Bel Canto And Elizabeth Connell Award Winners
The Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award for 2014 has been won by 27-year-old Marlena Devoe, a Samoan soprano from New Zealand singing Depuis le jour from Louise by Charpentier and Ah!non credea mirarti….Ah non giunge from Bellini’s La Sonnambula. Devoe has won $30,000 along with a place in the 2015 Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Tuscany, Italy…
The Renaissance Players Record Pilgrimage to Montserrat
The Renaissance Players’ latest double CD, Pilgrimage to Montserrat, is a welcome opportunity for 21st century listeners to hear a richly varied, yet stylistically true reconstruction of the songs that medieval pilgrims may have played to each other en route to discover the miracles of Montserrat. Pilgrimage to Montserrat, music from the Iberian Peninsula, brings Winsome…
Stuart Skelton Takes on Otello
Opening at the English National Opera on September 13th is a new production of Verdi’s Otello. Debuting in the title role is Stuart Skelton. In fact, it is an Australian double for the male leads as Jonathan Summers sings the role of Iago. This production of Otello at the ENO marks the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth….
Celebrating Peter Sculthorpe
Celebrating Peter Sculthorpe William Barton,Tamara Anna Cislowska, the Goldner String Quartet, John Peterson Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Studios, Ultimo Thursday September 4, 2014. It was a momentous evening during which a great composer was remembered with performances of his music and recollections of the person he was.The gathering of fans, performers, composers and…
Changes In Store For The Australian String Quartet
The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) will not continue in its current configuration beyond 2014 due to artistic differences. Along with performing an annual national concert series, the quartet is also Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Adelaide. After careful consideration, the Board of the ASQ has appointed violist Stephen King and cellist Sharon Draper to lead the quartet into the future. Chairman of the board Paul Clitheroe said “the ASQ’s most recent performances have been truly exceptional and despite…
The Complete Solo Piano Works Of Sculthorpe To Be Released On CD
The piano music of the late Peter Sculthorpe AO, OBE, Australia’s most recognised and revered composer, will be honoured in a 2-CD set to be released by ABC Classics on Friday September 5, 2014. The album, Peter Sculthorpe: Complete Solo Piano Music recorded by Tamara Anna Cislowska features Sculthorpe’s piano works composed between 1945 and 2011. Peter…
Isabella Moore Wins The ‘Mathy’
Soprano Isabella Moore, 23, from New Zealand was awarded the Marianne Mathy Scholarship for 2014, awarded by the IFAC Australian Singing Competition. Performing with the Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra conducted by Maestro Johannes Fritzsch and competing with four other sopranos in the finals of the competition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music last weekend,…
Sir Simon Rattle Interview
“….the entire issue of music education is becoming an ever bigger issue all over Europe. Apart from the obvious cultural value, employers want people who can work in teams, think laterally and not in straight lines, all of which music gives you in spades. A free music education was one of the glories of the…
The Ancient Craft Of Making Stringed Instruments
BBC correspondent Peter Day spends time in Cremona, Italy, the home of hand crafted stringed instruments for 5 centuries, looking at how these instruments were created then and now.