Tabla de contenidos para January/February 2025 en Limelight

ORCHESTRAS AND SYMPHONIC CHOIRS by Yvonne Frindle “Hear Us” – so says the Australian Youth Orchestra on its 2025 brochure. While this season roundup covers professional orchestras – the full-time state symphony orchestras, together with a number of chamber, specialist and contract orchestras – it seems right to begin with the organisation that’s given many Australian orchestral musicians their earliest experiences. And in 2025, AYO reminds us that it’s not just the music camp organisation of its origins, but a performing organisation that’s once again taking on the world stage after a six-year touring hiatus. At the other end of the spectrum is the Australian World Orchestra, our youth orchestra for grown-ups. Drawing Australian musicians from around the world, it fosters a festival-like energy. In 2025, that takes the form…

Our January Recording of the Month is a probing new account of Benjamin Britten’s wickedly neglected ballet The Prince of the Pagodas performed by Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra under their new Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong (Hallé CDHLD7565). Wong’s first recording on the orchestra’s in-house label plays into the composer’s East-West enthusiasms and the Singapore-born conductor’s reputation for late-Romantic and early 20th-century Expressionism and Impressionism. Part King Lear and part Beauty and the Beast, it’s a work full of fun, fantasy and, dare one say it, memorable tunes. Wong is especially strong at bringing tonal variety and atmosphere to some of the more formal elements of 19th-century classical ballet. But it’s the music for the Salamander Prince and the twirling pagodas where he really scores, ensuring these extraordinary sounds register as the…

In February, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra will visit Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on its inaugural Australian tour under the baton of its current Music Director Hans Graf. Founded in 1979, when it was led by Maestro Choo Hoey, the orchestra was the brainchild of then Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Goh Keng Swee, who believed that the fledgling nation should look beyond its economy and begin fostering an appreciation of the arts. Given Singapore’s proximity to Australia and the close friendship between the two nations, the orchestra’s debut Down Under may seem long overdue, especially when one considers Graf ’s own frequent visits to Sydney and Melbourne. Talking to Limelight, the Austrian conductor fondly remembers Mary Valentine and Steven Porter, former General Managers of the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, as…

Behind the Symphony Marquee TV is streaming a new three-part documentary series in which Sir Antonio Pappano discusses three major symphonies, before conducting them with the London Symphony Orchestra. Marquee TV has begun streaming Antonio Pappano: Behind the Symphony, a new three-part documentary series, exclusive to the platform, featuring EnglishItalian maestro Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra. The series explores Pappano’s deep understanding of three classical music masterpieces, as he takes up the baton for his first season as Chief Conductor of the LSO. Each episode focuses on a particular piece, followed by a full performance of the work filmed at the LSO’s home at the Barbican, London. With a lifetime as an opera conductor, Pappano is steeped in the drama and storytelling of music. Displaying his charismatic…

A holiday breaks down into three components. Part A is the anticipation – months of planning and decision-making about where to fly, where to stay and places to see. Then the big day arrives. You fly off and commence Part B, the actual holiday. Then, in Part C, you return and look at the photos and videos you took. Am I alone in now enjoying Parts A and C more than the actual holiday? I love the anticipation and the reliving of the travel, whereas the bit in the middle is a bit of a nuisance. After a recent trip to Thailand, my wife made an Instagram reel of our favourite moments – a photo of a sunset, a snap of me holding a cocktail, a video of a visit…

Elissa Blake discusses the case with writer-director Sheridan Harbridge whose play, A Model Murder, commissioned by Sydney Festival, premieres at Darlinghurst Courthouse – where Beiger’s real trial took place. Sydney’s Darlinghurst Courthouse has seen all kinds of drama in its 150 years. The massive Greek Revival structure adjacent to Taylor Square, built in part by convict work gangs, housed Australia’s High Court until it moved to Canberra in 1980. Over the decades, it has hosted some of Australia’s most sensational criminal trials in its seven courtrooms. Juries have pondered evidence in thousands of criminal matters, from murders to fraud, from white-collar crimes to those caught red-handed. It was here, for example, that the bushranger Frank Gardiner was tried in 1864 for a stagecoach hold-up, thought to be one of the…

