From township jazz to Grammy-winning vocal experimentation, celebrate a month of music with diversity at its core.
Tucked into the heart of the city, Melbourne Recital Centre is serving up a month of performances to suit every sonic palate.
Whether you’re after something soulful and celebratory, boundary-pushing and avant-garde, or deeply intimate, there’s something here for all listeners. Here’s what’s coming up.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Mama Africa – Our Kind of Jazz
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- 7 February
- Tickets here
If you love a good dance floor and even better music, this is your February highlight. Mama Africa – Our Kind of Jazz is a celebration of South African legend Miriam Makeba, brought to life by some of Melbourne’s most talented African musicians under the guidance of renowned local radio presenter Stani Goma. Expect infectious rhythms, joyful township grooves and reimagined versions of Makeba’s most iconic tracks; think Pata Pata and The Click Song, but with a fresh, contemporary twist. It’s uplifting, it’s soulful, and it’s a love letter to African jazz that goes well beyond the stage.
Roomful of Teeth
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- 11 February
- Tickets here
This one’s for the adventurous ears in the room. Grammy-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth are eight voices doing things vocally that genuinely shouldn’t be possible. Drawing from their acclaimed album Rough Magic and pulling in works from their wider catalogue, this North American octet blurs the line between ancient choral tradition and cutting-edge experimentation. If you’ve never seen a vocal group that makes you forget everything you thought you knew about singing, this is the night.
Martin Hayes
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- 24 February
- Tickets here
Virtuoso Irish fiddler Martin Hayes has a gift for turning familiar melodies into something deeply, almost uncomfortably moving. Joined by guitarist Kyle Sanna, Hayes strips back all the fuss and lets the music do the talking. It’s intimate, it’s raw, and it’s the kind of performance that stays with you long after you’ve left the hall. The Irish Times put it best: this is the sort of show people will talk about for years.
Barton and Brodsky
- 25 February
- Tickets here
Perhaps the most ambitious show of the month. Chamber music legends the Brodsky Quartet; with a 50-year legacy behind them, join master yidaki artist William Barton for a performance that genuinely reshapes what a string quartet can be. This isn’t two traditions sharing a stage; it’s a real conversation, spanning millennia of musical and cultural history. From Purcell to Stravinsky, ancient breath to baroque precision, this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of night that celebrates Australia’s musical soul in the most stunning way possible.
For more information on what’s on at Melbourne Recital Centre, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Melbourne Recital Centre.
