Operaquatics – more production shots from La traviata on Sydney Harbour
Rachelle Durkin as Violetta. Image by Lisa Tomasetti
The BBC celebrates Brett Dean
A performance of Brett Dean’s Grawemeyer Award winning composition “The Lost Art of Letter Writing” in London, has been warmly received. Featured in a recent BBC Total Immersion day at the Barbican Centre, the four movement concerto for violin and orchestra was composed in 2006 and won the award in 2009. The concerto was premiered by the…
Conductor avoids the currents
Brian Castles – Onion will conduct the upcoming productions of La Traviata on the harbour. He talks to Steve Meacham of the Sydney Morning Herald about keeping his head above the water – metaphorically speaking: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark-pit-20120318-1vdo2.html
Happy Birthday to the coathanger
The Sydney Harbour Bridge turns 80 today! Eleven musicians from the brass section of the Sydney Symphony scaled the bridge to perform from the top. Guess what they played?! Check out these features: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/featurenews/view/1189848/1/.html http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/13205823/sydney-harbour-bridge-turns-80/
Seeing is believing……
The La Traviata chandelier arrives! Images by James Morgan courtsey of Opera Australia
Hot off the press….
The new look Australian String Quartet’s Sydney concert reviewed: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/spirits-high-as-new-lineup-gels-with-old-guard-20120316-1va8v.html The Guardian’s Tom Service asks if Stephen Sondheim might be our greatest composer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2012/mar/16/sondheim-sweeney-todd-music-theatre
Hot off today’s press –
Review In Search of Haydn screening at the Hayden Orpheum and Roseville cinemas: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/in-search-of-haydn-20120314-1v39p.html John Bell talks about the competition for opera from HD cinema productions: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/bell-gives-stravinsky-a-rakeover-20120315-1v82g.html and read Peter McCallum’s review of The Song Company’s Love in Venice http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/irresistible-allure-of-sensuality-with-a-light-original-approach-20120315-1v82u.html
operaquatics – a preview of Handa opera on the harbour’s production of La Traviata
We’re watching the surrounds of Sydney harbour for signs of the mega-outdoor staging of La Traviata. A preview of the preparations from Steve Meacham of the Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/about-town/sopranos-stagecraft-and-synoptic-charts-20120308-1ul84.html
accompanists hold the keys
Accompanists are the unobtrusive support behind the soloist. They are able to lead as well as to follow and perform music that is as demanding as that of a soloist. Yet, they rarely recieve the same adulation and recogntion. Tom Service of The Guardian writes: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2012/mar/04/accompanists-unsung-heroes-music