ABC listening highlight Julius Caesar – Pinchgut Opera 11 January at 8pm After his triumphant staging of Rameau’s Platée in 2021, Neil Armfield returns to Pinchgut Opera to direct Handel’s Julius Caesar. Eight elite vocal soloists perform with the Orchestra of the Antipodes led by Matthew Greco and meticulously conducted from the double harpsichord by Artistic Director Erin Helyard. The period ensemble includes a rare Gallichon, played by Simon Martyn-Ellis, and a luxurious quartet of natural horns. All hail soprano Samantha Clarke, who leads the dazzling octet of voices! Technically secure, acoustically gorgeous and dramatically convincing, she showcases the many facets of Cleopatra, from Ptolomeo’s bossy sister in Non disperar, to smouldering goddess in V’adoro, pupille. Her lament Piangerò la sorte mia is silken smooth and beautifully coloured. She absolutely…

In 1988, I completed my first commission for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra – my Second Symphony, which was premiered by legendary conductor Stuart Challender and which the orchestra included on its concert tour of the US in the same year. Over the following decades, the orchestra commissioned me to write another two symphonies, two piano concertos and a concerto for cello. During that period, it released three commercial albums containing my music, including Carl Vine: Complete Symphonies in 2006. So, it is gratifying that this new composition, Dreams Undreamt, will join that long history as part of the orchestra’s 50 Fanfares project, which is otherwise focused on young and emerging composers. I wanted to create music that was energetic and enticing to engage the audience’s ears and to function as…

Newsworthy A round-up of our recent news reports Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has announced major changes to its management tiers, beginning with the news that Richard Wigley would take on the CEO role, effective immediately. Wigley was already serving as Interim CEO of the embattled organisation after the departure of Sophie Galaise in late August. The statement also announced the retirement of David Li after 12 years as Director and Chair in the first quarter of 2025. With him goes Co-Deputy Chair Margaret Jackson, Co-Deputy Chair Diane Jameson and Director Andrew Dudgeon. They are replaced by Edgar Myer (Chair-elect), Martin Foley and Farrel Meltzer. MSO has also announced that, due to delays arising from legal action taken against it by pianist Jayson Gillham, KPMG will now conduct the independent review into…

The late Queen Elizabeth II famously dubbed 1992 her “annus horribilis”. While 2024 may not have quite reached that level of royal tumult, it certainly proved to be an extraordinarily challenging year for leaders of Australia’s cultural institutions. The sector was marked by deep divisions amongst stakeholders, early departures of key figures and bitter controversies that played out in both local and international media. Within a matter of months, the sector witnessed an unprecedented exodus of leadership talent, reaching what The Sydney Morning Herald dubbed “culture’s killing season”. The turbulence comes at a particularly complex moment as arts organisations navigate the postpandemic landscape while grappling with political tensions, especially those surrounding the Middle East situation. These broader social and political issues have sparked sackings, boycotts, the withdrawal of vital sponsorship…

The opportunity to work on a stage musical, “is like a masterclass in growth,” says Christine Anu. “I get to work with incredible people. I’m like a sponge, soaking in everything. And then I get to give it back, pass it on.” Anu is speaking to Limelight ahead of rehearsals for Hadestown, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning American musical which has its Australian premiere at the Theatre Royal Sydney in February, presented by Opera Australia and the JONES Theatrical Group. Written by Anaïs Mitchell and based on the mythic story of lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as Hades and Persephone, the show invites audiences on a journey to the Underworld, with Anu playing Hermes, the messenger of the gods. “Seriously, I can’t wait to do this,” she says. “Hermes…

The pathway to an instrument like the baryton is an interesting one because it’s such an unusual instrument. My own journey into the early music world began with the piano, but as an undergraduate student at Melbourne University, I was lucky enough to take up the viola da gamba, which is a close cousin of the baryton. That was the first big step. I remember hearing recordings of Jordi Savall while I was still a piano student in the 1990s, and I was entranced by its evocative, earthy and resonant sound. I was a complete beginner but took to it like a duck to water. Despite having played the piano almost my entire life and with no background as a string player, I felt I’d found my musical home. I…