Beethoven was paid £50 and was deaf when he wrote his Symphony No 9 Ode to Joy. Commissioned in 1822 by the Royal Philharmonic Society in the UK, it premiered in the UK in 1825, following its world premiere in Vienna the previous year.
This weekend, a plaque commemorating the UK premiere and its venue will be unveiled at 252 Regent Street in London, which is today home to a bank.
Kirsty Hilton has the best of two very rarefied worlds. As well as being Co-Principal 2nd violin with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, she is also a violinist and sole Australian representative with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, based in Europe and which is soon to tour to Sydney, conducted by Daniel Harding. She has been performing…
The date of Wagner’s birth bicentenary is not far away – May 22nd 2013. Click here to read Matthew Westwood’s feature in The Australian.
The rest of this week’s offerings from the Met Live in HD archive: Wednesday, May 20 Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From December 8, 2012. Thursday, May 21 Puccini’s Turandot Starring Christine Goerke, Eleonora Buratto, Yusif Eyvazov, and James Morris, conducted…
A brand new production of Don Giovanni hits the board tomorrow night in the Joan Sutherland Theatre of the Sydney Opera House. Opera Australia has recruited Glaswegian opera and theatre director Sir David McVicar to create this staging. Teddy Tahu Rhodes will again sing the role of ‘the Don’. Accustomed as we are to seeing him clad…
Paul Dyer, AO is sitting in the Sydney offices of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, reminiscing about the very first concert given by the pioneering ensemble.”It was January 1990, we launched at the Sydney Opera House and the natural horn was the very first sound of the Brandenburg. It was a Duo for Two Horns…
When the 21-year-old South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho won the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition last year, Deutsche Grammophon had their microphones at the ready to record his award-winning performances. This recording is now available as a debut solo album simply entitled Seong-Jin Cho. Cho’s record speaks for itself. He has been winning competitions since 2008…