Double Apra awards to Paul Stanhope

In a project reminiscent of Daniel Barenboim’s efforths at political and social reconciliation through music, composer Paul Stanhope has created  “Exile Lamentations” , a work for chamber choir, soloists and oud, which was performed in Sydney by the Sydney Chamber Choir recently.  This week Stanhope was awarded two APRA awards for composing both this (“Deserts of…

“The origin cycle” wins 2011 APRA Performance of the year award

In November 2009, what might have been  “A Night at the Museum”  saw the Sydney premiere of the “Origin Cycle”  at the Australian Museum. This intriguing performance by soprano Jane Sheldon and Ensemble Offspring, conducted by Roland Peelman, is now a contender for the title of Performance of the Year in the 2011 APRA Arts Music Awards. “The Origin Cycle”  is…

2011 APRA ART MUSIC AWARD WINNERS

Composer Paul Stanhope made his mark on the 2011 APRA Art Music Awards announced last night. His compositions won Work of the Year in both Instrumental (String Quartet No 2) and Vocal/Choral categories. (Deserts of Exile). Sydney audiences were mesmerised by  “Deserts of Exile” when the Sydney Chamber Choir performed it in their “Lamentations” programme a few…

2011 APRA AWARDS FINALIST: HALCYON AND GENEVIEVE LANG PERFORM GYGER.

A performance by Halcyon of a work by Elliot Gyger “From the Hungry Waiting Country “ written for specific voices and harpist,  is another finalist in the prestigious 2011 APRA Art Music Performance of the Year category. The winners are to be announced tonight. Part of  Halcyon’s 2009 “Extreme Nature” programme, the work brings together Halcyon, harpist Genevieve Lang and…

The Language of Opera – Lyndon Teracini’s response.

Do the sung arts have to be monolinguistic to be “accessible” ? The intrinsic quality of the language is why Janacek sounds so wonderful in Czech; and Britten in English  To take the idea to its extreme, the Czechs would be translating “Porgy and Bess” into Czech, and “Peter Grimes” would sung in Italian; opera companies would never be able to…