Are You An Orchestra Nerd?

Yesong Sophie Lee, just 12 years old has won the biennial 2016 Menuhin competition, held in London last month. It was the centenary of the competition whose Laureates include Australians Ray Chen, Susie Park and Grace Clifford, Germany’s Julia Fisher and Russia’s Alina Ibragimova. Charlotte Smith in The Strad asks whether competitions are defined more…

Declared “a resounding triumph”, George Palmer’s new operatic adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel Cloudstreet, produced by the State Opera of South Australia, had the audience rising to its feet. Read the review.  

Last night, the English National Opera premiered a new production of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde Conducted by the ENO’s ex-music director Edward Gardner, designed by the artist Anish Kapoor and direction by Daniel Kramer – the company’s artistic director elect, the cast included Australian tenor Stuart Skelton as Tristan. Will it be the troubled ENO’s saving grace?…