Guillaume Dufay Anniversary

  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…

  Strictly speaking, we only get to celebrate Rossini’s birth anniversary every 4 years. Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born on February 29th 1792 (d 1868). He had a reputation as a bon vivant as you can tell from his portraits –but found the time to compose 39 operas – which are still amongst the most often performed…

  Maria Schneider’s composition Winter Morning Walks has won four Grammies this year for the composer, the soprano soloist Dawn Upshaw and  production team. The recording features one of Australia’s finest ensembles, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, who will perform this song cycle in its upcoming Sydney season. Schneider has recently moved from working in jazz…

  A week into December and there is an abundance of music that we hear but once a year. Mercifully in some cases, but in others, an all too infrequent excuse to indulge in some of the most beautiful works ever composed. Over the next few weeks we’ll bring you some of the rarely heard classics of…