The Sydney Opera House announces 'Liminal', a dynamic new live music film series

The Sydney Opera House today announced a dynamic new film series set to engage some of the most creative musical minds in the country.

Liminal will pair eight of Australia’s most exciting and renowned artists with a 360-degree blank canvas performance space - in which they will bring their musical creations to life for the screen.

Taking place inside SOH’s iconic Joan Sutherland Theatre and directed by acclaimed entertainment studio Subversus, the team will radically transform the stage into an evocative Lightbox of colours and sounds for audiences all around the world to experience from the comfort of their homes.

“As we move into a post- lockdown world, we do so with a mix of trepidation and excitement, hovering in a state between before and after,” Sydney Opera House Head of Digital Programming Stuart Buchanan explained. “With the incredible vision of Subversus, the Joan Sutherland Theatre has been reconceptualised to stage performances in a radical new way.”

Buchanan continued, “together with the Opera House Head of Contemporary Music, Ben Marshall, we’ve co-curated a line-up of local artists who have responded with fresh and inimitable approaches; delivering a debut season of breathtaking works that are neither live performance nor music video; but exist somewhere in the space between.”

The artists set to take part in this unique audiovisual experience include rising Bundjalung star Budjerah, Western Sydney guitarist and rapper BLESSED, acclaimed lyricist and performer Liz Martin Band, producer and DJ Ninajirachi, Sydney indie duo EGOISM, esteemed jazz pianist and The Necks band member Chris Abrahams, nu-soul sensation Maina Doe and Queensland Music Award recipient and producer extraordinaire Young Franco.

“Liminal is a simple but bold statement about what the Opera House represents to live music in this country,” Subversus Creative Directors Jason Sukadana and Tanya Babic said of the project. “The challenge for us was to create a cinematic space that could not only work with, but also elevate the performances of a broad spectrum of incredible artists.

“We're so used to seeing artists on stage in a two-dimensional theatrical set up with the band positioned in a traditional formation, facing the audience. Instead, we wanted to utilise a 360 degree perspective of stage – it’s a nod to the living, breathing work of art that is the Opera House and a motivation to create ‘moments' as these acts transition back onto the stage and to live performance.”

Liminal will take place 8pm weekly from Friday 12 - Saturday 27 November, via YouTube, Facebook and SOH’s specially designed viewing platform, Stream. For all the info, head to their website here.

Words by PARRY TRITSINIOTIS

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