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Ensembles inspire movies
Two recent cinema releases focus on the dynamics amongst classical musicians. Click here to read the New York Times feature on Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffmann and starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins; and A Late Quartet, directed by Yaron Silberman, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Mark Ivanir and Catherine Keener.
Arnold Rawls – a voice for Verdi
It makes sense to be good friends with people you have to work with. Especially if they are people whose characters you have to inhabit. American tenor Arnold Rawls is in Sydney to sing the role of Manrico for Opera Australia in Il Trovatore. Sitting in the Green Room of the Sydney Opera House, Rawls confesses “Manrico is probably…
Il Trovatore – scenes from Opera Australia
Il Trovatore is being performed in the Joan Sutherland Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House on selected dates until March 5th 2013. All images by Branco Gaiaca, courtesy Opera Australia.
‘In Britten’s Footsteps’ – the birds that inspired Britten
Sound Recordist Chris Watson has spent a year immersed in the countryside around Benjamin Britten’s home in Suffolk, recording and listening to the birdsongs which inspired the composer. Watson has incorporated these songs with the music of Britten to create a unique new piece called In Britten’s Footsteps which will premiere this February. Watson says “The spatial aspect of…
Sally Whitwell performs with ‘Master’ Glass
Sydney based pianist Sally Whitwell has created a finely crafted niche for herself as an exponent of the solo piano music of Philip Glass. In February 2013, she will perform alongside Glass at the Perth Festival, in a work partly commissioned by the Perth Festival. Glass’ Complete Piano Etudes comprises 20 works, the last three…
“A Masked Ball” unmasked
These fabulous images are from Opera Australia’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball opens tonight in Sydney. A co-production with Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo, A Masked Ball is presented in association with Sydney Festival. This world première new was devised by La Fura del Baus, the Catalan theatre…
Latest reviews
‘Les Troyens’ Met Opera in HD reviewed
As part of their hugely popular Met Opera in HD series, the Palace Cinemas recently screened Berlioz’ epic opera Les Troyens, Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed 2003 production with Fabio Luisi conducting a cast led by Byran Hymel in the central role of Aeneas, the hero who flees the ruins of Troy for a new set of challenges…
Whitwell and Namekawa play Glass to a sell-out house at the Perth festival
Pianists Sally Whitwell from Sydney and Maki Namekawa from Japan, continue to stake their claim as premier performers of the music of Philip Glass after sell-out concerts at the Perth festival. The Australian’s Mark Coughlan reports: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/the-beauty-of-ref-glass/story-fn9d2mxu-1226579787647