Table of contents for March 2017 in Limelight

It was this time last year that the question of whether more notable people were dying than ever before first came up. “Have more famous people died in 2016?” queried the BBC. “Is 2016 really killing more celebrities than other years?” was the headline of a scienceblogs.com investigative essay. It was the death of David Bowie that triggered it, but when I came to write my March 2016 Editor’s Letter, the classical music world still seemed relatively unscathed, with Pierre Boulez the only high-profile casualty. Not this year. Deciding who to include in our Requiem section is often a difficult choice between two or three worthies. This year I’m confronted with a list of seven, and that doesn’t include the 64 members of the 90-year-old Alexandrov Ensemble – inaccurately known…

SIR CHARLES SPIKES UNION The story Guy Noble related last month about the excess of power used by the education union in SA that effectively blocked school children from gaining access to instrumental teaching, reminds me of a similar display of power being poorly used some years ago. It happened at a time when Sir Charles Mackerras was working with the TSO and after a particularly long session said “just before everybody goes, I would like to say a few words”. The union representative jumped up and said that whatever Sir Charles had to say, it would have to wait until the following day because the musicians had already gone well past their allotted time. When everybody gathered the next morning, Sir Charles thanked them for the superb work they…

The distinguished French conductor Georges Prêtre died in January at the age of 92. The mildly flamboyant maestro made his name with significant first performances of music by the likes of Poulenc and Jongen, but he became best known for his close association with Maria Callas and his regular appearances at La Scala. He made his conducting debut in 1946 at the Opéra de Marseille, and his Paris debut at the Opéra-Comique (where he was director from 1955 – 1959). Other major posts included Lyric Opera of Chicago (1959 – 1971), music director of the Paris Opéra (1970 – 1971) and principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony (1986 – 1991). His enthusiasm for all things Viennese saw him on the podium with the Vienna Philharmonic on 177 occasions. His Covent…

“Keep practising, and if possible never play with anyone under 60 years old” If there is any tiny shred of good to come from the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States, it is that the electorate voted in a man of 70 years to run one of the most complicated countries in the world. The other serious contenders were a woman of 69 (Hillary) and a man of 75 (Bernie Sanders). No-one seemed to make much of an issue of their age during the election, apart from Hillary s bout of pneumonia, which by the way seemed to last two days before she was up and at it again. How many people of 69 do you know who have contracted pneumonia and got up and…

“I’M VERY HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO DO HIGH NOTES. HIGH IS ALWAYS EXCITING, BUT MUCH MORE EXCITING IS ALL THE OTHER STUFF THAT MAYBE GOES BEFORE THAT HIGH NOTE. I’M NOT A SOPRANO, THAT’S THE THING!” How did you first discover you had a countertenor voice? When I was a child I sang in choirs as a boy soprano. When I was about 15 or 16, I stopped singing in my choir but I never stopped making jokes about singing high and imitating women. Where I was, in the north of Argentina, nobody was telling me, “Oh, you could be a countertenor”. Of course, I was always laughing. I thought I was just imitating sopranos or mezzo sopranos until one day I was playing the piano for a choir…

“THE IDEA TO DO LORD OF THE FLIES WAS MINE.IT WAS LITERALLY THE FIRST IDEA THAT CAME INTO MY HEAD. IT JUST SEEMED SO PERFECT” When Sir Matthew Bourne’s production of Lord of the Flies premiered in Glasgow in 2011, 15 local boys from disadvantaged communities took to the stage alongside eight professional dancers from Bourne’s company New Adventures. Not only had the Scottish lads not danced before, but most of them had never even set foot in a theatre previously, and for some it was a life-changing experience. The production has since toured the UK, and everywhere it has been presented local boys have performed in it. Now, thanks to a large-scale, statewide, grass-roots community outreach programme, 23 young Victorians are being given the chance to do the same…

“As the plots unfold Muti moves things along, making many other conductors seem flabby” Riccardo Muti’s Verdi Collection from Warner Classics consists of 28 CDs and a DVD, covering nine complete operas, the Requiem and the Quattro Pezzi Sacri. The recordings date from 1974 (Aida, with Caballé and Domingo) to 1992 (a live recording of Don Carlo with Pavarotti). Muti’s way with Verdi is dramatic above all. As the plots unfold he moves things along in the Toscanini manner, making many other conductors seem flabby. A stickler for the printed score, Muti disallows singers’ interpolated high notes, although Verdi would have expected them. Some find Muti’s conducting too rigid; to me it is exciting and involving. Not all the singers are a first choice. Renata Scotto is past her best…

