Vienna-based Australian mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer is beloved by audiences in Australia and Europe. She spent eight years as a principal artist with the Vienna State Opera, and she’s sung with orchestras from the Vienna Philharmonic to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and at La Scala and Bayreuth. She’s back in Sydney performing again with Opera Australia, for a role she is very familiar with – Hänsel, in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel.

In this conversation, Margaret recounts her journey from Sydney’s Northern Beaches to life as a principal artist at the Vienna State Opera. She speaks of her initial desire to be a jazz singer, the persistence needed to navigate the years through her training, to her time in the Opera Australia Chorus which eventually led to her leap of faith that took her young family to Europe. She offers candid insight into the realities of working in a major European repertoire house, the challenges of language and bureaucracy, which all lead to the artistic and personal freedom she now enjoys as a successful solo freelance mezzo.

Margaret Plummer performs Hänsel, in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel, with Opera Australia from January 27 to February 28.

Award-winning actress, singer, and dancer Caroline O’Connor has spent over four decades performing in Australia as well as in the West End and on Broadway. She came to world attention thanks to her role in Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge! in 2001, but she’d already been on stage for the 20 years prior to that in a slew of theatre productions. From Helpmann-winning turns as Judy Garland and Edith Piaf, to Chicago, Funny Girl, Anything Goes, Gypsy, and many others, Caroline has musical theatre in her DNA. On top of that, she has impeccable Stephen Sondheim credentials – not only did she perform at his special 80th birthday celebration at the Royal Albert Hall, but after seeing her in Sweeny Todd, the great composer and lyricist declared her to be the best Mrs Lovatt he’d ever seen. This all makes her the ideal choice to be headlining Sondheim’s Putting it Together, playing now at the Foundry Theatre until February 15.

In this conversation, Caroline reflects on her extraordinary journey in musical theatre, from her early training as a dancer to becoming one of the most respected performers of her generation. From chorus girl to leading lady, she speaks about the resilience required to navigate auditions, setbacks, and on making pivotal career decisions. She recounts her move to London, and the moments of chance and courage that led to major breakthroughs.

In Conversation kicks off 2026 by welcoming an actor who has graced our stages and screens for over 50 years. Andrew McFarlane has appeared in seminal Australian television dramas, including Division 4, The Sullivans, Patrol Boat, The Flying Doctors, and Underbelly. His theatre credits are just as long, appearing in classics such as The Glass Menagerie, Who’s Afraid of Virgina Wolf, and King Lear. He has also appeared in many David Williamson plays, and he returns to the Ensemble theatre later this month for The Social Ladder, the latest work from Australia’s most famous playwright.

In this conversation, Andrew reflects with great humility on his long career, tracing his journey from a comfortable and conservative upbringing through to discovering acting and training at NIDA. He speaks candidly about the formative impact of the Vietnam War era on his political awareness and how it shaped his early adulthood. From managing typecasting by deliberately leaving popular roles, to the irony of not being cast in gay roles despite his sexuality, Andrew remains grateful for the combination of confidence, discipline and a heathy dose of good luck that has brought him long term success as a performer.

Andrew McFarlane stars in David Williamson’s The Social Ladder at The Ensemble Theatre from 23 January to 14 March.

For the final program of 2025, Simon Moore was invited into the home of a trailblazer of early music performance – not just in Australia, but also in the wider world. Winsome Evans founded The Renaissance Players in 1959, and quickly became a leader in the field. She appears on 33 albums, and has the aptitude to have taught herself to play that many instruments too. She’s also a composer, having written and arranged music for radio, film and TV, and for half a century at Sydney University she taught and inspired generations of our musicians.

This conversation tracks Winsome’s early life from childhood to the formation, development and success of The Renaissance Players, as well as her life-long academic career. We hear about the music she has loved to perform, and the people she loved to perform it with, plus the instruments she has found, restored and played.

Sydney doesn’t put away its party hats after the New Year is rung in, because from January 8, the city comes alive once again for the Sydney Festival. Simon Moore sat down with new Festival Director Kris Nelson to provide some highlights of the upcoming festival and revealing his hopes and ambitions for it as it reaches half a century.

Festivals are very much in Kris Nelson’s blood, having just finished a six-and-a-half year stint as Director of the London International Festival of Theatre, and prior to that having a long run as Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival. Kris traces his personal and professional journey, from growing up in Saskatoon, Canada, through grassroots theatre and festivals, to leadership roles in Montreal and beyond. He reflects on the energy of fringe culture, and the joys of presenting unique shows that find the festival environment as their homes.

The Sydney Festival runs from 8 to 25 January.

A composer, writer, and presenter, Andrew Ford is a unique and highly valued voice in Australia’s musical landscape. His music has been heard all around the world, from Sydney to New York, and London to Singapore. It’s been conducted by Jeffrey Tate and Benjamin Northey, played by Piers Lane and Lisa Moore, and sung by Yvonne Kenney and Teddy Tahu-Rhodes. He’s educated us with his 11 books, most recently The Shortest History of Music, and entertained and enlightened us with his three-decade long presentation of The Music Show on Radio National.

In this conversation, Andrew reflects on discovering composition as a teenager and how an encounter with Michael Tippett shaped his artistic outlook. He discusses balancing technique with intuition, the magic of hearing a work for the first time, and accepting that self-criticism and the realities of needing to finish a work are part of the creative process. Andrew also provides some fascinating cultural observations, especially on the history and future of music, innovation versus tradition, how audiences shape what endures, and how genres once thought ephemeral have matured into a kind of canon.

This program was recorded at the 2025 Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The next Australian Festival of Chamber Music will take place in Cairns from July 24 to August 1, 2026.

One of the key figures of Sydney’s theatre scene, UK born Mark Kilmurry has written, directed and performed in countless theatre productions around the world. He’s had a long association with the Ensemble Theatre, first as an actor, then associate director, and since 2016 he’s been their sole artistic director.

In this conversation, Mark delves into the early influences of his mother’s comedy writing for the BBC, and his own formative drama-school training in Coventry. We hear about the theatre company Snarling Beasties which he formed in the UK in the 1980s, and the accidental path that ultimately brought him to Australia. He describes the evolution of his career from acting to directing, and the joys and challenges of doing both simultaneously. From his passion to create new Australian theatre to recounting some memorable onstage mishaps, Mark reveals a deep commitment to the magic of live theatre, the nurturing of new talent, and his desire to sustain a vibrant theatre culture.

Mark Kilmurry directs Dial M for Murder at the Ensemble theatre, playing until January 11. Subscriptions for the Ensemble’s 2026 season are now available.

Internationally acclaimed and award winning soprano Carolyn Sampson has had an unusually organic rise to the world stage – from her formative years in Bedfordshire’s exceptional youth music programs to early encouragement from influential mentors like Geoffrey Skidmore and Harry Christophers. Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, she has appeared with the Gewundhaus, BBC Philharmonic, and Opéra de Paris amongst many others, and released more than 100 albums.

In this conversation, Carolyn reflects on the transition from ensemble singing with renowned groups such as The Sixteen to major opera roles at English National Opera. She also talks about the development of her voice over time, the thrill of stagecraft, and the creative partnership behind her many recordings with pianist Joseph Middleton, including her milestone 100th album But I Like to Sing. She explores her love of music across genres and also speaks passionately about giving back through community music-making.

In the 2024 New Year Honours, Carolyn was awarded an OBE for services to music.

This conversation was recorded at the 2025 Australian Festival of Chamber Music, in Townsville. The next AFCM will take place in Cairns from July 24 to August 1, 2026.