LimelightNovember 2018的目錄

In our September issue, we ran a cover story about the Sydney Opera House to celebrate its 45th birthday the following month and the centenary of its architect Jørn Utzon’s birth. It was a reminder, if one were needed, of what an incredible piece of architecture it is: an internationally renowned World Heritage site that is one of Australia’s greatest cultural assets and a treasured national icon. So I was taken aback at the firestorm created when SOH CEO Louise Herron ruled out allowing words or branding to be projected onto the sails to promote a $13 million horse race called The Everest. Commercial advertising, she said, was outside the building’s charter. Radio shock jock Alan Jones didn’t agree and spoke forcefully in favour of Racing NSW. I was appalled…

SCORING HIGH ON FILM In a recent edition of Limelight Magazine, one of your letter writers complained about ABC Classic FM broadcasting film music (5-7pm Saturdays). I for one am delighted by this program and I should perhaps remind your reader that many eminent composers have written for the screen. Among them are William Walton with his music for Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, numerous scores for films by Dmitri Shostakovich, our very own Nigel Westlake, and, from an eclectic list of composers, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and Philip Glass among others. Philip Spradbery, Canberra, ACT A REAL FEATHER IN THE CAP I watched Swan Lake on television in Malta recently. It was choreographed by Graeme Murphy and produced by The Australian Ballet in Sydney. I have seen this ballet on…

Swiss-Australian conductor Elena Schwarz has been announced as the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural Associate Conductor. Her two-year engagement, commencing in 2019, will see her join TSO’s artistic leadership team after a year-long tenure in 2017 as its Assistant Conductor. “The collaboration with TSO and my tenure as assistant in 2017 have been instrumental in my development as a conductor, and I’m delighted to continue to work with the wonderful musicians and team,” said Schwarz. As Assistant Conductor, Schwarz is set to make her main series debut with the orchestra as well as helm significant projects such as recordings, family and education concerts, and elite training programs. Her appointment is partially funded by the estate of the late Dr Louise Crossley, whose bequest to the TSO in 2015 was intended for…

Alan Feinberg Basically Bull STEINWAY STNS30019 English virginalist music is not usually my cup of tea. But as an American, I admit that I found the title of Thomas Tomkins’ (1572-1656) work irresistible: A Sad Pavan for these distracted times. The work meanders into lovely little harmonic digressions. Hans Otte Aquarian Music AMIATA ARNR 0394 Hans Otte was the musical director of Radio Bremen for decades, introducing Cage and others to German audiences in the 60’s. But he was also a brilliant pianist and composer. His Aquarian Music, with its delicate, shimmering harmonies, sounds fresh and lovely today. Daniel Barenboim The First Steps to Glory PROFIL PH18038 In 1955, Daniel Barenboim (age 13) made a recording of Johann Christian Bach’s Sonata Op. 17 No 6. The music is charming and…

KATHERINE HOOVER 1937 - 2018 The American flautist and composer Katherine Hoover has died of a stroke at the age of 80. She was still composing at the time of her death, and regarded fondly by many in the music world. Hoover was born on December 2, 1937 in West Virgina to a chemist father and an artist and editor mother. She read music from the age of four and learnt flute and piano in her childhood. She later earnt a bachelor’s degree in music theory and a performance certificate in flute from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester in 1959. After graduating from Eastman, Hoover spent much of her time performing and teaching flute in the pre-college division at Juilliard and other schools. She began teaching at…

In August, Sydney Chamber Choir sang at a concert celebrating the 75th birthday of composer Ross Edwards. On the program was a commissioned piece called Let Them All Come. The words by First Dog on the Moon about asylum seekers are daring and poignant, while the musical setting by Josephine Gibson is intricately beautiful. Under my hands, Let Them All Come shaped itself into a braille score. As a blind musician, I used this to learn my part, and I had it with me as I sang. Both Josie and I are members of Sydney Chamber Choir. The exchange of scores took place over our messenger app. In the message thread, she explained that she had extracted my part and converted it to Music XML. Several importations through Goodfeel suite…

Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy’s name is probably longer than his footnote in musical history, but his tale is one worth the telling and a hundred years on throws up an unexpected Proustian connection. Fromental for short – meaning ‘oat grass’, hardly a name auspicious of genius – Halévy was born in 1799 and accepted into the Paris Conservatoire aged nine as a protégé of Berlioz’s nemesis Cherubini. Early successes culminated in one of the grandest of grand operas: 1835’s La Juive. A tale of discrimination, revenge, and babies swapped in childhood, it concludes with the Jewess of the title plunging into a vat of boiling water. Caruso popularised its hit aria, Rachel, quand du Seigneur, and no less a connoisseur than Mahler adored it: “I regard it as one of the greatest…

