Inhaltsverzeichnis für October 2017 in Limelight

Greetings from the Big Apple! Cutting a long story short, along with my partner and our Border Terrier, I’ve relocated to New York for a few years. Not that I’m quitting Limelight – no, you don’t get rid of me that easily – but come January I’ll be letting the brilliant Jo Litson take the editorial reins while I’m elevated to some emeritus position. Meanwhile, I thought I’d use the opportunity to make a few across-the-pond observations based on all of one week’s experience. First of all, there are a hell of a lot of Aussies in town, and plenty more headed my way. I already have a breakfast interview planned with tenor Alexander Lewis who is headlining a new opera at Brooklyn Academy of Music, and who later in…

POINT OF POLITICAL ORDER I want to lend my support to Clive Paget against those misguided souls who believe that politics should be kept out of music. It wasn’t so long ago that these people said the same of sport and politics. Politics affects all aspects of our lives; there’s no escaping it. Robert Clark, Red Hill, VIC DOWNLOADING DILEMMA I’d love to know Limelight readers’ thoughts on the declining state of classical music downloads. While we see this across all styles of music, I believe it’s mainly due to the annoyance of downloading a music file to your computer and then trying to get that file onto your sound system. Most people’s sound systems are not their computers. If we could have a piece of hardware that had a…

Tom Scharfeld, a San Francisco-based trombonist, has won a six-year battle with the 45th President of the United States, who objected to his using the name iTrump for a music education tool. Scharfeld has additionally forced Trump to cancel or withdraw some of his previous trademark registrations, which were found to have not been used in a “relevant” context. A lifelong jazz musician, Scharfeld designed his $2.99 iPhone app, which adopts an intuitive simulation approach to teach users to play trumpet, along with another called iBone for the trombone, and filed the name in 2010. A month later he received an intimidating letter from lawyers representing Donald Trump maintaining that his use of the name was detrimental to the quality of the Trump mark and would tarnish “the goodwill and…

La Sublime Porte Voices of Istanbul Hesperion XXI/Savall ALIA VOX AVSA9887 In 2013, I was in Perth conducting Compassion with Lior and WASO. Following the performance, one of the orchestral players from the bass section gave me this album as a gift. I love Jordi Savall and this collection has become a perennial favourite. Mozart Piano Concerto  No 17 Andrea Lam p , TSO/ Nicholas Milton ABC CLASSICS 48102476 Andrea Lam was touring Australia and invited Janice and myself to a private recital of my Second Piano Sonata. From the opening bar I was captivated by her lyricism and stunning virtuosity. We’ve since become close friends. Joe Zawinul Absolute Ensemble Absolute Ensemble/ Kristjan Järvi INTUITION INT34562 Conductor Kristjan Järvi handed me this album on his last tour…

BARBARA COOK 1927 – 2017 American musical theatre and cabaret star Barbara Cook has passed away aged 89. Born in Atlanta in 1927, Cook made her Broadway debut in Flahooley in 1951 and went on to become a leading ingénue, starring in Candide (1956), The Music Man (1957), for which she won a Tony Award, She Loves Me (1963) as well as revivals of Carousel (1957), The King and I (1960) and Show Boat (1966). When her Broadway career faltered in the late 1960s, she battled alcoholism and depression but gave up drinking in the 1990s and with the help of pianist Wally Harper reinvented herelf as a concert and cabaret artist. In 2007, to celebrate her 80th birthday, she gave two concerts with the New York Philharmonic. David Campbell…

"Unlike comedy shows, there are very few classical music hecklers" The other day I was sitting in the car at a set of slow traffic lights in Sydney, attempting a right hand turn onto a busy road. The cars in front were waiting for pedestrians to saunter across and it looked like I was going to have to wait for another sequence of traffic lights to get a go. This, however, wasn’t good enough for the car behind me, a Jaguar, which roared out of the line of traffic, overtook me on the wrong side of the road, screamed around the corner against the red light and disappeared in a puff of self-important smoke. I have seen a lot of bad behaviour in Sydney, but this took the cake for…

