A long wait for this weill
A New York collector has discovered music by Kurt Weill, lost for nearly 70 years. Rather than being a boon, it became a millstone around his neck. Click here to read
Alina Ibragimova interview
Tom Service of The Guardian interviews brilliant 27 year old violinist Alina Ibragimova, describing her “trademark wildly imaginative playing, with its combination of unleashed energy and historical awareness”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/18/alina-ibragimova-violinist-rawness-energy
Clive Barda photo retrospective
Photographer Clive Barda’s name appears below many of the most famous musical images in recent history. In his 4o year career as a photographer of performers, he has built up a formidable repository of photographs dating back to Jacqueline Du Pre in in 1960s. Now 100 of his prints from Leonard Bernstein in the past,…
Opera on the internet
The latest showcase for opera has moved from the high definition images of the cinema to live streaming off the internet. the first opera to be streamed was a performance of Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio from Vienna’s Kammeroper, on Sunday 21st October, and included Australian baritone Ben Connor. More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/21/vienna-platform-launches-_0_n_1997169.html?utm_hp_ref=arts
‘Give me excess of it’ – the memoirs of Richard Gill
Revered conductor and music educator Richard Gill’s memoirs Give me Excess of it will be released on October 23rd, MacMillan Australia. He talks to Matthew Westwood about the book: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/musical-memoir-to-settle-old-scores/story-fn9d2mxu-1226498845442 You can also attend a literary lunch to hear Richard Gill talk about the book at The Four Season Hotel in the city: Date: Monday 29 October 2012…
A swell ‘Carmen’ on the harbour in 2013
As if creating a ballroom on the harbour wasn’t challenging enough, Opera Australia will create a village in Seville on the water when it presents its second production of Hand Opera on the Harbour which in 2013 will be Bizet’s Carmen. Stage productions of Carmen in the past, have included a donkey and a horse. There…
ENO’s plan to dress down for opera receives a dressing down
Following the ENO’s announcement of a plan to encourage a relaxed dress code for opera goers, Andrew Mellor argues that it’s ‘much ado about nothing’. After all, going to the races seems to demand the observation of a costly and mysterious dress code that doesn’t deter attendance. http://www.gramophone.co.uk/blog/the-gramophone-blog/stop-telling-us-what-to-wear-for-opera
Sydney’s opera theatre re-named
The name of Dame Joan Sutherland has been immortalised with the Opera Theatre of Sydney’s Opera House re-named in her honour. Concert halls have been named after benefactors (Carnegie), Royalty (The Royal Albert Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall) and musicians (the Bruckner Hall in Linz and the Bartok Hall in Budapest. It is a rare honour, and…
Hip-hoppin to chopin
It’s not the first time that Chopin’s music has been appropriated for dance. In 1909, Glazunov orchestrated the music of Chopin with choreography by Fokine and created the short non-narrative ballet Les Sylphides. In 2012, pianist Lang-Lang has collaborated with Dubstepper Marquese “Nonstop” Scott to create a performance that combines Chopin’s Etude Op 25 No 12,…