Lookbook: Les Contes D’Hoffmann – In HD From The Met

In an unprecedented move, tenor Jonas Kauffman has distanced himself from a new release by Decca called Jonas Kaufmann – The Age of Puccini. On his Facebook page, Kaufmann asserts that this CD contains just three Puccini arias and a repackaging of other arias recorded in 2010. He goes on to claim that he was not consulted…

Maurice Ravel’s Boléro features it prominently, as do Donizetti’s Una furtiva lagrima, the overture to The Marriage of Figaro, and more comical music like the grandfather’s theme in Peter and the Wolf, Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and R Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks. Stravinsky scored it in The Rite of Spring and the Firebird Suite.  Now it seems the bassoon is going out of fashion and virtuoso bassoonist…

As Australian opera faces a national review, Opera Queensland’s artistic director Lindy Hume eyeballs the challenges facing the art form and how it has adapted, both in Australia and overseas. “…it’s not just the companies in flux, but audience appetites and art itself. This is a rare opportunity for a rethink. The best outcome would be a blueprint…

On September 25, 2015, the National Opera Review Panel comprising Dr Helen Nugent AO (Chairman), Mr Moffatt Oxenbould AM, Mr Andrew McKinnon and Ms Kathryn Fagg released its report into the “financial viability, artistic vibrancy and audience access of Australia’s four major opera companies.” These four companies are Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and West Australian…