The thought of visiting a building where a new school might be founded filled me with a mix of dread and excitement. In my time I have been shown many buildings people thought might be appropriate for a concert hall or a theatre. The expectation was frequently dulled on seeing the building and it generally being agreed that “it needs a lot of work”, and so on. Would this be any different? As we drove a little way out of the centre of Muswellbrook, we approached the site which houses the existing Council Chambers. Before me was a beautiful building on level ground, creatively designed, spacious, full of light, welcoming in every way. “This is it,” said Martin Rush, the Muswellbrook Shire mayor, “and it’s rent free.” These days I…

Das Rheingold Hong Kong Philharmonic, van Zweden NAXOS 866037475 (2CD) Recorded live in 2015 with a cast including Matthias Goerne (in his debut as Wotan), Kwangchul Youn, Eric Nakamura and Michelle DeYoung, Bachtrack said that “a combination of earnest singing and dramatic insight” made it “a remarkable evening”. Die Walküre Hong Kong Philharmonic, van Zweden NAXOS 866039497 (4CD) The 2016 concert saw Goerne join Stuart Skelton, Heidi Melton, Petra Lang and DeYoung. Limelight said: “it’s indicative of a new world order that the finest recent attempt at Wagner’s masterwork is shaping up to be the Hong Kong cycle”. Siegfried Hong Kong Philharmonic, van Zweden NAXOS 866041316 (4CD) In 2017, Simon O’Neill, a veteran of Siegmund, made his debut as Siegfried. Classical Net wrote that van Zweden has “within a comparatively…

LIVED 1810 - 1849 MOSTLY IN PARIS BEST KNOWN FOR ÉTUDES, PRELUDES, NOCTURNES, MAZURKAS, POLONAISES, WALTZES, BALLADES, SONATAS, IMPROMPTUS, SCHERZOS, CONCERTOS SIMILAR TO LISZT, SCHUMANN, FIELD Frédéric Chopin died young, in Paris on October 17, 1849, a few months short of his 40th birthday, but at least he lived just long enough to become one of the first composers whose image is preserved in photographic form. The French capital was home of the daguerreotype, and thanks to this we have an extraordinarily truthful portrait of the composer in his final year. Louis-Auguste Bisson’s famous image portrays a world-weary composer with sunken eyes, still exhausted from his tour the previous autumn to London and Scotland and susceptible to illness – tuberculosis is thought to have killed him. Though Chopin had begun…

1810 Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin is born in Zelazowa Wola near Warsaw to a French father and Polish mother. His mother and older sister both play the piano. 1814 At the Congress of Vienna, the powers responsible for the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte – Austria, Prussia, Russia and Great Britain – reorganise Europe following the Napoleonic Wars. 1817 He writes two polonaises, aged seven, one of which is published. It is performed in public that year, not long before Chopin starts giving piano recitals of his own. 1824 Louis Braille unveils his Braille system, which allows the blind and visually impaired to read and write using tactile raised dots. A keen musician, he invents Braille musical notation five years later. 1826 At the Warsaw Conservatory of Music he studies with Polish…

Wexford Festival Opera has achieved worldwide success by staging neglected works of the operatic world with energy and spirit. The 2018 Festival, which runs until November 4, 2018, is no exception. Productions featured this year include: • A verismo double-bill with L’Oracolo (The Oracle) by Franco Leoni, set in San Francisco’s Chinatown featuring a sinister opium dealer, and Mala Vita (Wretched Life) by Umberto Giordano, about Neapolitan slum-life, which proved shocking for Italian audiences of the day despite receiving 24 curtain calls at its premiere. • The European premiere of Dinner at Eight by William Bolcom. As befits its setting, in Depression-era Manhattan, the music teems with 1930s influences, especially jazz and blues. • Il Bravo (The Assassin) by Saverio Mercadante, often compared to Verdi in terms of musical style.…

A Rose Magnificat Music by Tallis, Howells et al The Gabrieli Consort/ Paul McCreesh SIGNUM SIGCD536 The latest recording from Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort is not one of their customary blockbusters. There is still plenty of impressive music, but the grandeur is generated through top-notch a cappella singing rather than a cast of thousands. This bouquet of Marian music by English composers has blooms plucked from the Tudor period interspersed with offerings from this century and last, making for some interesting contrasts and intersections. “ With splendid tutti sonority from the Gabrieli Consort, who needs instruments? ” Kenneth Leighton’s rarely heard Of a Rose Is All My Song launches proceedings, exploring the traditional metaphor of the Virgin Mary as a rose. Ruth Provost’s free-flowing soprano has a marvellous…

