Opera Australia’s production of Albert Herring opened in Sydney last week. Set in 1900, the sepia tones of the sets and costumes designed by Roger Butlin have been newly lit by Nigel Levings and retain the feeling of nineteenth century photographs. Scroll down to see all 8 images. Images by Branco Gaica, courtesy Opera Australia.
Some weeks ago we posted the link to a feature in the New York Times bout the destruction of pianos that no-one wanted to keep or maintain. Now the Sydney Morning Herald reports on a rapidly diminishing skill base of piano tuners. http://www.smh.com.au/national/scaled-back-dying-skill-a-note-of-concern-for-pianists-20120824-24rxj.html
Violinist Simone Slattery and cellist Anthony Albrecht have released a new CD themed around birdsong, Where Song Began. The tracks include classics like Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and JS Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite No.1, with traditional items like Ngarra Burra Ferra, a traditional Yorta Yorta hymn and contemporary works like Ross Edwards’ Ecstatic…
Grammy Award winning New Zealand born bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu (he’s sung Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for OA in Sydney) has had to meet a new challenge – that of learning a libretto in Chinese. He talks about it in this blog. (The Grammy Award was in 2010 for Best Opera Recording Billy Budd) http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/mar/26/learning-to-sing-chinese-songs
Last week the Sydney Chamber Choir bade farewell to Paul Stanhope, its Musical Director of 10 years, performing a concert entitled Passion + Resurrection under his direction . Miguel Iglesias has sung with the Sydney Chamber Choir for 17 years. In this piece, he gives his unique insights about the performance from his perspective as a performer….
From London, Peter Phillips, the founder and conductor of The Tallis Scholars writes “I’m pleased to announce the publication of my new book–What We Really Do, 2nd edition. As you may remember, the original version with this title was published ten years ago, to mark the 30th anniversary of The Tallis Scholars. Now it is the…
‘Smile’ is the 10th CD release from the fabulous ARIA Award winning a capella quartet The Idea of North. SoundsLikeSydney has two copies to give away. If you would like to be in the running to win your own copy of ‘Smile’, email [email protected] with the subject title ‘Smile’ by 5pm on Thursday 26th September. Winners will…