Chimerica US-China relations sit alongside personal stories that exist beyond the margins of history in Lucy Kirkwood’s hit play. Sydney Theatre Company, Roslyn Packer Theatre, Feb 28 – Apr 1 Mark Colvin’s Kidney Mary-Ellen Field is a successful Australian business consultant – until she’s accused of betraying the secrets of her clients to the press. Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, Feb 25 – Apr 2 Faith Healer The Fantastic Francis Hardy cures the sick and gives strength to the weak. His powers are real. Or so he says. Melbourne Theatre Company, Southbank Theatre, March 4 – April 8 Constellations Every moment that Roland and Marianne share is at the mercy of the infinite and unknowable universe. Queensland Theatre, Bille Brown Studio, Brisbane, March 9 – April 9 The Secret River Kate…

Bodies in time Works by the collective Barbara Cleveland exploring the life and legacy of their namesake: the performance artist Barbara Cleveland. Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, until April 2 David Hockney: Current Features over 1200 works from the past decade of the artist’s career – some new and many never-before-seen in Australia. National Gallery of Victoria, until March 13 Sugar Spin An exhibition featuring over 250 contemporary artworks exploring light, space, architecture and the senses. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, until April 17…

The Salesman Opens: March 9 Genre: Drama Duration: 125 minutes Iranian domestic drama briefly rubs shoulders with Arthur Miller Asghar Farhadi, who became the first Iranian to direct an Oscar-winning film with 2011’s A Separation, has two major things going for him. The first is a sure grip on the creation of powerful drama from simple, everyday elements. The second is a fluid directorial style featuring freewheeling camerawork and actor movements and relatively brisk editing that marks an energetic contrast to the more still, contemplative styles of some of his predecessors. It’s not that his filmmaking is necessarily better than that of older Iranian filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf but that its marked differences in style bring an undeniable freshness. His latest film begins explosively, with a young…

In November, rising star Heldentenor Stuart Skelton and the West Australian Symphony led by Asher Fisch joined forces for an all-Wagner programme, capped off with Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. The shadowy prelude from Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal, kicks things off, with Skelton’s first performance an aria from the little performed Rienzi, Allmächt’ger Vater. Walter’s prize song, Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein, from the comic opera Die Meistersinger follows, with the Prelude to Act Three of Lohengrin giving Skelton the chance to catch his breath. He returns with Nur eine Waffe taugt from Parsifal, the title character’s aria of salvation. Skelton’s final performance is the aria Winterstürme, Siegmund’s love song addressed to his sister Sieglinde. Bruckner’s final symphony, epic in scale, builds upon Wagner’s harmonic innovations, providing a fitting conclusion to the…

FINE MUSIC 102.5 Fine Music 102.5 (previously 2MBS) is Australia’s first FM radio station, broadcasting a mix of classical, jazz and contemporary music. To listen, tune in to 102.5FM or stream online at finemusicfm.com 3MBS 3MBS is a fine music community radio station in Melbourne. 3MBS passionately supports fine music, especially Melbourne musicians and composers, and is the only locally-based classical music radio station in Victoria. To listen, tune in to 103.5FM or stream online at 3mbs.org.au 4MBS One of Australia’s premier classical radio stations, 4MBS has received many awards for the promotion of young and emerging artists in Australia. Based in Brisbane. To listen, tune in to 103.7FM to listen or stream online at 4mbs.com.au 5MBS While mainly a classical station, Adelaide’s 5MBS also broadcasts a wide selection of…

GILLIAN WILLS ALONDRA DE LA PARRA Gillian Wills is the author of Elvis and Me. She has published widely on the arts with Limelight, The Australian, Courier Mail, Artist Profile Australian Book Review and The Strad. Previously, she was Dean of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts. ROSALIND APPLEBY MARGARET SUTHERLAND Rosalind Appleby is a Perth-based journalist, author and WA correspondent for the Australian Book Reveiw and Opera magazine (London). Her book Women of Note completes the missing jigsaw pieces in Australian music history. In 2012 she founded the blog Noted covering the Perth classical music scene. GREG KEANE ENIGMA VARIATIONS Greg Keane has been a Limelight contributor since 2008. He is a copywriter and has also lectured in music appreciation in the adult education sector. He has…