Opera Australia The Opera Centre, Sydney SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 Opera Australia unveiled a new performance space when it staged Metamorphosis by Australian composer Brian Howard in the scenery workshop at the Opera Centre in Sydney – and it proved to be the perfect, grungy setting for the dark, challenging chamber opera. Welcoming the audience, OA Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, who played Gregor Samsa in the 1983 world premiere for the Victoria State Opera, couldn’t resist pointing out that the temporary stage constructed for the occasion is wider and higher than the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. He also announced that Julie Lea Goodwin, who was to have played Gregor’s sister Greta, had a severe throat infection and had been replaced by directing assistant Tabatha McFadyen who had…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Pop-up Globe The Entertainment Quarter, Sydney SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 REVIEW Blood splashes across the throng of groundlings standing in the yard and the crowd roars. The audience at the Pop-up Globe – a recreation of William Shakespeare’s second Globe Theatre that has ‘popped up’ in Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter after wildly successful runs in both Melbourne and Auckland – certainly has no inhibitions about cheering, booing, clapping and heckling by the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of four productions on rotation at the theatre. Directed by Dr Miles Gregory, who founded the Pop-up Globe in New Zealand, this production embraces all of the rawness and spectacle of live theatre with a joyous energy, recreating not just the physical theatre – a scale model that has…

The Old Man & the Gun Opens: November 15 Genre: Caper comedy/romance Duration: 94 minutes Redford plays a gentlemanly robber in (perhaps) his final film Billing this light-hearted crime romp as the octogenarian Robert Redford’s final movie role is nice marketing, but it may turn out to be untrue. Only days after telling a journalist of his retirement decision the veteran actor announced he’d wished he was keeping his mind open to further acting offers. Regardless of where his career finally comes to rest, this film written and directed by David Lowery (whose diverse credits include Disney animation Pete’s Dragon and 2017’s quasi-experimental A Ghost Story) brings warm reminders of the actor’s most popular strengths – the effortless incarnation of lovable rogues, reaching back to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance…

ABC CLASSIC FM ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA November 6 at 1pm The 2018 Adelaide Guitar Festival's Symphony Gala saw the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra joined by the Beijing Guitar Duo (Meng Su and Yameng Wang), guitarist Vladimir Gorbach and soprano Jessica Aszodi for a gala concert, conducted by Benjamin Northey, that sandwiched a brand new work by Australian composer Cathy Milliken –DACCORD for guitar, voice and orchestra – between two guitar classics: De Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat Suite and Rodrigo's Concerto Madrigal. The concert finished with an encore: Tan Dun's Herdboy’s Song from his Eight Memories in Watercolour, arranged for the Beijing Guitar Duo by Manuel Barrueco. "With musicians like Gorbach, Aszodi and the Beijing Guitar Duo in its line-up, the Adelaide Guitar Festival is off to a flying start," Limelight's critic…

HIDE YOUR KIDS FROM THIS MEDEA Cherubini’s Medea seems to exist more on scratchy recordings than it does on the stage, immortalised by singers the likes of Maria Callas, Leyla Gencer and Jon Vickers. The impressive Russian soprano Hibla Gerzmava joined their illustrious ranks in 2015, making her debut in the title role for the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in Moscow, which the curious can now revisit on Opera Vision. Gerzmava’s sizable instrument has an appealing Russian coolness at its core, with a silvery, biting edge that makes her just perfect for the frankly ridiculously high-lying, muscular vocal writing that Cherubini demanded of his poor soprano. She also has an impressively full lower register, her dark, flinty sound slightly veiled in a way that makes her pronouncements all the…

Almost everything I did as a child, I did badly. My ineptitude extended to all forms of sport and included learning to play the piano. All my piano teachers were long-suffering women, and I continued to learn for some years after I left school. My last teachers were Julienne Horn and the great concert pianist, Tessa Birnie OAM, who famously played the entire keyboard works of Schubert and Haydn and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in its original lower pitch. Her extraordinary musical memory earned her the title of ‘The Marathon Woman of the Keyboard’. It was she who one day said to me: “We both know you’ll never play the piano in public, and I have worked out why.” What followed was an important revelation: “You don’t want to play music;…

ANAM  anam.com.au Jun 4 TEN THOUSAND BIRDS This ambitious, rarely-performed work by John Luther Adams will be led by Tim Munro, ANAM alumnus and former flautist in Eighth Blackbird. ANAM Sep 11 CLARA A wide-ranging celebration of one of the great musicians of the 19th century, Clara Schumann. ANAM AUSTRALIA ENSEMBLE  music.unsw.edu.au/australiaensemble Mar 16 THE AGE OF STEAM Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio, Dvorák’s Sonatina in G, Saint-Saëns’ Piano Quartet and David Bruce’s Steampunk. Sir John Clancy Auditorium Oct 12 GUILTY PLEASURES The year comes to a close with John Peterson’s Guilty Pleasures, Schönberg’s Ein Stelldichein, and Brahms’ Serenade. SJCA AUSTRALIAN HAYDN ENSEMBLE  australianhaydn.com.au Feb 7 – 16 HAYDN’S NATURE Haydn’s Sunrise and The Lark bookend a program that includes selections from two of his oratorios, The Seasons and The Creation. NSW,…

ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL Jun 7 – 22  adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au ADELAIDE FESTIVAL Mar 1 – 17  adelaidefestival.com.au Mar 1 – 3 THE MAGIC FLUTE Barrie Kosky and 1927’s celebrated production of The Magic Flute is the hotly anticipated centrepiece of the Adelaide Festival. Direct from its premiere in Perth, it’s a nimbly animated take on Mozart’s beloved singspiel. Adelaide Festival Centre Mar 11 – 17 ZIZANIE Australian dance icon and choreographer Meryl Tankard teams up with Adelaide’s award-winning Restless Dance Theatre to present Zizanie, an exciting new dance work that will have audiences utterly engrossed and buzzing for days. AFC ADELAIDE FRENCH FESTIVAL Jan 11 – 13  adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au ADELAIDE GUITAR FESTIVAL Jul 12 – 28  adelaideguitarfestival.com.au AUSTRALIAN INTERVARSITY CHORAL FESTIVAL Jan 10 – 20  aiv.org.au AUSTRALIAN FESTIVAL OF CHAMBER MUSIC Jul 26…

ALADDIN From Apr 6  aladdinthemusical.com.au The beloved stage version of the Disney film wraps up its Australian tour. Adelaide Festival Centre AMERICAN PSYCHO May 10 – Jun 9  hayestheatre.com.au Based on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, this is a scathing look at American excess. Hayes Theatre, Sydney BARNUM From Apr 27  barnumthemusical.com.au Starring Todd McKenney and Rachael Beck, let showman PT Barnum take you on a wild ride. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL From Oct  billyelliotthemusical.com.au Revisit this story about a boy who takes up ballet on its 10th anniversary tour. Sydney Lyric Theatre THE BOOK OF MORMON Ongoing  bookofmormonmusical.com.au Broadway’s smash hit is saying “hello” to the rest of the country in 2019. Sydney Lyric Theatre until Jan, QPAC from Mar 16, Adelaide Festival Theatre from Jun 27…

RIA ANDRIANI BRAILLE SCORES PAGE 18 Ria Andriani is a Braille specialist by day, a musician and writer by night. Her articles about accessibility have been published in The Guardian and Overland online magazine. She is a member of Sydney Chamber Choir. Follow Ria on facebook.com/RiaAndrianiSoprano. DAVID IRVING SCHMELZER PAGE 22 David Irving is a Senior Lecturer in Musicology at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and has recently been appointed to an ICREA Research Professorship by the Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies; in 2019 he will move to Barcelona’s Institución Milà i Fontanals. PETER BASSETT DIE MEISTERSINGER PAGE 28 Peter Bassett is a writer, speaker and broadcaster on opera. He was Dramaturg and Artistic Administrator for the 2004 Adelaide Ring and wrote his doctoral thesis on the Adelaide…

I very much enjoyed the article in the September 2018 Limelight Magazine describing a “Spartacus Tour” of Southern Italy [written to accompany The Australian Ballet’s new production of Spartacus]. However, I felt there were a couple of omissions, which I would like to point out. The author suggests setting out armed with a recording of Khachaturian’s Spartacus and the ancient texts. As he/she has already mentioned that Plutarch and Appian are the most important sources for the Spartacus story, I assume the relevant texts are theirs. However, nowhere in the article (as far as I can see) are the titles of these texts specified. I feel it would have been helpful, and would have made the article more complete, to have included, perhaps in the box at the top of…

After debuting at Glyndebourne and breaking records at this year’s Adelaide Festival, Brett Dean’s celebrated opera Hamlet will be seen at the Metropolitan Opera in its 2021/22 season. What’s more, Nicholas Carter, Principal Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, will once again conduct the work after leading the acclaimed performances in Adelaide. Though whispers about Hamlet being picked up by the Met have abounded since its auspicious premiere in 2017, the news was finally confirmed in a New York Times story about new operas coming to the Met. “Speaking also on behalf of my librettist, Matthew Jocelyn, it’s obviously a very great honour to know that our Hamlet will be presented by one of the art form’s greatest institutions,” Dean told Limelight. “Embarking on a project of this size is…

The incomparable Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé has died at the age of 85 in a hospital in Barcelona. She was known to have had persistent health problems, and was admitted in September because of a gall bladder problem. Beloved for her remarkable pianissimi and unfailing vocal glamour, like Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland she was a famous exponent of the bel canto repertoire, helping to revive interest in works that had lain dormant on world stages and in recording studios for many years. The soprano was also highly regarded for her interpretations of the operas of Verdi, excelling as Violetta, Luisa Miller and Elisabetta in particular, as well as Puccini, where her vocal gifts made her uniquely suitable for the role of Liù. Born in Barcelona on April 12, 1933,…