Debussy’s Syrinx , which you perform on tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, is such a well-loved piece. Do you remember when you first heard it? I don’t recall the first time, but I was a little kid. I started playing the flute at age six and it must have happened pretty early in my life. I’ve been playing this piece a lot as an encore after a concerto, so it’s one of my all-time favourites. It’s a very evocative piece – it’s supposed to be played in the dark. It was part of a music theatre salon setting. Debussy had been writing musical interventions and the flute player was supposed not to be seen but just heard, so it gives a stronger power to the instrument.…

"WHY DO YOU WANT TO SING THIS, IT’S TOO HEAVY. RODOLFO CANNOT BE DEEPER THAN MARCELLO. AND IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE RODOLFO, WHO IS GOING TO BE YOUR MIMÌ – BIRGIT NILSSON?" When and why did you start singing? In Mexico where I was born we have a huge musical background – from when we are two or three years old we are absorbing all that music – but I’m the first one in my whole family to study it. When I was in primary school, the music teacher heard me and asked to talk with my parents. He said it looked like I had potential to develop, and he offered to give me my first singing lessons. I was around seven or eight years old, and I had…

It’s 23 years since Muriel Heslop said goodbye to dead end Porpoise Spit and headed for the bright lights of Sydney with an ABBA song in her heart and the dream of a fairy-tale wedding that would transform her dreary life. Now Muriel is retracing her steps, but this time she’s doing it on stage as PJ Hogan’s iconic 1994 Australian film Muriel’s Wedding is adapted into a new musical with a book by Hogan himself and additional songs by Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall, alongside the ABBA hits that famously feature in the movie. Produced by Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures (the company behind the recent musicals Strictly Ballroom and King Kong), Muriel’s Wedding the Musical opens next month in a keenly anticipated production directed by Simon Phillips.…

The Apostles Evans, Coote, Groves, Imbrailo, Kempster, Sherratt, Hallé/ Sir Mark Elder HALLÉ CDHLD7534 (2CD) A thrilling performance of an oratorio that at last is beginning to enjoy the popularity it deserves. Cello Concerto Jean-Guihen Queyras vc , BBC SO/Jiπí Belohlávek HARMONIA MUNDI HMC902148 Intense but unsentimental playing by the soloist in Elgar’s post-war masterpiece. Violin Concerto Tasmin Little v , RSNO/ Sir Andrew Davis CHANDOS CHSA5083 (SACD) Soloist and conductor come closer to the heart of this work than any other contemporary musicians. Orchestral works Hallé Orchestra/ Sir John Barbirolli WARNER CLASSICS 0954442 (5CD) This includes a performance of Symphony No 2 that still ranks as one of the finest.…

"Soloists are in sparkling form, as are chorus and orchestra, bringing clarity and insight" Bach Secular Cantatas Volume 8 (Celebratory Cantatas) Bach Collegium Japan/ Masaaki Suzuki BIS BIS2231 (SACD) Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan have never been content to rest on their considerable laurels. Having completed the Herculean task of recording all of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sacred cantatas in 2013, they have continued to explore the master’s diverse range of secular cantatas, arriving at this volume of celebratory works. Along the way Suzuki and his forces have revealed the richness of Bach’s musical imagination and his sense of humour in these works. The very first volume of the series recorded back in 2003 contains arguably his most popular secular cantata, the so-called Coffee Cantata (BWV211), in a robust account…

Martinu • Milhaud String Trios Jacques Thibaud String Trio AUDITE AUDITE 97727   Darius Milhaud needed a ruthless editor. An affable teddy bear with a technical facility from the earliest age, he oozed music at the slightest prod – his opus numbers exceeded 400. He travelled widely through the Americas absorbing local colour but spread his invention too thinly, so despite some delightful masterpieces there is a great deal of less inspired if finely crafted dross; a daunting prospect for the curious collector who must dig through a great deal of quartz to find the occasional speck of gold. "Martinu may have been as prolific as Milhaud but his inspiration was on another level" His two string trios were written during his USA exile in the 1940s and yield little gold…

