Monteverdi Anniversary

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.

The brilliant composer, conductor, pianist and educator Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 (d 1990). In this video clip he conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in the zippy overture to his operetta Candide.

The Scherzo from Brahms’ Trio in E flat major for piano, violin and horn, opus 40. The melody is thought to have been used by him 12 years earlier in his newly discovered Albumblatt in A minor for piano which will receive its world premiere performance this weekend on BBC Radio 3

When Harry Christophers and his vocal ensemble The Sixteen perform in Sydney in March, they will include in their programme a new version of Allegri’s famous motet Miserere. In this video, the ensemble performs this new version and Christophers and musicologist Ben Byram-Wigfield talk about how this version came to be.  

  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…