Australian music icon Paul Kelly will make his debut at Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight presented by AAMI, live from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Christmas Eve.
Kelly, who has won 17 ARIA Awards and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997, will perform his classic Christmas track, How to Make Gravy. The song, which continues to grow in popularity since its 1996 release, tells the story of a newly imprisoned man writing a letter to his brother in which he laments that he will be missing the family’s Christmas celebrations. It is also set to be made into a movie starring Hugo Weaving.
Voicing his enthusiasm about joining Carols by Candlelight this year, he said:
“I’m a ’newbie’ at Carols. It will be my very first time singing there. Excited!”
Kelly’s latest album, Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train, continues to delight audiences with a very Aussie mix of yuletide songs that best reflect the experience of Christmas down under.
Also joining Carols by Candlelight this year is husband-wife duo BOWEN * YOUNG who are returning to Australia for the first time in over four years, and will be making their debut as a duo. Clare Bowen is best known for playing the role of Scarlett O’Connor in the popular TV series Nashville. She met her husband Brandon Robert Young when he filled in for her no-show duet partner at a performance in Nashville in 2013 and married in 2017. They are set to release their debut album, Us, in early 2024 and will be touring Australia this January. On Christmas Eve they will be joined by Clare’s younger brother, Timothy James Bowen, for a special performance.
2023 ARIA Award winner for best Best Children’s Album, Emma Watkins, more widely known as Emma Memma, will also join this year’s star-studded lineup.
The cast of Grease The Musical, including the legendary Marcia Hines, Patti Newton and Jay Laga’aia will also grace the stage, with Marcia performing a solo as well.
Viewers will be treated to spectacular performances they have come to expect from the Carols family, including Marina Prior, David Hobson, Denis Walter and Silvie Paladino.
The Australian Girls Choir and the National Boys Choir will also return, with many more exciting names to be announced in the coming weeks.
And it wouldn’t be Carols by Candlelight without an appearance from the big man himself, with Santa Claus flying in straight from the North Pole.
Musical director and maestro John Foreman OAM, assisted by Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight choirmaster Doug Heywood OAM, will once again guide our musicians.
Carols by Candlelight is Vision Australia’s biggest annual fundraiser for children’s services, with 100 per cent of profits from ticket sales going directly towards supporting close to 2000 families whose children are blind or have low vision. Tickets to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl are on sale now and can be purchased via www.carolsbycandlelight.com.au
Hosts of this year’s event will be announced soon.
