Opera Australia $10m turnaround a result to sing about
Australia's biggest performing arts company Opera Australia has staged a major financial turnaround, returning to profit in 2025.
Arts & Entertainment
Canberra’s best coverage of local arts news plus reviews, including dining, film, theatre, music, visual arts and dance
Here's the latest Artsweek column by arts editor HELEN MUSA on everything that's happening in and around Canberra for arts and entertainment lovers.
Playback is by Tom Glassey, a working journalist and on-and-off Press Gallery member, who has been developing the play through the Resident Street program, reports HELEN MUSA.
“No grand sets, no spectacle, just the truth behind the fairytales,” director Jarrad West promises of their “unplugged” version of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, reports HELEN MUSA.
Art
Layered wax paintings explore memory of place
KERRY-ANNE COUSINS reviews Liz Priestley's latest art works exhibited at Grainger Gallery where she uses the ancient encaustic technique of building up layers of wax, pigments and resin to form multiple layers of colour and texture.
Art
QPRC art awards celebrate strong local talent
From glass blowers to metal sculptors, the QPRC and Bendigo Bank 2026 Art Awards held on Saturday at The Q saw a record 87 entries competing across 12 prizes, reports arts editor HELEN MUSA.
Musical Theatre
Mr Darcy’s niece (sort of) has the word on Jane
The show Promise and Promiscuity, described by the Irish Times as “a posthumous collaboration with Jane Austen”, is the brainchild of actor Penny Ashton, reports HELEN MUSA.
Disney has cut parts from its orchestra and replaced them with synthesised keyboard technology, leaving local musicians out of a job.
'Interwoven' by the Australian String Quartet at Gandel Hall was a "through-composed study of emotional nuance", weaving together strains from the quartet's history spanning 18th century to the 21st century, reviews NICK HORN.
Here's the latest Arts in the City column from HELEN MUSA.
Delta Goodrem has finished fourth at Eurovision, confounding hopes for a first Australian winner as Bulgaria soared to its maiden win.
"Rather than confining itself to classic big-band repertoire, Blamey Street Big Band specialises in re-inventing popular music genres by applying a swing beat," writes reviewer BILL STEPHENS.
SARAH BYRNE reviews a performance of Schubert’s Fantasy and Octet by the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE reviews Staunch, an exhibition by a collective of Blak artists.
"These abstract works are successful in their ability to communicate through rhythm, shape and colour, the artist’s pictorial vision and its genesis in his poetic imagination," writes visual art reviewer KERRY-ANNE COUSINS.
"There’s something unnerving about seeing a more familiar landscape form the backdrop of a thriller film," writes streaming columnist NICK OVERALL after watching the Australian movie thriller Apex.
"Beneath the playful veneer lies razor-sharp timing, a meticulously crafted structure and a knack of knowing exactly when to push the joke and when to pull back." BILL STEPHENS reviews the Burton Brothers' Tinseltown.
Internationally respected artist, educator, researcher, graphic designer, and ecological and human rights warrior, John Reid, has died. He was 78.
"This is a lunatic play." ALANNA MACLEAN reviews Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a production by Mockingbird Theatre.
