Latest news
Vale Sir David Willcocks
It is with great sadness that Australia awoke this morning to the news that Sir David Willcocks, the legendary conductor, organist and pedagogue, has died aged 95. It is impossible for any chorister not to have been touched by his work, whether through his recordings, arrangements, patronage or through firsthand experience of his conducting. “Sir…
Anne-Sophie Mutter Live From The Yellow Lounge
Earlier this year, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter gave a sensational performance at Berlin’s Neue Heimat club, recreating the impact of her legendary 2013 Yellow Lounge appearance, when she attracted one of the biggest crowds in the history of Deutsche Grammophon’s “classical-goes-clubbing” series. Now she’s taking the electric atmosphere further by making the first-ever live Yellow Lounge…
Short+Sweet Announces January 2016 Cabaret Festival
Short+Sweet – Australia’s own short-form performing arts event has announced its new cabaret festival for January 2016. Planning over 40 inspiring 10-minute productions showcasing myriad performance styles, the festival will run at New Theatre, Newtown from 6-30 January 2016. Short+Sweet Cabaret will offer themed programs of Dance/Movement, Musical Theatre, and Burlesque – Wednesday to Saturday across…
Sydney Harmony Chorus Opens Its Doors
Sydney Harmony Chorus is opening its doors – and its membership – ahead of the climax to its musical year: the Holiday Voices concerts at the Independent Theatre on 5 December. The all-male a cappella (unaccompanied) choir will hold an open rehearsal on Monday night 26 October where prospective new singers can ‘take a peek’….
Enter The Ballot To See Opera For A Song
Opera Australia is offering first time opera goers the opportunity to enter a ballot to obtain premium reserve opera tickets at $20, making the best seats in the house more affordable than a night at the cinema! This has become possible through the generosity of Susan and Isaac Wakil, who have donated $1.5 million to…
Lost Stravinsky Score Discovered
Oh the joy of a serendipity….of discovering a lost score long after its composer is no more. This is the story of Igor Stravinsky’s 1908 piece, Pogrebal’naya Pesnya (Funeral Song) written in memory of his teacher, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, shortly after Rimsky’s death in June that year. The 12-minute work was performed only once, in a Russian symphony…
Latest reviews
Opera Review: Luisa Miller/Opera Australia
It is well worth getting to the Joan Sutherland Theatre a little ahead of the performance of Verdi’s Luisa Miller to contemplate the diorama that presages the production. In stark tones of black and white, the scene is one of formulaic domestic bliss. Could that be a bust of Verdi smiling benignly down on the…
Opera Review: The Barber Of Seville/ Opera Australia
The Barber of Seville – Gioachino Rossini Opera Australia, 28 January 2016 Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Elijah Moshinsky’s 1995 production of Rossini’s Barber of Seville has proven, over the subsequent 20 years, to be one of the company’s most popular and enduring. Although set in the 1920s it is an otherwise traditional production…