DECCA SNAPS UP CHEN Following a three-record deal with Sony, Taiwanese-Australian violinist Ray Chen has been signed by Decca Classics. Describing it as a "major new recording deal and multimedia partnership", Decca aims to capitalise on Chen’s musicianship and significant online following. Chen said he was “super stoked” and released a humorous video on YouTube to celebrate. He is expected to release a new recording for the label later this year. SLAVA'S CHART-TOPPER Classical guitarist Slava Grigorian not only held off competition from André Rieu and Star Wars to retain the top spot on the ARIA Core Classical Chart over Christmas, but in clocking up six weeks at the top, brokes records as the longest-running number one by any Australian artist since the chart began. Grigorian’s Bach Cello Suites: Volume…

Eleven-year-old British wunderkind Alma Deutscher won comparisons with Mozart when her opera Cinderella opened in Vienna on December 29 to a standing ovation. An accomplished violist and pianist, Deutscher set the full-length, German-language work in an opera house run by Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, with Cinderella as a composer. Born in the UK to British and Israeli parents, Deutscher wrote her first opera at seven. She played piano for the opening performance under the eye of maestro Zubin Mehta.…

Sydney-born trombonist Michael Mulcahy joined the Chicago Symphony in 1989, and in 2000 was offered, by then music director Daniel Barenboim, the right to commission a trombone concerto by any composer in the world. Michael spent more than a decade weighing his options, and finally decided to offer me the incredible opportunity to create music for this magnificent trombonist, and for one of the great orchestras of the world. In his book Hallucinations, the acclaimed neurologist Oliver Sacks chronicles a range of hallucinatory conditions reported by his patients throughout his illustrious career. I chose five cases as the conceptual backbone of this concerto, creating an imagined musical representation of each mental state. Hallucinations are fascinating – instantaneous random inventions of our minds overlaid on the sensation of common reality and…

Swan Lake (1995) Bourne ruffled the ballet world’s feathers with his now legendary production featuring menacing all-male swans. It won over 30 awards including two Tony Awards for Bourne for Best Director and Best Choreographer.. The Car Man (2000) Loosely basing it on Bizet’s opera Carmen, Bourne relocated the story to a garage-diner in 1960s America, where small-town life is shattered by a mysterious stranger. The noirish tale was dubbed “an auto-erotic thriller”. Edward Scissorhands (2005) Bourne’s delightful adaptation of Tim Burton’s film, with music by Danny Elfman and Terry Davies, told a bittersweet parable about the ultimate outsider. It featured playful choreography and plenty of theatre magic. Cinderella (2010) Using Prokofiev’s score, Bourne set his interpretation in 1940s London during the Blitz. First seen in 1997 but completely revised…

“The world at large thinks a woman can’t be creative. A woman can contribute in a special way. I don’t think that women want to write the same type of thing as men, but their contribution is no less important. My musical life has been a frustration of half promises, then bad performances, followed by no more performances”. James Murdoch, Australia’s Contemporary Composers LIVED 1896 – 1984 MOSTLY IN MELBOURNE BEST KNOWN FOR HAUNTED HILLS, STRING QUARTETS, VIOLIN CONCERTO SIMILAR TO VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, STRAVINSKY, IRELAND, BARTÓK Those poignant words were spoken by Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984), the mother of modern Australian classical music. Through her travels, compositions and her musical activism, Sutherland brought an indifferent Australian public to terms with the musical currents of the early 20th century. This, despite the…

“John Butt’s approach to Bach is committed yet flexible and open-minded” Bach Christmas Oratorio Dunedin Consort/John Butt LINN CKD 499 It seems beyond John Butt’s Dunedin Consort to issue a recording that is less than perfect, and this ravishing account of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is no exception. Not only does the clarity and beauty of the singing and instrumental playing blow anything else out of the water; Butt’s approach to realising Bach’s intentions under very specific performing conditions is committed yet flexible and open-minded. For example, he uses two SATB choirs comprising just one voice per part – the maximum number Bach may have had at his disposal at any one time. Of the six cantatas comprising the oratorio, I, III and VI are sung by one choir, II, IV…