PREVIEW More than a century before the word “selfie” was coined, Melbourne-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger was using photography to document his life in obsessive detail. The arranger of the famous Country Gardens had a collection of photographs that includes approximately 15,000 images. A selection of these can be seen at a new exhibition titled Grainger: Public Facades and Intimate Spaces at the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, which explores the dichotomy between the professional studio images Grainger used to promote himself and the far more intimate, private photographs with which he recorded his personal life. Grainger arrived in England in 1901 at the age of 19, quickly establishing himself as a pianist. Almost immediately, photography became an important part of his career. “This was at a time when photography…

Final Portrait Opens: October 5 Genre: Comedy-drama Duration: 90 minutes Rush rescues artistic shaggy dog story from heading to the pound In this feature written and directed by Stanley Tucci, better known as one of the finest character actors in American film (though note that he’s not in the cast), a wealthy young American art commentator visiting Paris in 1964 agrees to pose for a quick portrait by celebrated painter/ sculptor Alberto Giacometti only to find the process becoming exasperatingly over-extended. A process the model (Armie Hammer) is assured will take no more than an afternoon spills into repeated visits that eventually stretch into weeks as the artist (Geoffrey Rush) keeps deferring the portrait’s completion to the point where it seems moot whether or not he’ll be able to complete…

“If it’s Wednesday, it must be Bach.” You can almost hear the musicians’ brains holding fast to the mantra as they headed into Day 5 of this year’s Australian Festival of Chamber Music. And true, the concert consisted of Bach, Bach, and nothing but Bach, but in typical Piers Lane programming style, there were plenty of surprises in store. The most interesting experiment topped the bill – an intriguing re-interpretation of Rheinberger’s 19th-century two piano arrangement of the Goldberg Variations, but for the unique combination of harpsichord, piano (both Mahan Esfahani) and accordion (James Crabb). The substantial bouche amuse to this mini marathon was Jayson Gillham with a weighty, strongly dramatised account of the C Minor Toccata, BWV911. Offering a significant – but never excessive – degree of rubato in…

I started falling in love with the stories in music, not necessarily with the music itself When I was growing up, Mum and Dad had classical music playing 24/7 – and they still do – but it was all crowd-pleasing stuff, which is not to diminish it. My father very much latched onto The Three Tenors. Even though I don’t know much about opera, there’ll still be certain things I can hum. My dad performed in amateur musicals. One of my earliest memories is seeing him do Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. He was dressed up and in make-up, but it was absolutely normal. I learned a few instruments growing up, but the only time my mum went “you’ll thank me when you’re older” was with the piano. I still…

BRENDAN WARD DOCTORS ORCHESTRA PAGE 36 Brendan Ward is the author of The Beethoven Obsession and Edvard Grieg: Little Great Man. He produced Gerard Willems’ ARIA-winning recordings of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas and Morning Mood: Solo Piano Music of Edvard Grieg for ABC Classics. HARRIET CUNNINGHAM GONDWANA CHOIRS PAGE 50 Harriet Cunningham is a writer based in Sydney. In print she is best known as the Sydney Morning Herald music critic banned by Opera Australia. Aside from journalism, Harriet is undertaking doctoral studies and writing her third novel. She has been known to play the violin. TONY WAY REC OF THE MONTH PAGE 72 Tony Way is a director of music at Melbourne’s historic St Francis’ Church. Holding a masters degree in music, he is an organist and choir director,…

SAXY BRAIN SURGERY Dan Fabbio, an American saxophonist and music teacher, played his instrument during recent brain surgery. Professors at the University of Rochester used highly sophisticated mapping techniques to pinpoint the location of Fabbio’s tumour and the areas vital to musical functions. The map was then used as a guide for the surgeons. Following the operation, Fabbio’s saxophone was brought into the theatre where he played flawlessly. D’OH! COMPOSER SACKED Two-time Emmy Award winner Alf Clausen, the composer responsible for the scores for Fox’s animated hit show The Simpsons, has been fired after 27 years. He had been the sole composer responsible for all the show’s musical parodies (though not the theme song) since 1990. However, in August, he received a call from producer Richard Sakai to say they…

