Latest news
Hot off the press….
* More from the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s US tour: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/tognetti-adds-another-string-to-his-bow-20120504-1y46y.html * Composed in 2009 to commemorate the devastating bush fires that year, Brett Dean’s Fire Music was performed in Adelaide over the weekend. Read the review as well an interview in which Brett Dean talks to his publishers Boosey and Hawkes about Fire Music: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/visceral-masterpiece-conjures-up-fear-in-fire/story-fn9d2mxu-1226348104697…
Kurt Masur injured
Kurt Masur has reportedly fractured hs shoulder blade after falling off the podium during a performance in Paris: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-kurt-masur-june-20120430,0,127614.story …and in Colorado, a conductor has collapsed and died during performance of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. As this is a work for organ and not for orchestra, it is unclear whether the deceased…
Stuart Skelton in trans-Atlantic Wagner roles
Australian tenor Stuart Skelton steps in for an ailing Jonas Kauffman next week, in the Met’s production of Die Walkure. Later this month, he sings in The Flying Dutchman for the English National Opera in London. Last week, he gave his most recent interview: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/stuart-skelton-one-man-two-tenors-7687275.html
A new principal conductor for the waso
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra has appointed a new Principal Conductor to succeed Paul Daniel who ends his contract next year. Asher Fisch is no stranger to Australia having worked here in 2004, conducting Adelaide’s production of The Ring. Since 2007, Asher Fisch has been Seattle Opera’s Principal Conductor. He is a former music director…
Review fom the NYTimes: The ACO at Carnegie Hall
“Intensity and virtuosity are the hallmarks of this orchestra”. Read the New York Times review of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s performance with soprano Dawn Upshaw at Carnegie Hall early this week. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/arts/music/australian-chamber-orchestra-at-carnegie-hall.html?_r=1&ref=music Benefactors, a Stradivarius and The Glide build the bottom line for the ACO: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/rare-violin-lifts-aco-bottom-line-20120502-1xz60.html http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/acos-subscription-switch-wins-surplus/story-e6frg8n6-1226345172062
A documentary on peter sculthorpe
The influence of Peter Sculthorpe on Australian music in the 20th and 21st centuries is beyond measure. The Goldner Quartet aims to document at least some of the essence of this great life and great talent in a new documentary. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/four-score-and-19-political-quartets-later-20120424-1xj20.html
Latest reviews
La Traviata – the verdicts are rolling in
The highly anticipated production of La Traviata staged on Sydney harbour opened on Saturday night. This production has polarised opera lovers. Without doubt the performances are superlative and the concept of an open-air opera with the spectacle of Sydney harbour as a backdrop is irresistible. As to whether it is ‘opera’ – the verdicts on that proposition are rolling in. As pure entertainment…
‘Messiah’ at St James’ King Street: a listener’s perspective
Whatever the diet of musicians in Handel’s time, his performers must certainly have had tremendous stamina. ‘Messiah’ as Handel intended, for a chamber sized ensemble is a massive test of endurance, requiring a technique that supports the power of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’, the coloratura of ‘All we like sheep’ and the hushed sostenuto of ‘Since by man came death’. After all this comes the mighty…