‘Nightingale’ reviewed

The review is out for ‘The Love of the Nightingale’!
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/soaring-testament-to-power-of-music-20111023-1meez.html

The review is out for ‘The Love of the Nightingale’!
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/soaring-testament-to-power-of-music-20111023-1meez.html
Maestro Zubin Mehta has been made a Companion of the Order Australia in a surprise ceremony which capped off a sumptuous performance with the Australian World Orchestra in the newly refurbished Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House on Fridat night. Presenting the award was the Governor-General, His Excellency, General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC.
Max Richter has written a new piece which pays homage to Beethoven with the release of its world premiere recording on the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Beethoven – Opus 2020 is a new orchestral work was commissioned by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, which will host the world premiere performance on the eve of the anniversary….
As Wagner -mania is about to hit Melbourne, Gramophone magazine reports that a letter written and signed by the composer is to be auctioned in Barcelona this week. The letter is dated 1881 and in it, Wagner discusses the character of Lohengrin. A spare € 1,200 will open the bidding. Click here for the feature.
Jonas Kaufmann has cancelled his two performances as Don Jose in Carmen at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden due to illness. His place will be taken by Italian tenor Andrea Carè. Click here for more.
Thespian Simon Callow believes that Der Rosenkavalier is Richard Strauss’ most successful opera. “The stage throngs with action, comic intrigues, genre scenes, farce, double cross-dressing, but …..it hinges on moments of the most sublime stillness: the Marschallin’s meditation on time in the first act, the presentation of the silver rose in the second, and that final trio.” Read the…
Grammy Award winning New Zealand born bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu (he’s sung Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for OA in Sydney) has had to meet a new challenge – that of learning a libretto in Chinese. He talks about it in this blog. (The Grammy Award was in 2010 for Best Opera Recording Billy Budd) http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/mar/26/learning-to-sing-chinese-songs