I have two great fears – one of them is going blind, closely followed by going deaf. Obviously for a conductor the second option isn’t very good, how could you direct an orchestra when you can’t hear them? I had a scare recently, I was finding it hard to hear what players were saying from the back of the orchestra. It was a bit like “maestro … is it F sharp in … (inaudible) … or … (inaudible)?” I had to ask them to repeat the question. This is partly due to the fact that musicians don’t like to project their voices in rehearsals. They seem to think that you can mumble 30 feet away and the conductor will hear everything, across all the other extraneous noises of rehearsal. But…

What sparked your interest in opera? I went to Mac.Robertson Girls’ High in its heyday, when it was known for its great music faculty. I was there on the proviso that I would learn the double bass for the school orchestra, but on the way to pick it up, I walked past the singing room and heard this incredible sound and it just spoke to me. I thought, I want to give that a go, so I knocked on the door and this singing teacher invited me in and said have a sing and I did. I’d never seen an opera before so when she said mimic me, this voice came out that I didn’t even really knew I had. She took me on straight away. Did you realise you…

Jan Vogler met movie-star comedian Bill Murray at Berlin Airport in an encounter worthy of a Hollywood meet cute. The cellist, who directs the Dresden Music Festival and the Moritzburg Festival on top of a formidable solo career, was flying back to his home in New York following a tour when he met the actor. “Bill started speaking to me when we went through security – he was wondering how I would fit the cello in the plane,” Vogler tells me.“He said,‘Do you think you can fit that in the overhead compartment?’ I said,‘It’s got its own seat!” Sure enough, once on the plane the star of Groundhog Day found himself sitting across the aisle fromVogler and his 1707 Stradivarius. “He was really surprised,” Vogler says. “He said,‘Wow, the cello…

STILE BRILLANTE Chopin’s output shows how he became increasingly disenchanted with the limiting vocabulary of the stile brillante, the figurative patterns so favoured by early 19th-century piano composers. His early works for piano and orchestra, however, are not immune from these influences. A more sophisticated kind of virtuosity emerges in his music, creating a unique soundworld: when achieved by a great Chopin player, it conveys a feeling of oneness with the piano found nowhere else in the literature. ECHOES OF THE BAROqUE Bach was the basis of Chopin’s own practising and his teaching. His own music also reflects a love of Baroque symmetry, and many technical features of the Preludes and Études have their origins in Baroque keyboard music. BEL CANTO Chopin may occasionally have actually drawn on what he…

Vivaldi Six Cello Sonatas Jean-Guihen Queyras vc, Michael Behringer kbd, Lee Santana theorbo, Christoph Dangel vc HARMONIA MUNDI HMM902278 Vivaldi’s cello sonatas are a very different kettle of fish to his concerti. Far less virtuosic and consciously “public”, intended for consumption at intimate gatherings – until recently their lighter technical demands confined them to practice rooms or amateur performance. Their form follows the plan of the classic Corellian chamber sonata; four movements, slow-fast-slow-fast while the austere simplicity of the writing providing a framework on which to drape lavish fabrics of improvisatory flourishes and ornaments tailored to the capabilities of performers. “Queyras gussies up the bare torsos with silken brocades and sparkling decorations” The six sonatas here were published as a set in 1740 without the composer’s consent – the excellent…

“ Ormandy’s Bluebeard’s Castle is in English and the singers’ words are crystal clear ” Bela Bartók wrote several lurid pieces during his early career, notably the one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle (1911, revised 1917). The work employs two singers, a bass as Bluebeard and a mezzo or dramatic soprano as his new wife Judith. She arrives at Bluebeard’s castle and demands to see what is behind seven locked doors. One room contains jewels, another a secret garden, another oozes blood, and behind the final door (from which there is no escape) she discovers Bluebeard’s former wives preserved in aspic. The symbolism is obvious: this is the unlocking of what we today call psychological baggage – although typically the baggage is all Bluebeard’s; Judith does not seem…

A Cheery Soul Meet Miss Docker: the ghastly anti-hero of this celebrated Australian classic. She is the quintessential ‘cheery soul’. Sydney Theatre Company, November 5 – December 15 Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries 2018 See the stage and screen legend in a night of song as he returns to Australia. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, November 11 – 17 The Dance of Death Judy Davis directs Colin Friels, Pamela Rabe and Toby Schmitz in one of the best marriage battles ever written. Belvoir, Sydney, November 10 – December 23 The Norman Conquests A collection of three groundbreaking plays about one dysfunctional family that’s one of the hottest events of the year. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, until January 2019 Twelfth Night Mistaken identities, love triangles and elaborate pranks in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy directed…

Electric! Portraits that pop! This collection exhibition features a mix of bold and colourful paintings, prints and photographs, as well as video portraits. National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, until April 2019 Objects of Fame Exploring Dame Nellie Melba and Percy Grainger through the objects they accumulated throughout their rich lifetimes. Grainger Museum, Melbourne, until February 2019 Baldessin/Whiteley For the first time, these two artists are brought together to explore the parallels between their most iconic works. National Gallery of Victoria, until January 2019…

