Western Australian singer-songwriter Benedict Moleta returned to live music in 2022 after a seven-year glitch. Between 2005 and 2013 he released eight albums with many Perth players and singers. Regrouping with friends from those days in 2023, he played a 20-year retrospective show, then recorded his 9th album – Illuminated Numbers – which is being launched in late 2024.
In 2022-23 Benedict also released albums interpreting songs of Schumann, Wolf and Mahler, and classical, pop and patriotic songs in five languages. Three duets of his own written in French will be released this year, recorded with Carole Katz; and a duet cover of Belinda Carlisle’s Summer Rain, with Miranda Pollard.
Benedict draws on this material to play two sets: songs from the new album in the second set, and songs going back over the years in the first.
He is joined by bass baritone Oliver Mann for a touch of Schumann. The pair met in 2007, and last played together in 2010.