There are a lot of conceptual strains and thoughts running through Were/ Oblivion. Much of it stems from contemplating the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s adventurous mindset in programming a collection of composers I personally admire: Liza Lim, Erkki Veltheim, Đuro Živkovic and Brett Dean, who will also be conducting the works. One element of my work that sets me apart from my contemporaries is the meditation on family – on my daughters Astrid and Scarlet and on my partner Charlotte. The avant garde has often struggled with articulating family life – an absence that highlights the inherent selfcenteredness of many celebrated artists. The selfishness of many people in the arts world has always been a disappointment to me; I was taught from an early age to value kind humanism above all…

The year 1937 was a tumultuous one for artists in the Soviet Union, already groaning under the yoke of Stalin’s ruthless brand of Communism. That November saw the first performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s much-anticipated response to official condemnation in his Fifth Symphony, given in Leningrad under the baton of Yevgeny Mravinsky. Meanwhile, that July in Soviet Gorky (now Russian Nizhny Novgorod), a seemingly less momentous event had occurred: Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy was born to pianist and composer David Ashkenazy and his wife, the actress Yevstolia Grigorievna. Two events, on the face of it unconnected, and yet the music of Shostakovich would prove crucial to Vladimir Ashkenazy’s international career as a concert pianist and especially as a conductor, while Shostakovich will be his composer-of-choice when the Maestro celebrates his 80th birthday…

IN RUSSIA YOU WEREN’T FREE. IT WAS KIND OF WORKED OUT. YOU HAD TO DO CERTAIN THINGS, YOU HAD TO BE PART OF THIS REGIME One of Australia’s most popular artists, Elena Kats-Chernin is renowned for her smart, witty music and prolific output. Now on the eve of her 60th birthday celebrations, a visit to her Sydney home finds a composer who seems to be accelerating rather than slowing down. Boxes of filed sketches, publicity material, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and reviews line her hallway, waiting to be sent to the National Library in Canberra. But Kats-Chernin’s escalating success, she confesses, means she hasn’t been as diligent about documenting the last ten years. So how did she become a household name? Kats-Chernin’s childhood was spent in Tashkent in the Soviet…

LIVED 1857 – 1934 MOSTLY IN WORCESTER, LONDON BEST KNOWN FOR CELLO CONCERTO, ENIGMA VARIATIONS, THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS, POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE MARCHES SIMILAR TO BRAHMS, PARRY Edward Elgar’s 100th birthday in 1957 was the starting point for a slow reevaluation of his music in academic and critical circles and a completely fresh interpretation of the man himself. Not that the music was ever seriously out of fashion – the two symphonies, two concertos, the Enigma Variations, the Introduction and Allegro for Strings and The Dream of Gerontius kept the music alive in the concert halls. But it was still rare to come across a foreign conductor programming an Elgar work or a foreign soloist in one of the concertos. There were obvious exceptions to this generalisation, such as violinists…

What are the most obvious differences between Bach’s religious cantatas and these secular cantatas? The aim of the composition. That makes the essential difference of the character of work, but still it remains within Bach’s language. Has recording his secular cantatas taught you anything about his religious ones? Our project of secular cantatas taught us that actually in Bach’s attitude toward composing there was no difference between sacred and secular cantatas, in spite of some technical differences derived from the different aim. And this is probably how he has felt about his life in – and outside of – the church. Most of these cantatas were composed for a special event and never played again in Bach’s lifetime. Is this ever apparent from the music? I do not think so.…

Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos 3, 14, 23, 26 & 32, Diabelli Variations Evgeny Kissin p DG 4797581 (2CD)   Evgeny Kissin has recorded very little Beethoven. I only know of a Sony disc of Piano Concertos Nos 2 and 5, the complete Concertos with Colin Davis, the Choral Fantasy with Abbado, and the Moonlight Sonata in a mixed recital on a 1998 RCA disc. In an article in Limelight, Kissin said it was time to release his recent solo Beethoven performances. These live concert recordings, taped in various venues between 2006 (Sonata Op. 2, No 3) and 2016 (No 23, Appassionata), are issued under the pianist’s new contract with Deutsche Grammophon. "A sucker for early Beethoven, I instantly fell in love with Kissin’s warm, witty performance" The set enables us to…

