You either have it or you don’t – a recent study of 1500 pairs of twins from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute suggests that practising an instrument without a natural gift for it is of little or no value.
Read the feature in The Economist
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra has appointed a new Principal Conductor to succeed Paul Daniel who ends his contract next year. Asher Fisch is no stranger to Australia having worked here in 2004, conducting Adelaide’s production of The Ring. Since 2007, Asher Fisch has been Seattle Opera’s Principal Conductor. He is a former music director…
The eagerly anticipated new staging of Don Giovanni, directed by Sir David McVicar has opened in Sydney. Judging by its enthusiastic reception on opening night, it didn’t disappoint. One of Sydney’s favourite baritones, Teddy Tahu Rhodes reprised his role as the ‘Don’ – and who can forget his explosive, leather clad appearance on stage in the…
Listen to the sounds of one of Mozart’s favourite piano as pianist Alexander Melnikov performs at the Mozarthaus in Vienna. (NB: The video clip is preceded by an advertisement). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20248852
The IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition has announced that Vladimir Fanshil will conduct the Australian Opera Orchestra for the 2021 competition.
Commemorating the birth centenary of the great Leonard Bernstein this week, Deutsche Grammophon has released a recording of his Symphony No 2, The Age of Anxiety. Unusually for a symphony, it is scored for solo piano and orchestra. In this recording Krystian Zimerman is the pianist with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. It is a…
Deutsche Grammophon continues the widely acclaimed, Grammy winning Shostakovich Symphony cycle with Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with the release on 6 July, 2018 of a disc containing the Symphony No 4 and the Symphony no 11, subtitled The year 1905 Andris Nelsons is the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra…