News

ENO shuns the big screen

The move to the cinema screen is not for the English National Opera says its artistic director John Berry: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/live-opera-in-cinemas-no-way-says-eno-7729177.html

singing and supper

This entertaining feature from the New York Times looks at the role of food in opera: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/dining/opera-singers-who-dine-as-part-of-the-show.html?_r=1

Head of School at ANU Music to take leave

Following the dramatic cuts to the ANU School of Music, in news just to hand, the Head of School Professor Adrian Walter has been instructed to take extended leave, returning to work only if he agrees to implement the changes announced last week. http://citynews.com.au/2012/news/music-school-chief-told-to-take-leave/

‘The Voice’ – an academic voices her thoughts.

Dr Rowena Cowley, is a senior lecturer in voice and opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and President of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing. She is also a friend of Sounds Like Sydney. She voices her thoughts on the hit Channel 9 star seeker show – The Voice: http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=6&newsstoryid=9139C

Sydney’s ‘House’ in Lego

If you thought you’d seen it all when Mattel released its Opera House Barbie doll, resplendent in ocean coloured mermaid dress with swirls of white, think again. Now Lego have released its vision of the Sydney Opera House as part of its Architect series, placing the distinctive building alongside others in this collection which includes New York’s Guggenheim Museum, the Burj Khalifa…

Deconstructing the music degree at the ANU School of Music

Last week we learnt with horror of the slashes to the teaching programme at the ANU School of Music. As the School of Music’s own website acknowledges: “With over 1,200 graduates in its 45 year history, ANU School of Music alumni are scattered around Australia and the world, teaching, composing, performing and researching”. The school’s alumni…

Hot off the press….

* More from the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s US tour: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/tognetti-adds-another-string-to-his-bow-20120504-1y46y.html   * Composed in 2009 to commemorate the devastating bush fires that year, Brett Dean’s Fire Music was performed in Adelaide over the weekend. Read the review as well an interview in which Brett Dean talks to his publishers Boosey and Hawkes about Fire Music: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/visceral-masterpiece-conjures-up-fear-in-fire/story-fn9d2mxu-1226348104697…

Kurt Masur injured

Kurt Masur has reportedly fractured hs shoulder blade after falling off the podium during a performance in Paris: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-kurt-masur-june-20120430,0,127614.story …and in Colorado, a conductor has collapsed and died during  performance of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. As this is a work for organ and not for orchestra, it is unclear whether the deceased…

Stuart Skelton in trans-Atlantic Wagner roles

Australian tenor Stuart Skelton steps in for an ailing Jonas Kauffman next week, in the Met’s production of  Die Walkure. Later this month, he sings in The Flying Dutchman for the English National Opera in London.  Last week, he gave his most recent interview: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/stuart-skelton-one-man-two-tenors-7687275.html