telltale harmonic shifts, stark contrasts in orchestration in the faster movements (particularly wind writing), and a pervading sense of melancholy in the slow movements bear the unmistakeable influence of Weinberg’s friend and contemporary. And as Shostakovich’s music is stained with…