Calming The ‘Ca-cough-ony’
Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim of the New York Times, writes about this form of ‘high-culture hooliganism’.
Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim of the New York Times, writes about this form of ‘high-culture hooliganism’.
Audiences rely on them; performers love them or loathe them. Much has been discussed and written about the role of the critic. In an ideal world, the critic would perform one key function: to express a knowledgeable and balanced opinion about as many possible aspects of a performance which they have attended. They inform their readers about…
This compelling 2 hour documentary is available on SBS at the link below until 3.15 pm on November 30th, 2013. Centred around the creation of Britten’s last opera Death in Venice, it contains footage of Britten, his colleagues and carers at work and being interviewed, as well as the health issues that led to his death in…
Yesong Sophie Lee, just 12 years old has won the biennial 2016 Menuhin competition, held in London last month. It was the centenary of the competition whose Laureates include Australians Ray Chen, Susie Park and Grace Clifford, Germany’s Julia Fisher and Russia’s Alina Ibragimova. Charlotte Smith in The Strad asks whether competitions are defined more…
So Silvio Berlusconi has finally stepped down. Recently, Alex Ross wrote about the indifference of the Berlusconi government to supporting the arts in Italy. (1) Ross also makes reference to the unprecedented action by Riccardo Muti, conducting Nabucco halted the performance and spoke to the audience about the situation. The response from both the chorus and the…
Conductor, musicologist and author Dr Paul Kildea has written a major book on the life of Benjamin Britten, to be published by Allen Lane on 7 February, 2013. In it, he claims that Britten suffered from syphilis which ultimately led to the cardiac failure from which he died. The composer apparently contracted the disease form…
Ralph Myers, Artistic Director of the Belvoir Street Theatre delivers the annual Philip Parsons Memorial lecture in which he warns against the increasing corporitasion of the arts and its potential to damage the national cultural landscape. Click here to read.