Presenting Opera In Concert
With opera companies facing financial constraints and grappling with new ways of finding funds, Gillian Moore in BBC Music Magazine looks at the merits of presenting opera in the concert hall.
With opera companies facing financial constraints and grappling with new ways of finding funds, Gillian Moore in BBC Music Magazine looks at the merits of presenting opera in the concert hall.
In Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, otherwise known as The Ring Cycle, three Rhinemaidens guard the Rhinegold, a priceless treasure. Not quite Rhinemaidens, Director Neil Armfield and Associate Director Roger Press, along with their cast and creatives have the formidable task of acting as custodians for Opera Australia’s 2016 reprise of this monolithic work…
Here’s the link to Eric Whitacre’s list of his top 20 international choirs and why they deserve to be there. (Gramophone, December 2010). Soon to perform in Sydney, Harry Christophers and his ensemble The Sixteen, are ranked at No 4. Whitacre says: “Under the expert command of founder Harry Christophers, The Sixteen have combined musical excellence with bold,…
The homes of singers in the Sydney Children’s Choir will be uncharacteristically quiet over the school holidays as the choir heads to Europe on tour this northern summer. Sydney airport will be ringing with the excitement of 41 children aged between 11 and 15 as they board their aircraft for the long journey that will tkae them to performances at…
In an interview on radio some years ago, Adrian Collette, then CEO of Opera Australia (OA) was challenged with the assertion that opera was an art form for the elite. He countered ably, with the observation that the only thing elite about opera was the training undergone by its practitioners. Claims of elitism in the…
Fresh from her Wagnerian debut as Elsa in Lohengrin at the Dresden Semperoper, Anna Netrebko will release a new recording in September 2016, Verismo, with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. This recording on Deutsche Grammophon with its striking cover, explores some of the darker reaches of the dramatic soprano repertoire with…
It’s not so old, but already the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra has re-invented itself and will, in future be known as The Metropolitan Orchestra (TMO). Here’s the announcement from the orchestra: “It is with great pleasure and excitement that we announce that the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra will officially be rebranded as THE METROPOLITAN ORCHESTRA (TMO) at our next…