Dance ‘til you droop. Over-eat modern art. Sink into cerebral theatre. Swing your kids around by their wrists and let go in time with the bass-drop.
However it is you engage, our cultural calendar is here to serve.
Festivals
7-8 March – Holi Festival at Tumbalong Park. A riot of colour and joy descends on Tumbalong Park for the Hindu festival of colours. For those in Western Sydney, Quakers Hill will host its own Holi Festival event on Saturday 21 March.
Sunday 8 March – All About Women Festival at Sydney Opera House. An expansive program of feminist talks on gender, culture and equality, with guests including Jacinda Arden and Zadie Smith.
Friday 13 March – Lights On: Bienalle of Sydney Opening Night at White Bay Power Station. First glimpse at the Biennale's 2026 visual artists alongside a beautifully curated live music line up – all within the evocative industrial caverns of the Power Station.
14-15 – St Patricks Day at Tallawollodah (The Rocks). Endless craic on offer as Paddy's day celebrations spill in and out of some of the oldest pubs in Sydney. There's music, there's pints, there's more music, there's more pints. Everyone gets to be Irish for a day, sure it'll be grand.
Until 15 – Lakemba Nights at Haldon Street, Lakemba. There are a couple more weeks to go of this vibrant, global food bazaar, a buzzing cultural crawl during the month of Ramadan. Come hungry!
From 15 March – Biennale of Sydney at various Sydney locations. Check out the latest visual art exhibitions, centred at White Bay Power Station but also across Sydney at Art Gallery of NSW, Chau Chack Wing Museum, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery.
All month – Alliance Francais French Film Festival at multiple cinemas. The largest celebration of French culture in Australia, with 38 cutting edge French films to choose from.
All month – Sydney Streets at Redfern, Stanley and Harris streets. These free, council-led street parties transform your local high street with live music, roving performers, stalls and general happy hullaballoo. Always a great time.
Classical music
7 March – Gloria! Vivaldi, Bach and Handel with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs at Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay. Ecstatic baroque glory with the virtuoso Chamber Singers.
15 March – Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. Maestro Long Yu conducts the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in a thrilling concert featuring cellist Jian Wang.
17 March – Gesualdo Tenebrae by Luminescence at Phoenix Central Park. Premium vocal ensemble Luminescence ventures into the dark heart of the Renaissance. Remember it's ballot-only for these intimate gigs – good luck!
22-25 March – The Devil's Violin with Australian Chamber Orchestra at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall and City Recital Hall. Virtuoso Ilya Gringolts directs the ACO in a program that pushes the violin to its fiery limits.
25-28 March – Anna Lapwood performs Max Richter at Sydney Opera Hose Concert Hall. The virtuoso organist performs Max Richter's emotive works like you've never heard them, with Sydney Symphony Orchestra adding depth and colour.
Theatre and dance
From 7 March – Julius Ceasar by Bell Shakespeare at Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre. Betrayal and chaos rock the republic as Rome teeters on the brink of collapse.
8 – Dabke Workshop at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Explore dance as resistance at Campbelltown Arts Centre’s free Palestinian Dabke Youth Workshop with Feras Shaheen as part of the 2025 Biennale.
Until 14 – The Normal Heart with Sydney Theatre Company at Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre. Larry Kramer’s groundbreaking, semi-autobiographical and Tony and Olivier Award-winning masterpiece returns.
From 21 – My Brilliant Career at Roslyn Packer Theatre. Miles Franklin’s classic novel as you’ve never seen it before, with a live soundtrack of contemporary pop, folksy bush band and barnstorming pub rock.
Until 22 – A Mirror at Belvoir St Theatre. A whipsmart new work about art versus power, where nothing is as it seems – even the audience.
27 March – Garabari at Riverside Theatres. One of the most memorable moments of Sydney Festival 2026 is touring. Join this joyous contemporary dance corrrobborree in Parramatta.
27-28 March – Blocked Duwar at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Set within an imagined Palestine pieced together from fragmented memories, family records and digital remnants Feras Shaheen’s struggle for self-determination is explored through dance.
From 28 March – Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead at Belvoir St Theatre. Pamela Rabe and Eamon Flack take on this prize-winning whodunnit.
Until 29 March – The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin by Griffin Theatre Company at Belvoir St Theatre. A landmark work of Australian theatre returns to the stage starring Simon Burke.
Gig guide
The gig guide in March is positively bursting: from BadBadNotGood to Basement Jaxx, from Faithless to Leftfield, from Yasmina Sadiki to Jalen Ngonda to Regurgitator and The Used.
With more than we could possibly cram into an article, we thought you better go straight to the source so you don't miss out on your faves.
Head to Sydneymusic.net for a comprehensive gig guide.
This fabulous resource is where we source this section of the What's On every month, and is well-deserving of a spot in your bookmarks bar.