Pop and opera collide in a night with Kate Miller-Heidke and the ASO

Kate Miller-Heidke needs little introduction to Australian audiences. The indie-pop star, award winning singer-songwriter and trained operatic soprano can lay claim to providing the colourful soundtrack to many of our personal moments, memories and milestones. For the 2018 Adelaide Festival, the versatile Miller-Heidke will perform some of these biggest hits and memorable compositions in collaboration with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for a night of joyful entertainment richly laden with her immaculate vocal technique and irreverent sense of humour.

Popular for her theatricality and mixture of folk and pop, Miller-Heidke will perform over a decade of hits at the Adelaide Town Hall, from the catchy Can’t Shake It to the wistful, unforgettable Last Day on Earth. Celebrated Music Director Iain Grandage will bring the performance together with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and audiences can expect to be taken on a journey from the poignant to the insightful within a verse, and the dramatic to comedic in the space of a song.

Adelaide Festival Joint Artistic Directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy said: “Kate Miller-Heidke is a chameleon of music: a talent whose vocal and compositional skill allows her to transcend musical genres and boundaries. Her performances are mesmerising, as much for their performance energy and showmanship, as their thought-provoking content and unique vocal gymnastics.”

Miller-Heidke has enjoyed success as an ARIA chart-topping alternative pop musician and also on the stage. Her role as Baby Jane in Sydney Opera House’s concert presentation of Jerry Springer: The Opera was critically acclaimed, along with her 2014 performance in John Adams’ controversial opera, The Death of Klinghoffer for the English National Opera at the London Coliseum and later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her 2015 opera, The Rabbits, co-produced by Opera Australia and Barking Gecko Theatre Company in Western Australia, was adapted from the popular children’s book of the same name by John Marsden and Shaun Tan. It starred composer Miller-Heidke as lead performer, and went on to pick up a swag of that year’s Helpmann Awards. She has written music and lyrics (with Keir Nuttall) for Sydney Theatre Company’s new musical Muriel’s Wedding which is currently playing to rave reviews and sell-out performances at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre.

It is this extraordinary ability to leverage the synergy of operatic drama and playful yet considered pop that has earned Miller-Heidke cross-industry respect and admiration. Fans will relish the opportunity finally to see Miller-Heidke perform with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and newcomers can expect to experience the thrill of witnessing a major Australian artist at the top of her form.

Kate Miller-Heidke with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

Friday March 9, 8pm Adelaide Town Hall

Ian Grandage                Music Director

Ben Northey                  Conductor

This project is presented by Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Cheree McEwin, Publicist, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

08 8233 6205 / 0416 181 679 / mcewinc@aso.com.au

Anthea Hagar, Publicist Adelaide Festival

0403 651 665 or ahagar@adelaidefestival.com.au

Jessica Keirle, National Publicist, Adelaide Festival

0438 805109 or jkeirle@adelaidefestival.com.au