Tommy Emmanuel to Release ‘Live At The Sydney Opera House’ Album
A single from the album is available now.
By: Josh Sharpe Nov. 14, 2024
TOMMY EMMANUEL is an acoustic guitarist extraordinaire, composer, global touring artist, and Grammy® Award winner. He is also one of five people ever named a C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player) by Chet Atkins, the great innovator, songwriter, producer, record company executive, and visionary.
TOMMY has announced the March 21, 2025 release of LIVE AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE (C.G.P. Sounds) and the album’s first single and live performance video, “The Jolly Swagman,” beautifully filmed by Bondi Rocks Media at the Sydney Opera House in his native Australia, is available now.
“I wrote ‘The Jolly Swagman’ for an imaginary character,” says TOMMY, “who makes us all happy by clicking his heels in the air while playing the concertina!!”
EMMANUEL is no stranger to iconic stages from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to London’s Royal Festival Hall and Paris’ L’Olympia. The legendary entertainer has dazzled audiences across the world. But there’s something truly magical about the Sydney Opera House, and the magic of his sold-out performances there has finally been captured on this new EMMANUEL-produced album. It features 16 tracks, four of which are medleys, including his famous “Beatles Medley” (a previous live version of this has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube).
“The moment and power in these hours spent playing music, is perfectly preserved here on this record,” says TOMMY. “I hope you can feel the intensity of our musical and spiritual relationship… a bond built on a life freely given to all.”
He played two spellbinding shows on the Concert Hall stage in May 2023, with the best of both performances represented here. The setlist showcases the most beloved songs of TOMMY’s career—classic compositions like “Tall Fiddler,” “Mombasa,” and “Country Wide,” recent fan favorites like “Fuel” and “Sail On,” his now iconic arrangement of “Classical Gas,” and his thrilling “Beatles Medley.”
“As a 15-year-old boy living in Circular Quay, I spent many a time walking past the Opera House,” he says. “I would daydream about what it must be like in there, what it would be like to perform there. After fifty years in the business, we finally got there!”
“Playing the shows for this recording was a dream come true for me,” TOMMY adds. “I felt so ready! I was surrounded by my team of brilliant people, and I was looking into the faces of so many loving and happy fans in the concert Hall. The momentum and power in these hours spent playing music, is perfectly captured and preserved here on this record. I hope you can feel the intensity of our musical and spiritual relationship…a bond built on a life freely given to all.”
A noted fingerstyle guitarist, EMMANUEL frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once. You can hear his wizardry captured brilliantly on LIVE AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE.
TOMMY’s North American tour dates for 2024-25
2024
December 5 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
December 6 – Fort Myers, FL – Babara B Mann Performing Arts Hall
December 7 – Clearwater, FL – Bilheimer Capitol Theatre
December 8 – Jacksonville, FL – Florida Theatre
December 10 – Charlotte, NC – Knight Theater
December 11 – Newberry, SC – Newberry Opera House
December 12 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
December 14 – Charlottesville, VA – The Paramount Theater
December 15 – Hopewell, VA – Beacon Theatre
2025
January 8 – Irvine, CA – Irvine Barclay Theatre
January 9 – Malibu, CA – Smother Theatre @ Lisa Smith Wengler Ctr for the Arts
January 10 – Menlo Park, CA – The Guild Theatre
January 11 – Grass Valley, CA – The Center for The Arts
January 12 – Red Bluff, CA – State Theatre for the Arts
March 25 – Thunder Bay, ON – Thunder Bay Community Auditorium
March 26 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
March 27 – Saskatoon, SK – TCU Place
March 28 – Regina, SK – Conexus Arts Centre
March 30 – Calgary, AB – The Jak Singer Concert Hall
April 1 – Kelowna, BC – Kelowna Community Theatre
April 2 – Vancouver, BC – The Centre for Performing Arts
April 4 – Victoria, BC – Royal Theatre
April 5 – Campbell River, BC – Tidemark Theatre
ABOUT TOMMY EMMANUEL:
TOMMY EMMANUEL has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. At the age of six, the Grammy® Award winner was touring regional Australia with his family band. By 30, he was a rock n’ roll lead guitarist burning up stadiums in Europe. At 44, he became one of five people ever named a C.P.G. (Certified Guitar Player) by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays hundreds of sold-out shows every year from Nashville to Sydney to London. He’s piled up numerous accolades, including two Grammy Award nominations, two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (the Aussie equivalent of the Recording Academy); repeated honors in the Guitar Player magazine reader’s poll including a cover story for their August 2017 issue; a cover feature for Vintage Guitar’s July 2020 issue; and was Music Radar’s reader’s poll #1 winner of the Ten Best Acoustic Guitarists in The World (December 2019).
He has also earned the “Lifetime Achievement” Award from The National GUITAR Museum. A noted fingerstyle guitarist, EMMANUEL frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once. His talents, which translate in any language, carry him to the far corners of the globe, but EMMANUEL never plays the same show twice, and he improvises big chunks of every date. That leaves him open to those technical imperfections, though they also provide some of the humanity to an other-worldly talent.
Photo Credit: Simone Cecchetti
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