“1597 reads like a who’s who of the founding fathers of English literature” In Scotland, the arrival of 1597 is heralded with celebration – on March 25. It’s not just that the Scots are three months fashionably late to the party; they’re suffering, like much of the Western world, from a tradition of confusion around the concept of the ‘year’ and where it begins. Successive generations have changed the number of days, the timing of liturgical events and the frequency of leap years. But times are changing, and just three years later the Scots could have been forgiven for being caught short without their Hogmanay haggis when, in 1600, New Year’s Day would move to January 1. It is indeed a time when age-old concepts begin to be questioned. In…

Raw Three transcendent dance pieces with raw, powerful movement evoking stories of human experience. Queensland Ballet, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, March 17 – 25 Dance Massive Over 40 curated dances shows and activities over 13 days, including new works, workshops and special events. Various Venues, Melbourne, March 14 – 26 Terrain Exploring the fundamental connection between the Aboriginal people of Australia and the land. Bangarra Dance Theatre, Tours NSW and Tasmania, February 11 – March 8…

KNEELING TO SAINT HUGO THEATRE A makeup artist from Brazil made headlines in January when she discovered that her daughter’s great-grandmother, a devout Catholic, had been praying to a figurine of Elrond, the elf from The Lord of the Rings films, as played by Australian actor Hugo Weaving. “My daughter’s great-grandmother prays to this figure of Saint Anthony every day,” Gabriela Brandão wrote in a post that went viral, “but looking more closely…” Both Weaving’s Elrond and Saint Anthony, patron saint of lost things, tend to sport long brown cloaks, so it’s not difficult to see how the mistake occurred. SYDNEY THEATRE AWARDS THEATRE Presented in January, the 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards were dominated by four productions. The Hayes Theatre Co’s Little Shop of Horrors was the most awarded show…

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…

NEW LOOK ABC APP Promising improved functionality and a brand new look, the ABC has unveiled an updated app for mobile and tablet. Users can now enjoy a more streamlined, accessible interface, an enhanced video experience and smoother live streaming of all ABC TV channels. The free app – available through the App Store and Google Play – continues to deliver the latest stories and programmes from ABC News, live metro and regional radio streams, and a wide range of podcasts. Features on a broad range of topics, including sport, science, health, technology, arts and entertainment will additionally be available for users to browse and save. It also makes available live metro and regional radio streams – including, of course, ABC Classic FM – as well as the digital-only Double…

Emeritus Professor Larry Sitsky AM was made an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Australia Day Honours. Now 82, Sitsky was honoured for “distinguished service to the arts as a composer and concert pianist, to music education as a researcher and mentor, and through musical contributions to Australia’s contemporary culture.” Sitsky was a founding member of the Canberra School of Music in 1965, later the Australian National University (ANU) School of Music, where he held various positions including Head of Composition Studies. He has composed hundreds of works including The Golem, staged by Opera Australia in 1993. Other artists to be recognised include conductor Brian Castles-Onion, who has had a long association with Opera Australia, and Michelle Leonard, the founding Artistic Director of Moorambilla Voices, established…

Berlioz Roméo et Juliette NBC SO/Toscanini GUILD GHCD2218/20 An incredible video of Bernstein rehearsing this with a youth orchestra inspired me to get to know it better. What an extraordinary piece. I am listening to three different recordings: Toscanini, Monteux and Münch. Such a pity Bernstein never recorded it. Aurora All my Demons Greeting me as a Friend DECCA 4737927 My daughter introduced me to this extraordinary singer-songwriter from Norway. Only 20, her songs show such pathos and expressivity. There is something of Björk about her, but more ‘accessible’. A major voice in coming years, I’m sure. David Munrow Music in the Gothic Era DG 4779389 (2CD) Last week I played this incomparable set again. Munrow was a true pioneer in Early Music, but above all a brilliant communicator and…

RICHARD DIVALL 1945 – 2016 Distinguished Australian opera conductor Frà Professor Richard Divall AO OBE died in January aged 71. Known for his tenure as Music Director of Victoria State Opera, Divall was also a composer and scholar, who specialised in Maltese sacred music and early Australian music. Born in Sydney, Divall studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and overseas with Sir Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Wagner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Reginald Goodall. He joined Queensland Opera Company as Music Director in 1971. The following year, he was appointed Music Director of Victoria State Opera – a position he held until 1996. The VSO became a company of national importance under his leadership. From 1996 to 2001, he was a much valued Principal Resident Conductor at Opera Australia. The highly…

