On the Forecourt:
- Legendary UK singer-songwriter, poet and multi-instrumentalist PJ Harvey arrives with her band to perform under the stars on 13 March. On her first visit to Australia in eight years – and almost 20 years after her last exhilarating performance at the Opera House – Harvey will perform her Grammy-nominated tenth studio album I Inside the Old Year Dying (2023) and songs from her storied catalogue. Supporting Harvey will be guitarist and founding member of Dirty Three, Mick Turner, playing a rare solo performance.
PJ Harvey’s career has always commanded attention. A multi-instrumentalist, she is primarily a vocalist, guitarist and pianist. Her catalogue features ten studio albums, her most recent being 2023’s Grammy-nominated I Inside the Old Year Dying. Harvey has collaborated with musicians including Thom Yorke, Nick Cave, Tricky, Sparklehorse and John Parish; authored two books of poetry; and been awarded an MBE for services to music. She is the only artist to have been awarded the Mercury Music Prize twice, in 2001 for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, and 2011 for Let England Shake, alongside eight Brit Award nominations, eight Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations.
Beneath the sails, returning to the Concert Hall to captivate audiences:
- One of the most accomplished – and popular – neo-classical stars, the genre-bending German pianist Nils Frahm will perform works from his extensive catalogue, bringing his singular ambient, classical and electronica sounds across two nights on 5 and 7 March.
Berlin-based composer, producer and pianist Nils Frahm continues to explore the space between classical and electronic music. Since making his Opera House debut at Vivid LIVE in 2014, Frahm has become a local favourite, playing the Concert Hall in 2017, 2019 and again in 2022 for a trio of sold-out performances. Frahm first released a series of acclaimed solo piano albums before breaking through with 2011’s Felt, hooking audiences with his sonic alchemy of ambient texture and atmospheric electronica. In 2015, Frahm launched Piano Day and moved into film scoring with the award-winning soundtrack to Victoria. The ambitious All Melody (2018) was followed by the live album and concert movie Tripping with Nils Frahm (2019), the dub-influenced 2X1=4 (2021) and the intimate piano set Old Friends New Friends (2021). His latest works include Music for Animals (2022) and Day (2024).
- Heiress to the state of mind of the Portuguese people, Mozambique-born Mariza returns for the first time in over 15 years, bringing her 20+ year catalogue of mournfully beautiful music and her five-piece band on 3 March.
In a career that spans more than 20 years, over 30 platinum albums and countless accolades to her name, Mozambique-born Portuguese singer Mariza has become an internationally beloved icon and undisputed queen of Fado, the traditional folk music of Lisbon’s rustic neighbourhoods that’s been likened to Portugal’s version of the blues. Taking up the mantle of fado legend Amália Rodrigues, Mariza burst onto the scene with a pair of multiple-platinum albums, Fado em Mim (2001) and Fado Curvo (2003), the latter scaling Billboard’s World Music charts as the star performed sellout shows around the globe. More smash albums followed – including Transparente (2005) and Mundo (2015) – while she has collaborated with everyone from Sting, Gilberto Gil and Lenny Kravitz to Jaques Morelenbaum, Ivan Lins, Cesária Évora and Tito Paris. In 2011, Mariza was appointed a UNESCO world heritage ambassador for her work with Fado.
- Sarajevo superstar Goran Bregović is back on 4 March with His Wedding and Funeral Band for a wildly euphoric night of Balkan rhythms, Gypsy brass and Bulgarian polyphonies in an irresistible invitation to dance.
Sarajevo-born Goran Bregović is a generationally beloved giant of global music, he’s done it all going from rock star, to celebrated soundtrack composer and multi-faceted master of Balkan sound. He returns to the Opera House for the first time in over five years for a triumphant celebration of his storied career. Bregović formed the rock band Bijelo Dugme (“White Button”), he then ventured into film music, creating internationally acclaimed soundtracks for Emir Kusturica’s films, including the Cannes-winning masterpiece Underground (1995), and has collaborated with the likes of Iggy Pop and Scott Walker. With His Wedding and Funeral Band, he blends traditional Balkan rhythms with Bulgarian, Georgian and Corsican chants, as well as the sounds of Europe’s roaming Gypsy musicians.
Sydney Opera House Head of Contemporary Music, Ben Marshall, says: “As a remarkable work of art in its own right, the Sydney Opera House is sought out by significant artists to take part in realising their vision and creating memories that can last a lifetime.
This March, we are thrilled to open up the iconic Forecourt to bring you a night 15 years in the making, the singular power and might of PJ Harvey performing on the grandest stage the city has to offer. Inside the acoustically revitalised Concert Hall, the visionary pianist Nils Frahm returns after bringing the house down in the Joan Sutherland Theatre for Vivid LIVE in 2022, fado queen Mariza finally reclaims her crown in Sydney after a far too long 15-year absence and Goran Bregović’s rousing, epic force also makes a very welcome return. There’s more to come and we cannot wait to share these extraordinary performances and unforgettable moments with you.”
WHO: PJ Harvey with special guest Mick Turner
WHEN: Thursday 13 March 2025, 6pm gates
WHERE: Forecourt, Sydney Opera House
TICKETS: $159.90 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
WHO: Nils Frahm
WHEN: Wednesday 5 and Friday 7 March 2025, 9pm
WHERE: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
TICKETS: From $89 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
WHO: Mariza
WHEN: Monday 3 March 2025, 8pm
WHERE: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
TICKETS: From $79 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
WHO: Goran Bregović & His Wedding and Funeral Band
WHEN: Tuesday 4 March 2025, 8:30pm
WHERE: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
TICKETS: From $89.90 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
