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Benjamin grosvenor ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ – a formidable talent

    Playtime for a young Benjamin Grosvenor was less about  manipulating a games console or donning mouthguard and shin pads. For him, ‘playtime’ meant time with his beloved piano – “the big shiny black thing in the music room – very exciting for a child”. This fascination took him from starting pianos lessons aged…
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Hot off the press –

Elena Kats Chernin is at work on a new composition: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/many-lands-and-voices-capture-core-of-countrys-heart-20120809-23wu5.html A preview of Zubin Kanga’s Sydney concert http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/dont-try-this-on-the-new-steinway-kids-20120812-242p3.html
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Victorian Pianist wins Sydney Eisteddfod Piano Scholarship

  Twenty-four-year-old Victorian pianist Konrad Olsezewski has taken out the prestigious $10,000 Allison/Henderson Sydney Eisteddfod Piano Scholarship with a winning performance, Konrad played the Piano Sonata No 2 in B-flat minor, Opus 36, (1st version) by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Konrad recently completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours at the University of Melbourne and is now studying for a…
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Now its opera under the water

  Sydney presented opera on the harbour. Now German soprano Claudia Herr presents the world premiere of her vocal work under the waters of the river Elbe in Dresden. The performance commemorates the devastating floods that hit Saxony 10 years ago. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19215589 http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/P__Wash/2012/08/09ElbeOpera.html
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Monteverdi meets the marimba

When Synergy Percussion under its Artistic Director Timothy Constable presents Masterpieces of Time, later this August, some of the music performed will pre-date by centuries, the instruments on which it will be performed. Herr Bach, Monsieur Couperin and Mr Handel will meet the marimba, vibraphones, bells, gongs, mechanical music boxes, prepared piano and steel drums. It doesn’t make the original versions obsolete, but…
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Latest reviews

The Good, the Bad and the Awkward – A new recording from Sally Whitwell

Researching the material for her new album, The Good, the Bad and the Awkward I imagine pianist Sally Whitwell reclining in an armchair in front of her television with a box of truffles and a magnum of French champagne slaving her way through dozens of movie classics. She admits that researching this project,  was ‘too much fun’. The Good, the Bad and the Awkward is a…

Towering performances bring ‘Die tote Stadt’ to life

Die tote Stadt, opus 12  by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Opera in 3 acts with to a libretto by Paul Schott (Julius and E. W. Korngold) after Georges Rodenbach’s novel Bruges la morte. Opera Australia, Sydney Opera House June 30th 2012   It is a fortuitous collision of talent to have an opera composed by a prolific writer of cinematic music, directed by an Oscar…