"Daniel Barenboim recorded for DG during his years of peak maturity as a pianist" Horst Stein (1928-2008) was one of those reliable, competent, unfussy German conductors: qualities that paid off in the recording studio in the 1970s and 80s. Eloquence has already reissued his distinguished Sibelius, but a new release contains uncommon repertoire. This set covers the main orchestral music of Hugo Wolf: his Lisztian tone-poem Penthesilea, and a suite from his opera Der Corregidor (based on the same story as Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat). A Weber programme follows, including the early Symphony No 1, plus some better-known Wagner Overtures. Stein’s way with Weber is full-blooded and gutsy: you can hear pre-echoes of his later operas, especially Der Frieschütz. The Suisse Romande Orchestra plays the Wolf; the rest is…

Atlantis Lally Katz has left Australia behind and she’s in the country of her childhood, trying to find a way back to when things were nice and simple. Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, October 28 – November 26 Buyer and Cellar A one-man tour de force, this award-winning comedy about the perils of hero worship and celebrity is poignant and full of laughs. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, October 6 – November 12 The Kitchen Sink A comedy from one of the UK’s finest writers, this is a story about finding the courage to face change, and the strength of family bonds. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, October 14 – November 18 The Wharf Revue The comedic minds of Biggins, Forsythe and Scott return to delight audiences with their annual sketches and songs. Sydney Theatre…

European Masters Spanning the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries, this exhibition presents works by some of the leading Italian, French, and British painters. Art Gallery of New South Wales, until December 3 Robert Mapplethorpe A collection exploring the work of one of the most influential visual artists of late 20th-century America, from still lifes to erotic imagery. Art Gallery of New South Wales, until March 4 Gerhard Richter The first major Australian exhibition of works by the German artist recognised as one of the most influential living painters. Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, until February 4…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast Start your day with a delicious selection of the best in classical music, including your daily Swoon 9am Mornings Spend your morning with great music, including new releases and classic performances, plus the latest news and stories from the world of music 12pm Afternoons Classical music to take you through your afternoon at home, at work, or out and about 4pm Classic Drive A journey home through classical sounds, designed to relax, refresh and delight you 7pm Evenings Brings you recent classical concerts from Australian and international orchestras and ensembles 12am Night Music Classical music that’s perfect for all-night listening, presented by some of your favourite ABC Classic FM voices SATURDAY 6am Weekend Breakfast The relaxing and entertaining way to wake up to your…

NZSO VIRTUAL REALITY Those who have always dreamt of performing in an orchestra can get a taste of the real thing courtesy of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra who have released a fully immersive virtual reality app of a live performance. The viewer can see for themselves what it’s like to lead a 90-member orchestra from the podium, or move among the different sections of the orchestra as the musicians play. The NZSO VR Experience, created by Wrestler, marks one of the first times an orchestra has been filmed in 360-degree video and sound from five different camera positions. NZSO Marketing Manager Thomas Drent says it will revolutionise how New Zealanders experience their national orchestra, potentially attracting more people to live performances. “The NZSO is always exploring new ways to…

Humanoid robot YuMi conducted the Lucca Philharmonic in Tuscany in October, performing a concert of opera highlights, with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and soprano Maria Luigia Borsi singing arias from Rigoletto and Gianni Schicchi. Maestro YuMi was built by Swiss company ABB and is touted as the closest a robot has come to mastering the nuances of a human conductor, with two hands capable of movements similar to human ones. The event comes almost ten years after Honda’s robot ASIMO conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. ASIMO was found lacking. “YuMi has a very high level of fluidity of gesture, incredible softness and expressive nuancing,” said Andrea Colombini, the man who trained YuMi, adding: “The robot remains and will remain only an aid, perhaps so as to…

