After a year of career-defining achievements, including starring in her own opera, making her television-acting debut and cutting a Christmas single, songstress Kate Miller-Heidke is now ready for a national-concert tour.
Kate’s operatic adaptation of the acclaimed children’s picture book, ‘The Rabbits’ by John Marsden and Shaun Tan, won four Helpmann Awards, including two for Best Score and Best New Australian Work.
The Daily Telegraph’s Chris Hook labelled the show: '['The Rabbits'] may well prove to be one of the most important works ever created in this country'. “I was hoping we might have a chance of just winning one,” Kate told Hook of her Helpmann awards, “but I guess it shows that people in Australia are hungry for new, Australian music-theatre works and this is such an Australian story.”
In addition to conquering Australian opera, Kate made her television-acting debut in ABC TV’s drama series ‘The Divorce’, which was screened over four nights last month.
As a classically trained opera singer, Kate says adjusting her performance for the small screen proved to be a challenge. “I’ve acted on stage before in operas but it’s not the same,” she told Iain Shedden from The Australian in December 2015. “My tendency was to over-act and do too much. It took me a while to get my head around that.”
Kate also recorded a Christmas single last year with everyone’s favourite furry-face aficionados, The Beards, with all proceeds donated to Bowel Cancer Australia. ‘I’m Growing A Beard Downstairs For Christmas’ came from a longstanding friendship she’s had with the bearded weirdoes that began when she covered their song, ‘You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man’, at the 2012 APRA Awards.
Her performance forged an unlikely connection between the otherwise disparate artists resulting in The Beards opening for Kate Miller-Heidke on her ‘Nightflight’ album tour that same year. It was on this tour the seeds of the infamous Christmas jingle were sown, as Kate explains. “The Beards opened for me on tour a couple of years ago, and some of their fans heckled me for not having a beard,” Kate says.
“This song is my revenge on them. Also, it taps into my sick love of Christmas songs. It’s one of the poppiest, most upbeat songs I’ve ever written… also, it’s for charity.”
Gazing comfortably at her laudable accomplishments, Kate is heading into the New Year with a full schedule, which includes the Sydney Festival 2016 season of ‘The Rabbits’ and a concert tour of capital cities and selected regional areas before she returns to the studio to record her new album.
The tour will be a showcase of Kate’s stunning career to date, featuring songs from her upcoming album as well as her recent release ‘O Vertigo’, which Rolling Stone Magazine called a 'career-best album'.
Having made a successful career as both a classical performer/ composer and pop singer/ songwriter, Kate says the setlist for her upcoming tour will cover the immense breadth of her diverse catalogue. “Playing live has always been at the core of what I do,” Kate proclaims.
“It’s been a while, and I’m itching to get on the road again. I have some slightly bent, new songs I’d love to play, as well as revisiting some older stuff and a snippet or two from ‘The Rabbits’. I’m really looking forward to playing in these gorgeous venues before going into studio hibernation.”
Kate Miller-Heidke Tour Dates
Thu 11 Feb - The Byron Theatre (Byron Bay)Fri 12 Feb - Ipswich Civic Centre
Sun 14 Feb - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Thu 18 Feb - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 19 Feb - Laycock Street Theatre (Gosford)
Sat 20 Feb - Estonian House (Melbourne)
Wed 2 Mar - The Spiegeltent (Adelaide)
Fri 4 Mar - J-Shed @ Bathers Beach (Fremantle)
Wed 9 Mar - Montrose Town Centre
Fri 11 Mar - Burrinja Cultural Centre (Upwey)
Sat 12 Mar - Port Fairy Folk Festival
