VIVID Live 2025: A Complete Opera House Takeover For Music Lovers

Even though he’s been the programming curator of VIVID Live since 2015, Sydney Opera House’s Head of Contemporary Music Ben Marshall’s enthusiasm for the annual music festival clearly hasn’t waned a bit.

“It’s just a joy to marry up what makes the Sydney music scene interesting and challenging and ambitious with the best of what’s around the world,” he says to City Hub. “For me, it’s all a sort of cultural tapestry with the Opera House. It’s such a buzz to be able to stitch it all together and present it to the city and get a strong response from both local and international visitors.”

The full program for the music element of Sydney’s iconic VIVID program was announced in March, featuring a number of remarkable artists on the lineup like Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Anonhi and the Johnsons, Japanese Breakfast and Sigur Rós with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On top of the premium suite of international artists, the program has a strong contingent of local and First Nations talent, too. Ben explains the rationale behind such a program: “We make a big point in the programming – certainly I do – that whatever cultural currents flow through the city of Sydney are the ones that should flow through us.

“We co-curate with our head of First Nations programming Michael Hutchins and go through all the incredible work. We feel a real sense of excitement in being able to platform these artists at the Opera House, and saying that artists like Jessica Pratt, Thaiboy Digital, Oli XL and Velvet Troops should be sitting next to all these other artists.”

VIVID Live allows ambitious projects, new

Like in years prior, a number of the performances at this year’s incarnation of VIVID Live are aiming to provide a concert experience rarely replicated. 2025’s standout is the sold out array of Sigur Rós shows with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra – which Ben calls a dream come true – but he says that the programming team are always trying to reach for the stars.

“There’s this strong streak of wanting to make sure that the Opera House is a home for artists, realising ambitious projects that couldn’t be realised at any other point in time,” Ben says. “Sigur Rós with SSO is certainly part of this tradition, but you’ve got artists like Anonhi and the Johnsons and Beth Gibbons coming down. These are all moments that might not happen outside of the extraordinary moment of VIVID Sydney.”

Additionally, Ben discusses his excitement for the variety of Studio Parties, and how they remind him of his time throwing grassroots parties: “I truly believe there’s no culture without subculture, and in Sydney we have a truly amazing subculture that deserves a place on our highest stage when the city is most on display.

“The Studio Parties are some of my favourite parts of the whole festival. I started off by organising drum and bass nights around Sydney when I first moved here, and the Studio makes such a good dark, underground superclub.

“We make a point of partnering with local crews and collectives that make the city interesting year round, be it underground techno veterans Mad Racket, or dstreet who only started putting on illegal warehouse parties during the pandemic. It’s not what the Opera House is known for, but we’re proud to be able to ensure contemporary culture gets the same dues that more classical forms like opera and ballet get.”

Ben promises a welcoming space for music lovers at this year’s VIVID Live, whether you’ve been before or not. “It’s the one time of year where there’s techno in the basement, folk music in the rooms and post-rock in the concert hall. It’s a complete and utter takeover of authentic underground music in this most prestigious venue: there’s no other time of the year like it.”

VIVID Live runs from May 23rd to June 14th. Check out the full program here.