WASO GOES FISCHING The West Australian Symphony Orchestra has announced an extension of their highly praised musical partnership with Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Asher Fisch for a further four years. The Israeli-born maestro will now helm the orchestra through to at least 2023. Since joining WASO in 2014, his relationship with the orchestra has been described by Limelight as “a match made in heaven”. DOG LEARNS NEW TRICKS Roll over Beethoven! A two-year-old Australian shepherd in Detroit called Braille is making waves on the Internet. The canine virtuoso was born blind and deaf – the result of irresponsible breeding practices – but has no trouble tickling the ivories, giving other pianists paws for thought. The rising star recently picked up the Novice Trick Dog title, awarded by the American…

1. Your new album, Lux Aeterna, is all about the struggle of light and darkness. What drew you to this theme and did you always intend the works to share this commonality of concept? The works were written over a long period of time (17 years) so there was no deliberate plan. The idea of finding a way forward in the midst of challenges – light against darkness – is a common human experience and one that runs through many of my pieces. These contrasts are expressed in many ways – from the divisions of day and night, moon, sun and stars in the Genesis creation story to an artist struggling with an inner darkness or the plight of modern day Palestinians. 2. How different is your writing for choirs,…

Brahms’ relationships with women were troubled at best. While he more or less worshipped Clara Schumann, his attitude to others he encountered was often less than enlightened. “I have a powerful prejudice against women pianists and anxiously avoid listening to them,” he wrote in a letter to Ferdinand Hiller. English composer Ethel Smyth observed this at first hand. “To see him with Lili Wach, Frau Schumann and her daughters, or other links with his great predecessors was to see him at his best, so gentle and respectful was his bearing; in fact to Frau Schumann he behaved as might a particularly delightful old-world son,” she wrote in her memoir. “His ways with other women-folk – or to use the detestable word forever on his lips, ‘Weibsbilder’ – were less admirable.…

"I’d say it’s bloody remarkable that arts workers are doing as well as they are" There is a lot of interest in the Australian performing arts at the moment around improving individual and collective mental health and wellbeing, for the sake of career sustainability – and even sustainability and productivity within the Arts itself. The rise of the ‘Protean career’ (think ‘portfolio’ career on steroids) adds to the imperative for arts organisations to adapt to changing needs. For a performing artist, for example, the Protean career involves proficiency in multiple skill sets within, and even beyond, the performing arts, including rehearsing, practising, teaching or coaching, social media promotion, publicity, project management and technology (ie editing, digital media). Such careers offer artists greater self-efficacy, flexibility and resilience, autonomy and sustainability. Protean…

Forty-one year old Slava Grigoryan is confident he suffers from no ill health.“I have never felt better!”the guitar god states categorically. Nevertheless, in Sydney in early November, Grigoryan will undergo an open examination by a hundred doctors. They will take note of his breathing, his pulse, his phrasing, his rhythm. And he will assess theirs too, as they accompany his performance of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez in front of a thousand witnesses celebrating the 25th anniversary of the formation of a remarkable ensemble, the Australian Doctors Orchestra. With over 600 members scattered throughout Australia, the ADO is anything but your average orchestra. Twice every 12 months a hand-picked cadre of specialists voluntarily quits surgeries, operating theatres, suburban medical centres and indigenous outposts to immerse themselves in the sumptuous language of…

WAND OF YOUTH The wind quintets (1878-9), which Elgar wrote for his friends to play during his youth are early evidence of his skill in composing short character pieces, such as he eventually brought to a fine art in the Enigma Variations (1899). FOREIGN INFLUENCES In the big choral works Elgar wrote in the 1890s, the influence of Wagner is certainly very strong. His writing for woodwind is particularly individual. He used the direction ‘nobilmente’ for passages he regarded as being deeply personal, the outstanding example being Nimrod in the Enigma Variations (but only in the piano version). STRINGS The violin was Elgar’s own instrument and he had ambitions as a soloist, but acknowledged that he had too small a tone. But in the Serenade (1892), the Introduction and Allegro…

