Let your emotions run wild this August thanks to Melbourne Recital Centre's impressive lineup.
August is traditionally a little bit of a slump in the year. The weather isn’t great, we’ve already done our taxes, so what is left to do? The answer can be found at Melbourne Recital Centre, right at the centre of our city’s musical ecosystem. Its August program has another slather of winners for you to pick from.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Mama Alto – Transcendent
- When: Friday, August 2nd
- Where: Primrose Potter Salon
- Tickets here
What’s the best way to start the month of August in any given year? With some old-school jazz. We all know that. Mama Alto’s Transcendent is the best way to do this, and you can expect another sold-out show (just like her show last year).
Combining old-school jazz torch singing with contemporary cabaret glamour, Mama Alto, a queer person of colour living with disability, harnesses her powerful voice and musical talents to tell her stories through a unique lens.
Fresh off her solo debut at Joe’s Pub in New York City, Mama Alto’s set will feature new and old songs. Her statuesque presence and masterful interpretation of the torch genre deliver triumph, tragedy, poignancy, and pathos in equal measure.
The Friday Revue
- When: Friday, August 2nd
- Where: Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
- Tickets here
Spend an afternoon with a mixture of live music and comedy with ABC Radio Melbourne’s Jacinta Parsons and Brian Nankervis. The Friday Revue features a lineup of special guests and some of the finest musical acts you can access. The surprise of what will happen next is half the fun, but rest assured, there will be plenty of laughs and good times.
David Greco & Chad Kelly – Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin
- When: Friday, August 9th
- Where: Primrose Potter Salon
- Tickets here
Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin gets a revamp with classical luminaries David Greco and Chad Kelly, an ARIA-nominated duo that will be tackling this iconic song cycle in August. Composed in 1823 and celebrated as one of Schubert’s most important works, Die schöne Müllerin tells the story of a young man who falls hopelessly in love with the miller’s daughter, only to find she loves someone else – a classic conundrum! It’s renowned for its complexity, originality, and the rich melodies that solidified Schubert’s genius in the lieder genre.
Originally, pianist Erin Helyard was set to perform, but due to injury, Chad Kelly will be stepping in to join David Greco for this stripped-back and imaginative interpretation.
Augustin Hadelich
- When: Tuesday, August 13th
- Where: Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
- Tickets here
Augustin Hadelich, hailed as “one of the most exciting violinists in the world” by Süddeutsche Zeitung, is a GRAMMY Award-winning German-American virtuoso hitting the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall stage for an exclusive Australian recital.
This will be Hadelich’s only Australian recital, during which he’ll tackle Bach’s Partita No.3 in E, American composer David Lang’s Mystery Sonatas and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Blue/s Forms (for the very first time). This composition, originally a tribute to Sanford Allen, the first African-American violinist in the New York Philharmonic, features unique jazz-infused melodies, and you can hear all about why this is so cool with a 20-minute discussion with Augustin Hadelich after the set.
MOUNTAIN
- When: Saturday, August 24th
- Where: Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
- Tickets here
Now or Never is back, and part of it comes to Melbourne Recital Centre in August with MOUNTAIN, an evocative contemporary dance performance brought to life by U.K. electronic music producer Clark and award-winning choreographer Melanie Lane. Flanked by costumes from designer Akira Isogawa, MOUNTAIN explores the tension between creation and destruction, exploring the human struggle to evolve and the inevitable collapse that comes with it.
Dancers Tyrel Dulvarie, Sarah Black, Yolanda Lowatta, and Max Burgess climb, collapse, and take flight to a live score composed and performed by Clark, featuring a mix of electronics, strings, and piano, with support from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble adding depth to the already powerful choreography.
Orava Quartet plays Debussy & Dean
- When: Friday, August 30th
- Where: Primrose Potter Salon
- Tickets here
Hailing from Brisbane and praised as “one of Australia’s proudest cultural exports” by The Australian, the Orava Quartet has had a run of global tours, a chart-topping ARIA Classical album, and the distinction of being the first ensemble to release a recording with Deutsche Grammophon!
The ensemble will tackle Debussy’s timeless String Quartet in G Minor and the world premiere of Paul Dean’s latest commission. The Orava Quartet seamlessly blends distinct musical worlds into a contemporary yet familiar and intimate performance, a great way to round out the month.
MINYERRA
- When: Saturday, August 31st
- Where: Primrose Potter Salon
- Tickets here
MINYERRA is a sonic journey created by Neil Morris, also known as DRMNGNOW, set against the stunning Kaieltheban land. MINYERRA is a sacred narrative that draws from the essence of ancestral redgum (biyala) and waters (wala), flowing with ancient wisdom.
Neil Morris blends intricate sound collages, atmospheric textures, ethereal electronica, and pulsing rhythms to invite you into the liminal spaces between woka (country), yenbena (ancestors), and mulana (spirit) of all living beings on Yorta Yorta land.
This performance pays homage to the deep-rooted song patterns and vocal structures of Morris’ Indigenous heritage while pushing the boundaries of analog synthesis. We don’t like to play favourites, but this is our pick of the bunch!
Melbourne Recital Centre’s August program runs from August 1st to 31st. For the full program, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Melbourne Recital Centre.
