The Met’s first Ring Cycle is completed
The first of three complete ‘Ring’ cycles, directed by Robert Lepage and staged by The Met this spring, is over. The NY Times has its say:
The first of three complete ‘Ring’ cycles, directed by Robert Lepage and staged by The Met this spring, is over. The NY Times has its say:
Receiving personalised presents from good friends is surely one of the best things about celebrating a birthday. New music ensemble Halcyon celebrated its 15th birthday in 2013, with 21 new songs written especially for them by some of Australia’s finest songwriters. These songs have been crafted on to a new recording Kingfisher – Songs for…
The Australian String Quartet and the Ngeringa Farm Arts Foundation launch a fund to own outright the four precious Guadagnini instruments presently played by the quartet – the first and only ensemble in Australia that plays instruments crafted by the same person. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/four-fabulous-rarities-bridge-the-centuries-20120523-1z5m3.html
The board of the Birgit Nilsson foundation has announced that the 2014 Birgit Nilsson Prize has been awarded to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The tri-ennial prize which is being awarded for only the third time in history, is a purse of $1 million for outstanding achievement in opera, concert, Lieder or oratorio. Previous winners are Placido…
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
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/versatile-schultz-finds-it-pays-to-go-by-the-book-20110920-1kjfk.html
London’s Trafalgar Square has for centuries been an icon of the city. In its centre stands Nelson’s column, flanked by the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and St Martin in the Fields. It is also the home to thousands of pigeons, which will have to move over for the London Symphony Orchestra as principal…