The Sydney Festival is hiring an elite German orchestra to perform at the 2014 Sydney Festival, because believe it or not, it is more cost effective than employing an Australian ensemble.
Substantial government subsidies are the reason behind this curious situation.
Click here to read the feature in The Age.
ABC and Symphony Australia have announced the three Grand Finalists in the 2013 Young Performers Awards. They are 28 year old pianist Stefan Cassomenos, 15 year old oboeist Andrew Kawai, and pianist Hoang Pham also 28. All three finalists are from Victoria. Each contestant will perform a concerto of their choice with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Seaman. The three grand…
The review of Brett Dean’s award winning violin concerto: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/letters-from-the-heart-a-heavenly-treat-for-the-ears-20111205-1ofdc. …and a conversation with Anne- Sophie Mutter http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/interview-annesophie-mutter-20111201-1o7i4.html
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…
You spend your weekends at rehearsal and your wardrobe is full of all-black outfits; you were in a quartet not a garage band……take this quiz from the Huffington Post and find out if you really are an orchestra nerd!
So Silvio Berlusconi has finally stepped down. Recently, Alex Ross wrote about the indifference of the Berlusconi government to supporting the arts in Italy. (1) Ross also makes reference to the unprecedented action by Riccardo Muti, conducting Nabucco halted the performance and spoke to the audience about the situation. The response from both the chorus and the…
The lights of Broadway will dim at 8 pm on Wednesday August 8th, in honour of composer Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line, the score for The Sting adapted from the rags of Scott Joplin) who died on Monday aged 68. He was accepted into the Juillard School at the age of 7 and won a Pulitzer…