Helpmann Award nominees 2013
Congratulations to all the nominees for the 2013 Helpmann Awards! Now in its 13th year, there were 822 entries across 41 categories received. NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events, George Souris, said “The Helpmanns are the premier awards event for the live performance industry. Our investment in the 2013 Helpmann Awards and the staging…
Hyeseoung Kwon spreads her wings as ‘Butterfly’
Hyeseoung Kwon as Fiordiligi. Image Jeff Busby Terrific news from soprano Hyeseoung Kwon who has announced that she will be singing the role of Cio-Cio San in the Raymond Gubbay production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall in early 2015. Hyeseoung Kwon covered the role for Opera Australia in 2012 and she…
‘The Three of Us’- Jacqui Dark, Kanen Breen and Alexander
Jacqui Dark and Kanen Breen are two of the most popular opera starts with Opera Australia. Behind the scenes they are firm friends and together bring up 1 year Alexander. This is a no holds barred story which is touching as well as ridiculously funny and barefacedly honest. “He offered to co-parent; I didn’t have…
‘Spheres’ CD Giveaway
We have three copies of a fabulous new CD to give away! Violinist Daniel Hope’s Spheres on the DG label is a brilliant compilation of 18 tracks of mostly 20th century music by Arvo Part, Philip Glass, Elena Kats-Chernin, Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergei) and Alex Baranowski. Spotted by Yehudi Menuhin at the age of 11, Hope has he has…
‘Musical Malaproptionary’ – twists and ‘terms’
In the world of Paula Hollins, Abendmusik is ‘a method for making printed music lie flat on a stand’, and Abandonne is ‘What Pinkerton did to Buterfly’! These whacky definitions come from her new sunny yellow covered publication, Musical Malaproptionary: A dictionary of musical terms redefined humorously. Aimed at ‘music lovers, screwball musicians, irreverent iconoclasts…. and anyone with a…
Alexia Voulgaridou sings ‘Tosca’
In echoes of the past, a Greek soprano will take the role of Tosca in Opera Australia’s winter production directed by John Bell and conducted by Christian Badea. Soprano Alexia Voulgaridou will sing the role with which the name of her compatriot Maria Callas is inextricably linked. It is not the soprano’s first performance in Sydney. She…
Eistedfodd update – choral championship winners
The Sydney Eisteddfod presented the John Lamble Foundation Australasian Choral Championships in the Concert Hall at The Concourse, Chatswood in early June. The program featured choirs of all ages and types which had won places during the previous week’s various events of the Sydney Eisteddfod Choral section. The primary and infant school choirs competed in the morning, the…
‘pulse:heart:beats’ – “A Kaleidoscope of Sounds and Imagery” from Taikoz and Synergy Percussion
‘Kaleidoscope’ – a word of Greek origin and a composite of kalos, meaning beauty, eidos, meaning shape, and skopeo to look or to examine. Together, they refer to the ‘observation of beautiful forms.’ It is a word, says Ian Cleworth , which has recently been used a lot in the vocabulary of TaikOz and its…
Update on the ‘Ring’
Click here to read Matthew Westwood’s update on the Melbourne Ring cycle in The Australian.