Monteverdi Anniversary

  Strictly speaking, we only get to celebrate Rossini’s birth anniversary every 4 years. Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born on February 29th 1792 (d 1868). He had a reputation as a bon vivant as you can tell from his portraits –but found the time to compose 39 operas – which are still amongst the most often performed…

   Mozart’s fantastical singspiel The Magic Flute premiered on September 30th 1791 at  the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. According to Operabase, The Magic Flute was the 4th most often performed opera  in the 5 seasons to the end of 2013, with 464 performances. This production is from the 2012 Salzburg festival, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt with Concentus Musicus Wien…

Remember As It Is in Heaven and Les Choristes? Two popular movies that told the tales of life as a choral singer. There is a new movie about choral singers to be released nationally on April 23rd. Boychoir is about a troubled eleven-year-old boy at a prestigious American East Coast music school who clashes with the school’s demanding choir master played by Dustin Hoffman….

  Maria Schneider’s composition Winter Morning Walks has won four Grammies this year for the composer, the soprano soloist Dawn Upshaw and  production team. The recording features one of Australia’s finest ensembles, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, who will perform this song cycle in its upcoming Sydney season. Schneider has recently moved from working in jazz…