Online Concert Review: Christmas with the Australian Chamber Choir
Christmas with the Australian Chamber Choir Livestream 13 December 2020-31 December 2020 www.auschoir.org/2020-christmas Drawing on the rich traditions of European Yuletetide music, the Australian Chamber Choir under the direction of artistic director Douglas Lawrence AM, presented Christmas with the Australian Chamber Choir, an online event performed by eight of its singers. This year, the musicians…
CD Review: A Baroque Christmas/ Australian Chamber Choir/ Move Records
The Australian Chamber Choir has released a CD of baroque Christmas music compiled from their ample archive of recent live performances. A Baroque Christmas is a small but rewarding compensation for the lack of live performing opportunities during 2020. The recordings are taken from concerts in Victoria in November and December of 2018 and 2019…
Concert Review: Australian Haydn Ensemble / Melbourne Digital Concert Hall
Haydn’s Dream & Bach’s Goldberg Australian Haydn Ensemble/Melbourne Digital Concert Hall 8 October, 2020 The Australian Haydn Ensemble pitted slumber against insomnia in its programme Haydn’s Dream & Bach’s Goldberg for Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. Led by artistic director and violinist Skye McIntosh, who was joined by violinist Matthew Greco, viola player Karina Schmitz and…
Concert Review: Bach’s Universal Light/ Bach Akademie Australia/ Melbourne Digital Concert Hall
Bach’s Universal Light Bach Akademie Australia Melbourne Digital Concert Hall October 2, 2020 It was a concert for our times when the Bach Akademie Australia presented Bach’s Universal Light, on Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. Livestreamed from the Cellblock Theatre at Sydney’s National Art School, founder and artistic director of the BAA, Madeleine Easton, gathered an…
Album Review: Romantic Dreams – Quintets for Piano and Strings/ Ironwood/ ABC Classic
Ironwood’s newest album release, Romantic Dreams – Quintets for Piano and Strings is music made in our time, yet brushed with the patina of age. Featuring two quintets from the French Romantic era, this recording for ABC Classic, is meticulously researched and performed with artistry and integrity. Even better, the researchers themselves are elite scholar-performers…
Album Review: Günter Raphael streichquartette/ Acacia Quartet
Acacia Quartet’s latest CD release Günter Raphael streichquartette features three string quartets by the German composer Günter Raphael (1903 – 1960). It is the fruition of a recent project which took the quartet to Berlin for a residency, in the spring of 2017. As with many stories, personal connections bring them to life. Acacia’s first…
Concert Review: Garrick Ohlsson/ Musica Viva
Garrick Ohlsson/ Musica Viva City Recital Hall, Sydney 24 February 2020 American pianist Garrick Ohlsson’s electrifying second Sydney recital for Music Viva was, in some ways, the story of the Romantic piano. Performing the music of just two 19th century composers, Chopin – with whose music Ohlsson has had a lifelong affiliation – and Brahms,…
Concert Review: Emperors & Armies / Australian Haydn Ensemble
Emperors & Armies Australian Haydn Ensemble Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House February 11, 2020 The Australian Haydn Ensemble’s 2020 curtain raiser Emperors & Armies drew inspiration from the royal dynasties of 18th century middle Europe, when kings had the critical responsibility of patronising the arts. It was a golden age for music. Artistic director and…
Opera Review: Faust/ Opera Australia
Faust – Charles Gounod Opera Australia Sydney Opera House, February 10, 2020 When New York’s Metropolitan Opera opened its doors on October 22, 1883, the company performed Gounod’s Faust, chosen, it is quoted in The Nation a few days later, for its “ greater variety of vocal and orchestral effects than any one of the…