This Just In: Ichiko Aoba and Cat Power Are Both Playing the Sydney Opera House Later This Year
From hushed chamber-folk to late-night Southern soul, the Opera House has locked in two of next season's most anticipated Concert Hall shows.
The Sydney Opera House has lined up two of contemporary music's most singular voices for its biggest room. Japanese folk auteur Ichiko Aoba will play the Concert Hall on Monday, October 5, before Cat Power returns on Monday, December 7 to mark 20 years of her landmark album The Greatest. Both shows go on sale this week, and given how fast Aoba's Drama Theatre run sold out during Vivid LIVE 2025, you'll want a reminder set.
Ichiko Aoba — Across the Oceans Tour
Aoba arrives on Monday, October 5 at 8pm as part of her Across the Oceans world tour, joined by composer Taro Umebayashi and a full ensemble in support of her eighth album, Luminescent Creatures (2025). Her set-list threads folk, chamber pop, alt-ambient and traditional Japanese influences into something closer to weather than song — the sound that earned her international recognition with 2020's Windswept Adan, a 14-track concept album written as the soundtrack to an imaginary film. Sydney got a taste last year, when she took over the smaller Drama Theatre for three nights at Vivid LIVE and turned it into a warm, dimly lit lounge room.
"What a rare privilege, to present one of the most distinctive artistic forces of our time — Ichiko Aoba — whose spectral, gossamer folk songwriting feels less performed than overheard," said the Opera House's Head of Contemporary Music, Ben Marshall, calling it the most ambitious live undertaking of her career.
Cat Power — The Greatest 20th Anniversary
Two months later, on Monday, December 7 at 9pm, Cat Power — Chan Marshall — returns to celebrate 20 years of The Greatest. Built in Memphis with members of the legendary Hi Rhythm Section, the 2006 album pivoted her toward Southern soul and classic American songwriting, drifting through heartbreak, survival, longing and grace, and has aged into a late-night classic. Marshall is no stranger to the building: she played her first Opera House show in 2011, celebrated the 20th anniversary of Moon Pix at Vivid LIVE in 2018 and brought Cat Power Sings Dylan to the Concert Hall in 2023.
"There are few artists who can hold a room the way Chan Marshall can," Marshall said. "The Greatest endures as a late-night classic of rare emotional power, and this special anniversary performance promises to be an unmissable evening for longtime fans and newcomers alike."
Insiders pre-sale opens at 9am AEST on Tuesday, June 16, the What's On pre-sale follows at 9am on Wednesday, June 17, and general tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday, June 19 — available via the Sydney Opera House.
Top image: Ichiko Aoba by Kodai Kobayashi; Cat Power by Stefano Giovannini.
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