A New Venue At The Four Winds Festival
From April 17-20, 2014, the idyllic coastal community of Bermagui will again host the award winning Four Winds Festival a biennial event showcasing rich and vibrant talent from around the world and close to home. In his first festival as Artistic Director, Paul Kildea has gathered four spectacular artists from around the world…
Little Birds – A New CD Hatching Music For Cello And Accordion
Rachel Scott, cellist, creator and curator of the Bach in the Dark concert series writes of news about a new CD Little Birds: “Excitement is building here at Bach in the Dark headquarters as Little Birds is nearing completion. In January, accordion virtuoso Anthony Schulz and I met in Melbourne and recorded all our…
Class, Race And Classical Music
“….perhaps a conscious effort to introduce some of the younger, edgier classical musicians, including some of colour, into music coverage aimed at their younger demographic – many of whom can’t even conceive of classical music as music – might serve to break down some of these increasingly arbitrary walls. “ A fascinating read from Candace…
Bach In The (Car) Park
England’s King Richard III was found buried under a city car park and now it seems that the Weimar residence of J S Bach has met a similar fate. The foundations of the site in Weimar where JS Bach lived for 9 years (1708 – 1717) , where his sons Wilhem Friedemann Bach and Carl…
April Highlights
Chamber/cello – There are two outstanding chamber music events in April with the Sitkovetsky Trio presented by Music Viva performing the music of Smetana, Beethoven (the Archduke Trio) and the world premiere of a new work by Carl Vine, commissioned for Music Viva by Julian Burnside AO QC to commemorate the composer’s 60th birthday. April…
Musicians Behaving Badly – Peter Phillips Writes
Peter Phillips, founder and director of the Tallis Scholars is a regular columnist for The Spectator. He recently posed the question whether creative genius is compatible with ‘niceness’ as a person and warns that even a conductor’s time on the podium is transient. Click here for the link.
From The Beaches Of Manly To The Footsteps Of Mahler – Simone Young Talks About Her Life In Hamburg
Last month, conductor Simone Young gave this interview to Deutsche Welle, Germany’s national broadcaster. In it she talks about her work as general manager and music director at the Hamburg State Opera and chief conductor of the Hamburg State Philharmonic. As well as giving her insights into some basics of conducting, she also talks about her…
Nicola Benedetti Protests At The Gratuitous Sexing Up Of The Classics
Violinist Nicola Benedetti speaks out against the use of sex to sell classical albums. “Classical music can be prouder of its integrity than many industries. People are basically chosen for their ability – though I concede that we still lag behind when it comes to conductors” she says in The Times. Read the feature published in…
April SoundsClassic Out Soon!
The April edition of our free monthly newsletter SoundsClassic is due out soon with news of concerts, reviews and lots more about musical life in Sydney and Melbourne. Make sure you get your copy by clicking the ‘Subscribe’ button on the menu bar at the top of this page.