“My religion is music,” composer Tan Dun says. “Only music can embrace all kinds of cultures.” The Chinese composer, whose work spans his stunning score to the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to experimental music drawing on unusual sound sources, conducted the Australian premiere of his new choral work Buddha Passion with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in October as part of the Melbourne Festival. The piece, a co-commission between the MSO, the Dresdner Musikfestspiele (where it received its world premiere), and the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, sets teachings of the Buddha in six parts. Inspired by both the Passions of Bach and his experiences exploring the treasures and breath-taking murals of the Mogao Caves outside Dunhuang, Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion is divided into six parts, each of which…

Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades had a fabulous outing at the Salzburg Festival this year, seen in a new production by Hans Neunfels and with Mariss Jansons at the podium. The cast weren’t too shabby either – American tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Hermann and Russian soprano Evgenia Muraveva as Lisa both wowed, bringing this Pushkin adaptation to glorious, operatic life. The New York Times had praise for the both of them, writing, “Brandon Jovanovich brings heroic vocal heft and tormented intensity to Herman. The mix of earthy colourings and vulnerability in the singing of soprano Evgenia Muraveva are ideal for Liza.” Neunsfel’s staging also came in for praise, The Times stating “employing stark, somewhat abstract sets and costumes that blend realistic and surreal touches, the production plumbs the teeming yet murky…

A BLACK AND WHITE NIGHT Roy Orbison and Friends, Orbison ORB 38132 A toss up with The Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, but Roy Orbison and Friends – A Black and White Night is an extraordinary DVD and CD with a team of brilliant musicians accompanying Roy as he unleashes his remarkable range of vocal power, beautifully orchestrated. Arguably due to personal tragedy, a passion inhabits Roy’s songs, and the performance is entirely in the singing.. In fact Roy maintains a stillness which holds everyone in awe.…

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER CHOIR  auschoir.org Feb 23 ACC 8 Eight singers from the Australian Chamber Choir sing a program of Byrd, Bach, Brahms and Bruckner. St John’s Anglican Church, Melbourne Apr 7 – May 5 BACH ST JOHN PASSION The Melbourne Baroque Orchestra joins the Australian Chamber Choir for Bach’s stirring St John Passion. Various Victorian venues THE CHOIR OF ST JAMES’  sjks.org.au/music Apr 6 CAPTIVITY AND FREEDOM Exploring captivity and freedom, featuring Byrd’s Infelix ego and Philip Moore’s Three prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. St James’ Church, Sydney Oct 12 THE CREATION In celebration of its bicentenary, The Choir of St James’ will perform Haydn’s beloved oratorio, one of his most famous and enduring works. SJC FREEZE FRAME OPERA  freezeframeopera.com Feb 19 – 23 RUSALKA The Little Mermaid story adapted for…

ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  artgallery.nsw.gov.au Until Mar 17 JUDY WATSON: THE EDGE OF MEMORY The whisperings of the past are central to the work of Aboriginal artist Judy Watson, whose practice is interested in the indelible stain left on country by past events. The exhibition includes paintings, prints and drawings. Sydney Until Mar 31 BRETT WHITELEY: DRAWING IS EVERYTHING Exploring the significance of drawing to Whiteley’s practice, ranging from early images of Sydney and Europe to the abstracts that brought him fame in the 60s. Sydney Feb 2 – May 5 HEAVEN AND EARTH IN CHINESE ART: TREASURES FROM THE NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM, TAIPEI The first exhibition in Australia from the National Palace Museum, this is a rare opportunity to see some of the highest artistic achievements in…

THE FREEDMAN GOES TO... Sydney clarinettist Oliver Shermacher is the winner of the 2018 Freedman Classical Fellowship. He receives a $20,000 cash prize which will see him undertake his proposed career-enhancing project, commissioning composer Alice Chance to write a substantial work for solo clarinet. He intends to tour the work in Australia, New Zealand and Germany. AUSSIE VIES FOR THE FLICK Danish-Australian conductor Alexander Colding Smith is one of 20 young conductors from Europe to take part in the 15th Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition. The winner will receive a cash prize of £15,000 ($AU 28,000) and will also become an Assistant Conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra for at least a year. The competition is open to conductors under 30, who are citizens of the 28 countries having full…

1. What drives your passion for new music? I’ve always had wide musical tastes and never categorised music in terms of new or old. The excitement and reward of taking on brand new pieces is being able to work with composers, and having the joy as well as the rather weighty responsibility that comes with giving a first performance. It seems natural that performers and composers should work as closely together as possible, and participating in this crucial and beautiful process is one of the most fulfilling and exciting parts of being a musician. 2. What sparked your interest in Finnish music? When I was about 12, my father and I came across a CD of music by Finnish composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara. It contained his Cantus Arcticus, a concerto for…