"The Scream’s renown would come to be matched only by the Mona Lisa" The year is 1893 and America is about to get dizzy. The world’s first Ferris Wheel, designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, is the centrepiece of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The giant steam-powered steel wheel, which weighs more than 40 tonnes and carries more than 2,000 people, amazes visitors with its apparent lack of solid supports to hold it upright. Imagine the awe if they could see the wheel that is now the world’s tallest, a 170-metre affair in Las Vegas and over double the height of Ferris’s first effort. The most significant scream of that year, however, comes not from a reveller on a fairground ride but in a painting – for…

2 One Another Since its 2012 premiere, Rafael Bonachela’s electrifying, multi-award-winning tour de force has left both critics and audiences speechless. Sydney Dance Company, October 5 – 14 Peter Pan Wendy and her two brothers literally fly into the adventure of a lifetime when Peter Pan leads them to a world of fairies, mermaids and pirates. Queensland Ballet, October 25 – 4 November Gala Spectacular Designed to thrill fans of all ages, this celebratory event features selections from a number of iconic works by the company’s best dancers. The Australian Ballet, October 27 – 28…

COPELAND’S SYDNEY DEBUT DANCE In exciting news for ballet fans, American star Misty Copeland is to make her debut as Aurora in Sydney when she joins The Australian Ballet as a guest artist for two performances of The Sleeping Beauty in November. It is the second time that Copeland, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will have made an important role debut in Australia. In 2014, when ABT toured to QPAC in Brisbane, she danced her first Odette/Odile in Swan Lake as a soloist with the company. Copeland will play Aurora in Sydney on November 22 and 24. TINA ARENA IS OA’S EVITA THEATRE Tina Arena is to play the role of Eva Perón in a 40th anniversary revival of the original production of Evita, directed by the legendary Hal…

3MBS MELBOURNE IN CONCERT October 15 at 6pm In April, mezzo soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and pianist Joseph Havlat joined forces to present Messiaen’s Harawi, a song-cycle based on the Quechua love songs of Peru and the first work in the composer’s Tristan trilogy. “Mezzo soprano Lotte Betts-Dean’s performance was powerful and lyrical, exhibiting a masterly control of both vocal range and colour,” wrote Andrew Aronowicz in his Limelight review. “Shifting timbre from ghostly thin incanting to the wild throes of a full-bodied dramatic mezzo, Betts-Dean’s devoted performance captured all the ecstasy and drama of Messiaen’s poetry with a mature artistry. Her dark, angular chanting of Doundou Tchil, as well as the violent cries of the sixth song, Répétition Planétaire, were particular highlights.” Limelight loves your feedback. Here’s how…

Fans of the English baritone Simon Keenlyside will watch with interest his Vienna Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, his first after a long career of stellar performances in the title role of Pelléas. Trading in the bewitched romantic lead for the suspicious, infinitely human Golaud, Keenlyside impressed audiences and critics alike in this beautiful production by Marco Arturo Marelli. Vast bodies of water, a boat, and an array of spirits make for an evocative atmosphere. Conducted this time round by Daniel Harding, Keenlyside is again joined by a distinguished cast – German rising star soprano Christiane Karg is Mélisande, Bernard Richter is Pelléas, Janina Baechle is Geneviève, and Peter Rose is the haunting patriarch Arkel. Described as “vocally totally present” by critic Thomas Prochazka, Keenlyside’s much anticipated assumption of…

1 Who composed an operetta on Daniel Defoe’s novella Robinson Crusoe? 2 Giuditta Grisi, Giovanni Battista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache were known collectively as what? 3 Which Mahler symphony contains the famous‘Alma theme’, supposedly intended to depict the composer's wife in music? 4 This American composer died in 2012 at the age of 103. Who is he? 5 Born near Brunswick around 1300 and said to have died near Hamburg of the Black Death in 1350, who was he, and who commemorated him in music in 1895? 6 Which suite about a military man and a bureaucratic accident features a troika ride? 7 Which French composer said:“There’s no need for music to make people think! It would be enough if music could make people listen.” 8 Which Baroque…