Fischer-Dieskau’s artistic ideals
Last week the world mourned the death of the extraordinary baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, (b 1925) who would have turned 87 on May 28th this year. Although he worked in all genres of vocal repertoire, he made his mark in lieder. He was also the link with some of the legends of the 20th century, having…
The Australian String Quartet aims for a family of Guadagnini instruments
The Australian String Quartet and the Ngeringa Farm Arts Foundation launch a fund to own outright the four precious Guadagnini instruments presently played by the quartet – the first and only ensemble in Australia that plays instruments crafted by the same person. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/four-fabulous-rarities-bridge-the-centuries-20120523-1z5m3.html
IFAC Australian Singing competition – entries close this week
Entries close at 5 pm this Friday for the IFAC Australian Singing Competition which offers a substantial range of prizes and opportunities amounting to over $215,000 in value. The competition includes the prestigious Marianne Mathy Scholarship. Past winners have gone on to careers all over the world, amongst them Paul Whelan,(bass-baritone, 1987) recently heard with the Sydney Symphony in…
Spotify launches in Australia
Spotify, came to Australia this week. The Swedish digital music streaming service was launched in October 2008, and has clocked up a colossal 10 million users in less than 4 years. With three different levels of service Spotify offers capability of creating playlists, share music, browse artists, biographies and similar music, from a repository of millions of tracks. Spotify is available for your PC, Mac,…
The Art of Music makes art for music
Singer Jenny Morris has created a project called Art of Music in which 10 paintings inspired by iconic Australian songs will be auctioned to raise funds for the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre at the University of Western Sydney’s Kingswood campus. The auction is to be held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on…
The London Symphony Orchestra performs in Trafalgar Square
The pigeons of Trafalgar Square rightly had their feather ruffled when they had to make way for the musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra. The musicians, who were looking very cool gave their first open air concert in Trafalgar Square, with their conductor Valery Gergiev. Here’s the link to the gallery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2012/may/15/lso-trafalgar-square-concert#/?picture=390137981&index=2
Australia Council update
Arts Minister Simon Crean has made two new appointments to the Australia Council for the Arts as a review calls for its reform: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/how-to-finance-a-cultural-utopia/story-e6frg8n6-1226362737526 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/appointments-follow-a-review-of-the-australia-council/story-e6frg8n6-1226362844473
The ANU School of Music contoversy continues
The conroversy continues over Professor Adrian Walter’s appointment to the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts: http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=37ddbd1435657310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News
Hot off the press….
More background on David Robertson, who will take over as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony from 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/boulez-protege-has-a-postromantic-perspective-20120515-1yp2t.html http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/buried-treasures-to-be-unearthed-after-orchestra-passes-the-baton-20120515-1yp2u.html http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/new-sso-chief-strikes-right-notes/story-e6frg8n6-1226356619844