Operaquatics – more production shots from La traviata on Sydney Harbour
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mariss Jansons have charmed their audiences in Sydney with superlative skill. Regarded as one of the best conductors in the world, Jansons has been dogged by health problems in recent years, shadowed by the death of his father who suffered a heart attack whilst on the podium. He is fitted with…
Did the ailments of composers influence the music they wrote?! Did Tavener’s life-threatening inherited disease Marfan’s Syndrome initiate the otherworldly sound of his music? Did Beethoven’s deafness cause him to focus on his physiological rhythms? Click here to read Tom Service’s feature in The Guardian.
Last week we published the first of a two part interview with emerging conductor Jennifer Condon whose ambition to record Sappho, the forgotten final opera by Peggy Glanville-Hicks has propelled her into the spotlight and into history. Navigating the hurdles, she has landed on the rostrum feet first. The recording was completed last July….
The celebrated Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has released a new double album From Afar on the Deutsche Grammophon label, described as a “window into his musical life story.”
Peter McCallum reviews Opera Australia’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth which opened in Sydney last Saturday. (NB the singers are not correctly identified in the image). http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/something-wicked-this-way-comes-and-it-is-sure-to-thrill-audiences-20110911-1k407.html Murray Black’s thoughts on Opera Australia’s Lakme for The Australian http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/matthews-shines-as-lakme/story-fn9d31nx-1226134510311
The first online choir competition of INTERKULTUR, the INTERKULTUR Video Awards has ended after 128 virtual choir videos from 44 countries were submitted in two categories “Choirs A Cappella” and “Choirs with Accompaniment”. The winner in the “Choirs A Cappella” category was the Chor der Technischen Universität Vienna, Austria, singing “Some Nights“ by Nate Ruess,…