Contemporary Music

Contemporary Music

A selection of some off the very best contemporary music performances and interviews from the Sydney Opera House archive.

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Contemporary Music
  • Liminal: Chris Abrahams

    Liminal is a bold contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists as they create unique live performances for the screen.

    Take a hypnotic journey with The Necks’ master pianist. As one third of one of Australia’s most important bands The Necks’ – famously dubbed “the greatest ...

  • Liminal: EGOISM

    Liminal is a bold contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists as they create unique live performances for the screen.

    The Joan Sutherland Theatre’s transformative new Liminal stage was practically designed for EGOISM, the rising Sydney indie duo whose hazy shade of dream p...

  • Liminal: Ninajirachi

    Watch more Liminal performances here.

    Liminal is a bold contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists as they create unique live performances for the screen.

    The perfect expression of our future-facing new Liminal music series, 22-year-old electronic producer, DJ and songwr...

  • Liminal: Liz Martin Band

    Watch more Liminal performances here.

    Liminal is a bold contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists as they create unique live performances for the screen.

    More than a decade since her last appearance performing Walking On Air with Aerialize, multi-talented singer, songwr...

  • Liminal: BLESSED

    Watch more Liminal performances here.

    Liminal is a bold contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists as they create unique live performances for the screen.

    A musical enigma on the verge of superstardom, Ghana-born Sydney-sider BLESSED brings his singular mix of hip-hop, p...

  • Liminal: Budjerah

    Watch more Liminal performances here.

    Liminal is a bold contemporary music film series featuring eight Australian artists as they create unique live performances for the screen.

    Australia’s hottest young R&B talent makes his solo Opera House debut. Streaming as part of Liminal, a bold, new con...

  • Ed Kuepper with Jim White - Collapseboard

    In June 2021, right before things slowed down, we were fortunate to host a very special collaboration of two great Australian musicians. Ed Kuepper of The Saints fame and Jim White of Dirty Three joined forces to deliver a spellbinding performance, delving into Kuepper's 45-year catalogue.

    Watch...

  • Wu-Tang Clan: C.R.E.A.M / Gravel Pit

    Featuring RZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, U-God, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck, GZA, Cappadonna. In a history-making event in 2018, the Avengers of rap celebrated 25 years since the release of their ground-breaking debut album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – see all nine members bring...

  • Iggy Pop - I Wanna Be Your Dog / Search and Destroy / The Passenger / No Fun

    Highlights from the Godfather of Punk's incendiary debut at the Sydney Opera House in April 2019, featuring the classic songs 'I Wanna Be Your Dog', 'Search and Destroy', 'The Passenger' and 'No Fun'.

    Widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers of all time, Iggy Pop pre-figur...

  • H.E.R.: Focus / Let Me In / Lights On

    Following two fever-pitch mixtapes of woozy RnB, the mysterious trap soul heartbreaker H.E.R. finally made her roof-shaking Australian debut at Vivid LIVE 2018. Watch three tracks from her incredible performance in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, 'Focus', 'Let Me In' and 'Lights On'.

  • DJ Koze & Róisín Murphy - Sing It Back / Pick Up

    Pioneering, genre-bending German producer DJ Koze debuted his game-changing mix of house, soul, hip hop and R&B at the Sydney Opera House in December 2019, with an epic night of euphoric sounds and exceptional visuals.

    In these highlights, Koze's "Knock Knock" album collaborator, Róisín Murphy m...

  • The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin Live (2019)

    Celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 1999 masterpiece, The Soft Bulletin, technicolour rock legends The Flaming Lips made their Sydney Opera House debut in 2019, playing the album in full alongside their greatest hits.

  • Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Push the Sky Away

    Recorded at Sydney Opera House, December 2019

    Watch The Bad Seeds bandmates' encore performance of 'Push The Sky Away' performed live with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, conducted by Nicholas Buc. The legendary Australian musicians performed their triumphant rendit...

  • Amon Tobin - ISAM Live at Sydney Opera House

    Prepare for a sensory overload from Vivid LIVE 2012. Brazilian born producer Amon Tobin performs his seventh studio album ISAM and back catalogue in a custom-built cubic installation for an audiovisual 3D spectacle like no other.

  • Panda Bear - Live at Sydney Opera House

    Animal Collective co-founder Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear), made his highly anticipated Australian debut in the intimate settings of the Sydney Opera House Studio in 2018. A unique blend of experimental-pop, featuring sun-drenched sampling coupled with introspective lyrics, Panda Bear’s careful at...

  • Ziggy Ramo: Little Things (feat. Paul Kelly)

    Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following content may contain images and voices of deceased persons.

    In a cinematic journey tracking forward and backwards in time, Ziggy Ramo makes his directorial debut with the music video for his new single “Little Things” fea...

  • Wu-Tang's RZA and Briggs - Talking Music

    When Staten Island Hip-Hop Meets Aussie Hip-Hop. Before Wu-Tang took over the Concert Hall, we invited Australian rapper Briggs to chat with one of his biggest music influences, the groundbreaking hip-hop craftsman RZA.

    Having never met before, the two spoke about numerous topics including RZA’s...

  • Underworld - Border Country

    British techno titans Underworld bring soaring vocal samples and ricocheting rhythms to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall with their performance of "Border Country". Recorded at Vivid LIVE 2019.

    Video by Tall Story Films.

  • Ólafur Arnalds with Sydney Chamber Orchestra - Live

    In this specially-commissioned performance for Sydney Opera House's 2015 GRAPHIC, Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds leads the Sydney Chamber Orchestra on an exclusive journey through his back catalogue, with visuals by Máni M. Sigfússon.

    WARNING: This video may potentially trigger s...

  • Jónsi & Alex Somers - Riceboy Sleeps Live

    In celebration of the album's 10th anniversary, Sigur Rós vocalist Jónsi and his partner, musician Alex Somers, performed 'Riceboy Sleeps' at Vivid LIVE 2019 in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney International Orchestra and Choir. Watch highlights from the performance incl...

  • In the Mood: A Love Letter to Wong Kar-wai & Hong Kong

    Starring Rainbow Chan, Eugene Choi & Marcus Whale
    Recorded Live at Sydney Opera House

    Celebrating the landmark film’s 20th anniversary, 'In the Mood – A Love Letter to Wong Kar-wai & Hong Kong' is a fever dream live streamed performance featuring a theatrical set, ‘60s style costumes, and sax-dr...

  • Andrew Weatherall - Talking Music

    Andrew Weatherall was one of the music world's true innovators. He made his first and only appearance at the Sydney Opera House in December 2017 with an unforgettable five-hour Studio party, taking the audience on an eclectic journey through the history of electronic music and beyond.

    In this i...

  • Kamasi Washington - Talking Music

    Moments before stunning a sold out Concert Hall audience, tenor sax don Kamasi Washington sat down with Sydney Opera House Music Producer Alister Hill to chat about the parallels between imagination and reality, how a digital age is making us write music faster, and why the first take is always t...

  • Nooks & Crannies Volume One - A live music tour of Sydney Opera House

    Nooks & Crannies is a unique live music series celebrating iconic architecture and artistic expression in unexpected and spectacular unseen spaces inside Sydney Opera House. In Volume One, watch enchanting performances from Glen Hansard, José González, Hiatus Kaiyote, Conor Oberst, Nai Palm and P...