Not only did he write music, Robert Schumann was a pedantic diarist, documenting the minutiae of his life in obsessive detail in a series of autobiographical accounts, notes, diary entries and letters. What’s more, he didn’t shy away from recording certain more ‘personal’ details. It was here the composer recorded a relationship with a woman named Christel (sometimes Charitas in his diaries), who was most likely a member of Clara Wieck’s father’s household. Schumann’s graphic and vivid accounts of his health during this period have led some scholars to the conclusion that he had contracted syphilis. When he married Clara, the diaries were replaced by the Ehetagebuch or marriage diary, which he give to Clara on September 13, 1840 – her 21st birthday and the day after their wedding. Schumann…

“New opportunities will include live broadcasts of a vast range of music” Prior to the welcome appearance on the scene of Limelight, there was, many years ago, a magazine called ABC Radio Weekly. It listed all the programmes in the coming week on Radios 2FC and 2BL. Every week there were live broadcasts. Indeed, my first experience of an orchestral concert was the Sydney Symphony in 1955, in an all Beethoven programme, conducted by Eugene Goosens from the then New South Wales State Conservatorium. It was through live broadcasts I managed to hear every Australian symphony orchestra. For children, there were two educational programmes: Kindergarten of the Air, and The Argonauts. If you became an Argonaut you were not known by your real name. You were given the name of…

“The goal is not to become friends with them, not to make them like you. The goal is to make them play their very best,”says Alondra de la Parra, the recently appointed Chief Conductor, Artistic Director and Community Arts Leader of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. The three-pronged title, a mouthful of a moniker, suggests the QSO Board has huge expectations, but their new Music Director also has license to expect a great deal from Queensland’s state orchestra as it celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2017. Direct, business-like, charismatic, flinty yet friendly, de la Parra is one of a new guard of accessible conductors who regard themselves as simply a part of a team, one element in a performance. There’s not a trace of the diva or an old school dictatorial…

“THERE’S A SENSE OF CONCENTRATION ON STAGE, AND AS AN AUDIENCE MEMBER YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE TRULY PART OF THE MUSIC-MAKING” Chamber music attracts devout followers. Celebratory music festivals have popped up all over the country, while in every city churches and concert halls are host to dozens of piano trios, string quartets and wind ensembles. But what is it about chamber music that so many people respond to? “I believe it has to do with the sense of intimacy,” Musica Viva’s Artistic Director Carl Vine tells me. “It is fantastic watching a symphony orchestra, but they are part of a corporate event. When you have a string quartet, you actually see the relationship between the players – and you become part of that relationship. When talking to chamber…

Concertos, Haunted Hills Various Orchestras/Patrick Thomas, John Hopkins ABC CLASSICS 4657342 The Concerto for String Orchestra, Concerto Grosso, Violin Concerto and Haunted Hills in first rate performances. Chamber Music for Strings Christopher Latham v , Marina Marsden v , Justine Wickham va , Robert Chamberlain p TALL POPPIES TP116 World premiere recordings of the Violin Sonata, Bagatelles, Nocturne, Contrasts and Divertimento plus The World of the Child for mezzo soprano and string trio. Songs Katja Webb s , David Wickham p STONE RECORDS ST8061 Five Songs, The Orange Tree, Songs for Voice and Clarinet and The Gentle Water Bird reveal Sutherland’s art in miniature. More Songs Lisa Harper-Brown s , David…

The Enigma Variations seems to have few, if any, antecedents in Elgar’s output or in European classical music. Can you trace its origins, or is it simply unique? There are so many things that are totally unique about the Enigma Variations. That is one of the reasons it continues to be performed, loved by listeners, and recorded so many years after it first appeared. Having said that, the form – variations on a theme – had been around for a long time. One interesting example is the Dvorÿák Symphonic Variations, which is the piece I conducted when I won the Leeds Conducting Competition. Unlike the Enigma, that piece has 32 variations! What are the main challenges facing a conductor in the work? Gosh, there are so…

“Each aria proves a gem, lovingly turned in the light of Fagioli’s luminescent technique” Rossini Arias Franco Fagioli ct, Armonia Atenea/George Petrou DG 4795681 Argentinian countertenor Franco Fagioli has always been a live wire. A glimpse at any of his richly compelling stage performances – try Vinci’s fascinating Artaserse – should convince you that here is an artist prepared to take risks in the pursuit of something invariably rich and occasionally strange. A previous recitals of arias for the great Caffarelli and a disc of Porpora were on the Naïve label (now seemingly defunct) and won raves, not least from Limelight. This Rossini recital is his solo debut on Deutsche Grammophon and has all the hallmarks of a Fagioli classic. The first to study countertenor in his native Argentina, Fagioli…

