Mozart in art
If you’re travelling to Europe between now and April, an exhibition by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation sounds like a good excuse to visit that city. The exhibition which is entitled Mozart Pictures – Pictures of Mozart displays 12 portraits of the composer. Only 14 were painted of him during his lifetime, and the Foundation…
A Change of Seasons for Vivaldi
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, composed in 1723, is so ‘accessible’, it has suffered the fate of overexposure. Its four heady concerti pass through summer, autumn, winter, and spring, depicting folk life and evocative landscapes in bite-sized chunks. Some of its passages are so instantly recognisable that they have suffered the ignominy of being used as background music in commercials. Enter German-born…
The compulsion to cough
Ever wished homicide on the audience member who leaps to his feet (and it’s usually a ‘he’) shouting “Bravo!!!” even before the sounds of the music have died away?! It can ruin those moments of silence when a final chord can hang in the air, or the precious silence during which you simply want to be alone…
Ensembles inspire movies
Two recent cinema releases focus on the dynamics amongst classical musicians. Click here to read the New York Times feature on Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffmann and starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins; and A Late Quartet, directed by Yaron Silberman, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Mark Ivanir and Catherine Keener.
Arnold Rawls – a voice for Verdi
It makes sense to be good friends with people you have to work with. Especially if they are people whose characters you have to inhabit. American tenor Arnold Rawls is in Sydney to sing the role of Manrico for Opera Australia in Il Trovatore. Sitting in the Green Room of the Sydney Opera House, Rawls confesses “Manrico is probably…
Il Trovatore – scenes from Opera Australia
Il Trovatore is being performed in the Joan Sutherland Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House on selected dates until March 5th 2013. All images by Branco Gaiaca, courtesy Opera Australia.
‘In Britten’s Footsteps’ – the birds that inspired Britten
Sound Recordist Chris Watson has spent a year immersed in the countryside around Benjamin Britten’s home in Suffolk, recording and listening to the birdsongs which inspired the composer. Watson has incorporated these songs with the music of Britten to create a unique new piece called In Britten’s Footsteps which will premiere this February. Watson says “The spatial aspect of…
Sally Whitwell performs with ‘Master’ Glass
Sydney based pianist Sally Whitwell has created a finely crafted niche for herself as an exponent of the solo piano music of Philip Glass. In February 2013, she will perform alongside Glass at the Perth Festival, in a work partly commissioned by the Perth Festival. Glass’ Complete Piano Etudes comprises 20 works, the last three…
“A Masked Ball” unmasked
These fabulous images are from Opera Australia’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball opens tonight in Sydney. A co-production with Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo, A Masked Ball is presented in association with Sydney Festival. This world première new was devised by La Fura del Baus, the Catalan theatre…