Latest news
Chamber Works, Solos Or Concertos? Pianist Jayson Gillham Takes His Pick
Deborah Humble interviews London based Australian pianist and winner of the 2014 Montreal International Musical Competition ahead of his debut album launch and Australian tour. Australian concert pianist Jayson Gillham is the perfect example of a quiet achiever. Described by one English critic as possessing “a calm, unshowy keyboard style” these adjectives could equally be…
“The Voice Is Number One” – Pumeza Matshikiza On Her Life As An Opera Singer
For centuries, opera has been an European art form – its tales and music emerging from the literature, the librettists and the composers of the European continent. With the discovery of the New World, the art form reached across the Atlantic. It was only in 1955 that Marian Anderson (b1897) became the first African-American to…
Nicholas Tolputt Wins 2016 IFAC Australian Singing Competition
Counter tenor Nicholas Tolputt has won the 2016 IFAC Australian Singing Competition which includes the prestigious Marianne Mathy Scholarhip. Its a second triumph for the 25 year old Tasmanian who graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BMus in Voice and who now lives in Sydney. Just last month he won the 2016 City…
ABC Young Performer Award Gets A New Lease Of Life
Hearts sank at the end of last year when the ABC announced that the annual ABC Young Performer Award which had run continuously since 1944, launching the careers of numerous musicians, was to be axed. After a hiatus of a year, the ABC has announced that the Young Performers Awards are to continue in a…
APRA AMCOS Art Music Winners 2016
The APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards for 2016 have been announced, recognising the creative successes of musicians across the nation, in a broad range of styles. Winners in 11 national categories and eight state and territory categories were announced in Melbourne earlier this week. Percussionist Claire Edwardes has been recognised twice over. She won the award…
Music From Rio
It seems that there is something important going on in Rio……. Love them or loathe them, the Olympics give us a chance to savour the cultural aspects of the host city and npr have put together a luscious playlist of the music of Brazil. It includes Antônio Carlos Jobim’s incomparable Girl from Ipanema, sung only…
Latest reviews
Ballet Review: Nijinsky
Nijinsky The Australian Ballet Sydney Opera House 12 November 2016 Written by Deen Hamaker In 1919, a broken Vaslav Nijinsky gave his final performance in the lobby of a Swiss hotel. American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director John Neumeier has taken as his starting point, the recollections and thoughts…
Concert Review: Deborah Humble In Recital
Deborah Humble in Recital, Glebe Town Hall, Glebe, Sydney November 11, 2016 Written by Deen Hamaker On a very warm spring evening in Glebe we were given an absolute treat of a recital. It is such a joy to be able to hear a magnificent operatic voice in an intimate space and this was indeed…