PREVIEW In June 1949, a week after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art, 20-year old Andy Warhol arrived in New York from Pittsburgh. Within a few months he had his first commission, illustrating an article for Glamour magazine. Not long afterwards, Columbia Records asked him to illustrate an album cover for “a programme of Mexican music”, recorded to complement an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Columbia had introduced the first LP record just the year before and so to illustrate one of their covers was quite a coup, particularly for such a young artist. Warhol had landed in New York just as the advertising industry was evolving exponentially. “This was the immediate pre- Mad Men era. Many of the great innovations in advertising were made in the…

“I am going back to the roots... Knowing more, I hope I am coming closer to the piece” Last April, the legendary conductor Christoph von Dohnányi made his long awaited Australian debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, bringing with him the works that have made his name. Aged 87, he takes pride of place in a shrinking group of conductors with direct links to the great German Romantic tradition. Captured live from the Concert Hall, listeners will realise all over again just why Dohnányi remains one of the foremost interpreters of this repertoire. Opening with Lutosławski’s haunting Funeral Music, a 12-tone work dedicated to the memory of Béla Bartók, his assured leadership drew from the orchestra subtle light and shade. The piece’s rise and fall of tension was sustained with…

FINE MUSIC 102.5 SHOWCASING AUSTRALIAN TALENT March 3, 8pm The Romantic Century features recordings by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australia Ensemble, performing works by Chopin, Elgar and Brahms March 21, 1pm Australian Fling features works by Grainger, Koehne, Edwards, Sculthorpe, Kats-Chernin, performed by great Australian artists and ensembles including oboist Diana Doherty performing two oboe concertos. March 23, 8pm Sydney’s Omega Ensemble perform a programme of Janácÿek, Mahler and Milhaud with the help of special guests including soprano Lee Abrahamsen and saxophonist Nicholas Russoniello. March 30, 10pm Works by Kats-Chernin and Edwards feature in Differing Paths of the 20th Century, alongside an Australia Ensemble performance of Whitehead’s Manutaki. Limelight loves your feedback. Here’s how to contact us: • Leave a comment on…

Romeo and Juliet Roberto Bolle and Misty Copeland dance together for the first time in La Scala’s Romeo and Juliet. Kenneth MacMillan’s classic, set to the immortal music of Prokofiev, has been in La Scala’s repertoire for many years and has seen some unforgettable and passionate performers alternating the roles. MacMillan pays great attention to human relations, lyricism and psychological tension, without neglecting moments of humour. March 3 – 8 The Tales of Hoffman Ramón Vargas will lead an outstanding cast in Robert Carsen’s spectacular production of Offenbach’s dazzling final opera for Opéra de Paris. This adaptation of three tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann, with a sprinkling of Goethe’s Faust, portrays the German poet as both narrator and hero recounting his love affairs with Olympia (Nadine Koutcher), Antonia (Ermonela Jaho) and…

1. Which composer celebrated Venice with a musical trip in a lugubrious gondola? 2. What crime do Sibelius’s Kullervo and Wagner’s Siegmund commit in common? 3. Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d connects the demise of which two American Presidents? 4. The critic Eduard Hanslick declared“One of us is mad, and it isn’t me”after hearing which Austrian composer's Second Symphony? 5. Who wrote music for Mrs Tiggywinkle, Mr Jeremy Fisher and Two Bad Mice? 6. Which American author and wit declared“I am sure I know of no agony comparable to the listening to an unfamiliar opera… that sort of intense but incoherent noise which always so reminds me of the time the orphan asylum burned down.” 7. Whose two most famous ballets are set in Ancient Rome and…

“Kids always think their music is younger and fresher and brighter and sexier” Although nowadays I tend to spend more time on the computer, music has always been important to me. I love it, and I travel with it, and I write with it. I studied music at high school but I excelled at music history far more than I ever did with practical music, which is one of my laments. Now, at my time of life, I’m resigned to listening to other people or to playing other people’s music, and although I’ve got a son who is tone perfect, I’m afraid I’m pretty much tone deaf by comparison. I barely sing in the shower, but I do like to sing loudly and heartily in the car when I’m traveling…