Aussie soprano Nicole Car scored a success with her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimì in La Bohème opposite star tenor Vittorio Grigolo as Rodolfo and her Canadian husband Étienne Dupuis as Marcello. The New York Times praised her “fine-grained tone and nuanced acting... Her final scene was all the more poignant because she showed no trace of melancholy,” adding that “Ms. Car’s husband… revealed a suave, empathetic baritone as Marcello... Refined and charismatic, his singing anchored many ensemble numbers.”…

I composed Hinterland to explore the concept of ‘earth’ to follow-up last year’s wind-themed tone poem Spiritus. The German title (literally “land behind”) speaks of my feeling of disconnection, the land lying seemingly beyond the obscuring sprawl of our urban existence. Rather than compose purely out of my imagined sense of this colossal mass below, I focus in Hinterland on how the landscape elicits a direct psychological response from me through its various reflections of sound and light. Topography shapes the diffusion of light (especially touching at dawn and dusk), and we perceive visual depth and therefore space in its relation to the horizon. Likewise, the acoustics in a landscape can shape our psychological response in a subtle but distinct manner. So, taking the many unique rock formations of my…

Martha Argerich Chopin Martha Argerich p DG 4796068 (5CD) This five-disc set, issued for Argerich’s 75th, pulls together all the pianist’s Chopin recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. The Waltzes Stephen Hough p HYPERION CDA67849 This intoxicating survey of the Waltzes by Stephen Hough entranced the critics when it came out in 2011. The Nocturnes Claudio Arrau p PHILIPS 4164402 (2CD) Claudio Arrau’s 1986 recording of the Nocturnes for Philips (now available through DG) still holds up today. The Polonaises Maurizio Pollini p DG 4794878 Maurizio Pollini’s Polonaises are acclaimed for both their pristine clarity and their focussed intensity.…

What is your personal history with these works? These sonatas literally belong to my DNA. My mother, who was a very good amateur pianist, played them with a cellist friend even before I was born. Later on, when I started playing the cello, the scores were already part of the furniture and the melodies were in my head. These are exquisite works, but how do they compare to the baroque benchmark, i.e. Bach? Bach reaches transcendence through the power of mind and architecture. Vivaldi invites a more sensorial experience, sometimes through very scarce but palpable material. In my opinion, while Bach is universal, Vivaldi is Venetian. His music is anchored in the unique impressions that the City of the Doges leaves on awed visitors: the masked shadows, the labyrinths, the…

In 1923, the aftershocks of the First World War are still being felt. French and Belgian soldiers occupy Germany’s Ruhr Valley industrial region to secure the reparations owed them as part of the Treaty of Versailles, which Germany is increasingly unable to pay due to rampant hyperinflation – their currency is devalued so much that by November one US dollar is worth 4.25 trillion German marks. Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, Soviet Chairman Vladimir Lenin suffers his third stroke, leaving him bedridden and unable to speak; he dies the following year. Somehow, at the same time as this chaos, composer Joseph Canteloube is on a train travelling through the southern French countryside writing his Songs of the Auvergne. Essentially a collection of folk songs that Canteloube set…

Borodin Quartet Melbourne Recital Centre SEPTEMBER 22 AND 25, 2018 A name like the Borodin Quartet raises expectations, especially when presented with two attractive programs for Musica Viva. It is sobering to remember, however, that behind the name are four humans who strive to become one unanimous musical entity. Such unanimity seemed to be under some strain in the first program. Haydn’s B Minor Quartet, Op. 33, No 1 is not his greatest utterance in the genre, nor even the most interesting of the Op. 33 quartets, but its charm deserves to be appreciated occasionally. After adjusting to the Borodin’s fine-grained sound world, it became clear that this was a matter-of-fact reading, which could have benefitted from greater breathing space and more attention to intonation. Initially admiring First Violinist Ruben…

Cinderella Witty, vibrant, and romantic, Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella will sweep audiences off their feet. The Australian Ballet, Sydney Opera House, November 30 – December 19 New Breed 2018 Four new dance creators will premiere brand new works, created on and performed by the dancers of the company. Sydney Dance Company, November 29 – December 8 The Nutcracker An enchanting Christmas treat filled with pure joy for the whole family. Leap into Christmas with this ballet. West Australian Ballet, November 16 – December 9…

PREVIEW Queensland Theatre’s new production Hedda, which transports Henrik Ibsen’s classic play to “a monstrous Gold Coast mansion with white leather couches, blingy chandeliers and endless rounds of Aperol Spritz”, began two years ago when the company’s then Associate Artistic Director Paige Rattray threw an idea into the ring. “I was interested in looking at the ‘great’ female roles in the canon and re-imagining the women not as tragic victims of circumstance but people with agency, drive and winning at what they do. I asked [AD] Sam Strong what he thought about Melissa Bubnic re-imagining Hedda Gabler with Danielle Cormack as Hedda and he was all for it,” says Rattray. “Melissa re-read the play and suggested moving away from the upper middle-class setting and shifting it to a contemporary Gold…

