Latest news
Thomas Strong Wins Opera Foundation New York Scholarship
Thomas Strong, a 31-year-old tenor from New South Wales, has won the coveted Opera Foundation Australia Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship for 2014. The finals concert was held at the Eugene Goossens Hall of Sydney’s ABC studios where Strong sang Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot and Mamma, quel vino è generoso from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana for his…
Haydn’s Operas
‘Papa’ Haydn earned his nickname for fostering instrumental works – symphonic and chamber. Yet, it’s often forgotten that he wrote as many as 15 operas. Read more from Tom Service.
Beethoven’s Long Shadow
Did you know that the first compact discs were designed to record seventy-five minutes of music so that Beethoven’s the Ninth Symphony could be played through without interruption?! ” A phenomenon of dazzling and disconcerting force. (Beethoven) not only left his mark on all subsequent composers but also molded entire institutions. “ In this feature from The…
Thinking Differently About Music Education
“We need to think differently to give our children a better music education….If given a chance, every child has a capacity to play an instrument and to appreciate music” so says music educator Robert Adediran in this feature on music education in The Guardian.
The Australian Curriculum Review And Arts Education
The release of the Australian Curriculum Review this month makes 30 key recommendations after receiving 1600 submissions. The government appointed Professor Ken Wiltshire AO and Dr Kevin Donnelly to conduct an independent review of the Australian Curriculum. Their report suggests that music and visual arts be mandatory to Year 10, but that drama, dance and…
Opera Australia Awarded Grant to Tour ‘Shane Warne The Musical’ To India
In its 2014-15 round of grants, the Australia-India Council Grants Program, under the auspices of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has awarded Opera Australia $50,000 to take ‘Shane Warne the Musical’ on a tour of India. The grants are aimed at “innovative projects that foster deeper people-to-people and institutional links between Australia and…
Latest reviews
Opera Review: Turandot/Opera Australia
Turandot – Giacomo Puccini Opera Australia, 24 June 2015 Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House It is now 25 years since Graeme Murphy’s much-admired production of Turandot was first seen in 1990. During that time it has achieved almost iconic status because of the sheer beauty of many of its stage pictures. Murphy’s background as a choreographer is evident throughout as the opera unfolds in a series of…
Concert Review: Musica Anonymous, Zephyr Quartet And Jane Sheldon
Música Anonymous The Zephyr Quartet and Jane Sheldon The Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House 17 June 2015 The ‘anonymous music’ which provided the title for this concert consists of folk and traditional music from far-flung countries, arranged by the performers themselves or by contemporary composers. The Zephyr Quartet, based in Adelaide, comprises four classically trained string players who endeavour to expand the boundaries of the normal quartet repertoire by working…