Ukrainian bass-baritone Andrei Bondarenko in his Cardiff Singer of the World final in 2011. He won the competition’s Song Prize.
You can hear him in Sydney this weekend with the Sydney Symphony, singing the role of Yeletsky in a concert version of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Queen of Spades’
Here’s a taste of the enchanting sound of the world-renowned Australian children’s choir Gondwana Voices, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. They will celebrate this important anniversary with a single performance, Southern Lights, Northern Lights before taking off on a major tour of Northern Europe and Iceland, led by its founder Lyn Williams OAM and…
Today, December 2nd 2013 marks the 90th birthday of the incomparable Maria Callas. Born Cecilia Sophia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulou in New York on December 2nd in 1934, she moved to Greece, her ancestral home at the age of 14 and entered the Athens Conservatory in 1940. In 1942 she sang Tosca in Athens and after several more roles…
Watch violinist Nicola Benedetti perform and talk during recording sessions for The Silver Violin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Fc3WKHnuU
When Philip Glass handpicked some pianists to perform all of his Etudes together at the Barbican in London last year, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson was one of them. The Financial Times claimed: “Best of all was Ólafsson in the supersensitive stillness of Etude 5.” To celebrate the 80th birthday of Philip Glass, Deutsche Grammophon have released a…
Verdi was born in a small village in the Duchy of Parma where the baptismal register of October 11th states that he was ‘born yesterday’. As days were sometimes counted as beginning at sunset, it is not clear whether he was born on the 9th or the 10th of October in 1813. Whichever way, it would be legitimate by now to celebrate…
This clip from YouTube revisits the Wagner gala concert conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras at the opening of the Sydney Opera House. Two of the SSO’s present musicians Colin Piper and Ronald Prussing performed in that concert and recollect what it was like. Simone Young talks about inheriting the mantle from from Sir Charles.