The conductor Lorin Maazel has died at his home in Virginia aged 84.
“By his 11th birthday he had already shared a podium with Leopold Stokowski, while the no less legendary Arturo Toscanini was responsible for getting Maazel his first steady conducting job in 1942, when Maazel was only 12.”
Can’t decide what music to play over the Festive Season? Here are some suggestions from our recent reviews of albums that feature both sacred and secular selections to help create the festive mood! A Very Brandenburg Christmas – the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is joined by soprano and bandura player Larissa Kovalchuk, saxophonist Christina Leonard the…
The Met Live in HD continues to offer nightly streaming of its superlative productions. Here are this week’s performances, every evening at 7.30 pm each evening (US EDT). Watch via their website or on multiple devices through the Met Opera on Demand app. Monday, April 20: Strauss’s Elektra / With Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier and Eric…
“Flora is fabulous! She sashays across the stage in a beautiful costume. She is a courtesan; she has exciting parties and has to move through this harsh half-world where there are aristocrats and wealthy patrons.” So says mezzo-soprano Celeste Haworth, soon to sing the role of Flora Bervoix in Opera Australia’s production of La Traviata at the Sydney Opera House later this year..
The English National Opera’s 2014 season of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes is in full swing with Sydney born tenor Stuart Skelton singing the role of Grimes, a role he had made his own. Sydney audiences may recall his compelling performance in the Opera Australia production of 2009. Here is a list of links to…
Congratulations to conductor Carolyn Watson who has won the annual 2013 Brian Stacey Award for Emerging Australian Conductors under the auspices of the Helpmann Awards. As the winner of the award, Carolyn Watson receives an $8000 prize. The Brian Stacey Memorial Trust was launched in 1997 on the first anniversary of the death of Brian Stacey. The Trust Fund in his name…
Omega Ensemble announces a special online conversation with Dr Lou Bennett on what would have been the world premiere of Bennett’s new work written especially for them. The talk is free but registration is required (see below). Join Bennett in discussion with composer and broadcaster Julian Day as she explores her music, career, and composing…