MEET MURIEL AND RHONDA THEATRE Twenty-three-year-old Natalie Abbott has been cast as Muriel Heslop in the smash-hit show Muriel’s Wedding the Musical, which opens in Melbourne in March before heading to Sydney for a return season in July at the Lyric Theatre. The role marks Abbott’s professional debut after the original stage Muriel, Maggie McKenna, became unavailable after being cast in the US tour of the musical Dear Evan Hansen. Joining her onstage as Muriel’s best friend and confidante Rhonda is another relative newcomer, Elizabeth Esguerra. UNVEILING A 20/20 VISION VISUAL ART The National Portrait Gallery is celebrating its 20th year with a suite of newly commissioned portraits, dubbed 20/20, matching 20 leading Australian artists to 20 Australian leaders. Among the new works is a portrait of Richard Tognetti, Artistic…

“simply phenomenal” GENERAL ANZEIGER BONN “one of the best concerts in Sydney this year” CLASSIKON Sydney St Mary’s Cathedral Crypt Sat 24 Nov 2.30 pm Macedon Church of the Resurrection Sat 1 Dec 3.00 pm Geelong St Mary of the Angels Sun 2 Dec 3.00 pm Brighton, St Andrew’s* Sat 8 Dec 3.00 pm Middle Park (Melbourne) Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sun 9 Dec 3.00 pm * Luxury coach from Mornington auschoir.org/christmas-coach Book at AusChoir.org/Book-Now Phone 0452 531 750 BACH GABRIELI SWEELINCK SCHÜTZ SCHEIDT HAMMERSCHMIDT ECCARD ANON PRAETORIUS Tour Europe with the ACC in July 2019: St Martin-in-the-Fields London, Notre Dame Paris, Berlin Cathedral. More at AusChoir/tours…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast Start your day with a delicious selection of the best in classical music 10am Classic Mornings Spend your morning with great music, including new releases and classic performances, plus the latest news and stories from the world of music 1pm Lunchtime Concert The best concerts from Australia and around the world 3pm Music in Time and more Music in Time / Legends / Passenger / Duet / Game Show 4pm Classic Drive A journey home through classical sounds, designed to relax, refresh and delight you 8pm Evenings Concerts from Australian and international ensembles plus music to help you wind down 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…

1. What word did Oscar Hammerstein II add to the name of an opera to turn it into a Broadway hit? 2. La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and Faust turned into which hit musicals? 3. Which Broadway play is Marc Blitzstein’s opera Regina based upon? 4. Which two musicals did Bernstein write before West Side Story? 5. Which avant-garde German émigré wrote Knickerbocker Holiday and One Touch of Venus? 6. Robert Wright and George Forrest wrote a trio of musicals based on music by Borodin, Grieg and Villa-Lobos. What were their names? 7. Erich Korngold conducted Max Reinhardt’s adaptation of which operetta as Rosalinda on Broadway? 8. Richard Bonynge and Douglas Gamley’s adaptation of which opera starred illustrious divas Joan Sutherland, Kiri Te Kanawa and Angela Lansbury? 9. Which English…

ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA  aso.com.au Feb 2 SEASON OPENING GALA The ASO kicks off its 2019 season with Benjamin Northey conducting Holst’s The Planets, Sibelius’s Finlandia and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with soloist Simon Tedeschi. Festival Theatre Mar 29 – 30 FROM THE MISTS OF TIME Hear Respighi’s The Pines of Rome and Elgar’s In the South conducted by Nicholas Carter, with violinist Simone Lamsma in the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Adelaide Town Hall Apr 3 MOZART AT ELDER ONE Nicholas Carter conducts Brahms’ Third Symphony and Daniel de Borah performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 12. Elder Hall Apr 12 – 13 ST JOHN PASSION Stephen Layton joins the ASO to conduct Bach’s landmark oratorio. Soloists include Sara Macliver, Jessica Dandy and Michael Craddock. ATH May 9 – 10 FOND FAREWELLS The stylish…

BELL SHAKESPEARE  bellshakespeare.com.au HOT PICK Mar 2 – May 12 THE MISER Founder and legendary actor John Bell returns to Bell Shakespeare to take on the title role of Molière’s The Miser, directed by Peter Evans in a new adaptation by Justin Fleming. This comedy of manners tells the story of an unscrupulous moneylender hell-bent on protecting his fortune. Sydney Opera House, Canberra Theatre Centre, Arts Centre Melbourne Jul 17 – Nov 24 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING After making an impression in Bell Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra in 2018, Zindzi Okenyo returns in this production by James Evans. ACM, CTC, SOH BELVOIR ST THEATRE  belvoir.com.au HOT PICK Jan 11 – Feb 2 COUNTING AND CRACKING On the banks of the Georges River, Radha and her son Siddhartha release the…