“….the biggest losers of this stale safety bias will be Australia’s opera makers of tomorrow. When a culture of predictability and drab conservatism finally atrophies the expectations of the opera-going public, artists attempting to escape from that trope will likely be met with hostility.”
Maxim Boon in The Guardian takes a refreshingly honest view of opera in Australia.
This year marks the 450th birth anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi, baptised on May 15, 1567 in SS Nazaro e Celso, Brescia. The precocious young Monteverdi published his first collection, the three – part Sacrae cantiunculae at the age of 15 presaging a prolific output of operas and madrigals and sacred music. Monteverdi’s name is synonymous with the collection…
Tom Service of The Guardian begins a year – long journey which explores the symphony and how it changed our world. The word was first used in the 16th century and referred to music for various combinations of voices and instruments, like Gabrieli’s Sacrae symphoniae, 1597. The symphony as we know it today took shape…
Music from the world of two iconic artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera is soon to be released on CD and digital by ABC Classics. The release coincides with an exhibition of the works of these inextricably linked artists, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. From the traditional mariachi of Mexico to the…
The conroversy continues over Professor Adrian Walter’s appointment to the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts: http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=37ddbd1435657310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News
Sydney born Director of the Edinurgh International Festival, Jonathan Mills, addresses The Sydney Institue on the role of the ABC in the arts: http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/podcast/the-role-of-the-abc-in-the-arts/
,One of Australia’s favourite mezzo-sopranos Anna Dowsley is reveling in the challenge of not one, but two new roles, with the added twist of being away from her home city of Sydney. Late in 2019, Dowsley and her partner, tenor Jonathan Abernethy relocated to Frankfurt, Germany. He, as a new member of the ensemble with…