Latest news
Orchestra Victoria under review
Orchestra Victoria, the Melbourne based orchestra scheduled to play for the Melbourne Ring Cycle and which plays for the Australian Ballet, Opera Australia and the Victorian Opera, is under review. The Australian reports: Click here to read.
The Idea of North turns 20 with a new CD and a national tour
For The Idea of North, 2013 marks 20 years since they began to compose, arrange and perform music in a style that is quintessentially ‘TION’ and which has taken them not just around the nation but around the world. To mark this milestone, the ARIA award winning a capella quartet is undertaking a national tour…
Contemporary composers dominate the classical Grammy awards
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony has flashed past for 2013. The 8 awards for classical music out of a total of 81 awards, were handed out before the worldwide telecast. Major classical artistes were honoured amongst the list of nominees and winners – albeit most of them American. The award for Best Classical Compendium was…
Mozart in art
If you’re travelling to Europe between now and April, an exhibition by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation sounds like a good excuse to visit that city. The exhibition which is entitled Mozart Pictures – Pictures of Mozart displays 12 portraits of the composer. Only 14 were painted of him during his lifetime, and the Foundation…
A Change of Seasons for Vivaldi
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, composed in 1723, is so ‘accessible’, it has suffered the fate of overexposure. Its four heady concerti pass through summer, autumn, winter, and spring, depicting folk life and evocative landscapes in bite-sized chunks. Some of its passages are so instantly recognisable that they have suffered the ignominy of being used as background music in commercials. Enter German-born…
The compulsion to cough
Ever wished homicide on the audience member who leaps to his feet (and it’s usually a ‘he’) shouting “Bravo!!!” even before the sounds of the music have died away?! It can ruin those moments of silence when a final chord can hang in the air, or the precious silence during which you simply want to be alone…
Latest reviews
Whitwell and Namekawa play Glass to a sell-out house at the Perth festival
Pianists Sally Whitwell from Sydney and Maki Namekawa from Japan, continue to stake their claim as premier performers of the music of Philip Glass after sell-out concerts at the Perth festival. The Australian’s Mark Coughlan reports: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/the-beauty-of-ref-glass/story-fn9d2mxu-1226579787647
The ACO’s Mozart, Haydn and Dean
The Australian Chamber Orchestra has combined the music of Mozart and Haydn with a new commission by Brett Dean in its latest programme. Peter McCallum reviews the concert for the Sydney Morning Herald: Click here to read.