Eurozone Crisis impacts on culture budgets
The crisis in the Eurozone has its impact on funding for cultural activities. Matthew Westwood writes in The Australian
The crisis in the Eurozone has its impact on funding for cultural activities. Matthew Westwood writes in The Australian
How well do you know Aussie movie music? Challenge yourself with these teasers on this substantial and brilliant topic! Name the singer and the 1977 disco song written by George Young and Harry Vanda which is the centrepiece of the movie Strictly Ballroom. The song was a worldwide hit in 1978, peaking at No. 3 on…
This is a shout-out to poets and lyricists! The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is teaming up with singer-songwriter Ben Folds on an improvised piece of music — and one lucky person will get to be a part of it! The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is asking for an original poem of 2-6 lines on any topic. Similar…
Performing is a curious business. It regularly throws up conundrums and contradictions and one of those is the phenomenon of memory. Dancers develop their muscle memory from hours of rehearsal and cues from the accompaniment; memorising lines is implicit in being an actor. Solo instrumentalists almost always perform from memory. All opera singers work from memory, yet…
The ‘plucky genius’, mandolin player Avi Avital is no stranger to Sydney after two popular tours with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Avi Avital has now joined forces with his namesake, jazz bassist Omer Avital to record Avital Meets Avital, a cross-genre recording for Deutsch Grammophon, released earlier this month, where the classics meet jazz, the…
Kurt Masur has reportedly fractured hs shoulder blade after falling off the podium during a performance in Paris: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-kurt-masur-june-20120430,0,127614.story …and in Colorado, a conductor has collapsed and died during performance of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. As this is a work for organ and not for orchestra, it is unclear whether the deceased…
This year marks the 150th birth anniversary of Richard Strauss (b June 11, 1864). Here in Sydney we have just been enthralled by a concert production of his opera Elektra from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Strauss wrote extensively for the voice, inspired by his wife and muse, soprano Pauline de Ahna, with whom he is…