Concert Review:Handel& Delirious Love/ Australian Haydn Ensemble/ Sara Macliver
Handel & Delirious Love Australian Haydn Ensemble/ Sara Macliver Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 29 September 2019 With the concert season nearly at an end for 2019, it is safe to say that the Australian Haydn Ensemble’s Handel & Delirious Love programme was decidedly one of the highlights of my musical year. Performing on…
Concert Review: Next Generation Baroque/ Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Braving W C Fields’ infamous trope “Never work with children….,” the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s season of Next Generation Baroque which opened last night in Sydney, invited two young adults and a precociously gifted wunderkind to the stage, to perform with the ensemble. Baroque music is ideally suited to showcasing the prowess of emerging talent and…
Album Review: Cinema/ Nadia Piave
In her newest recording Cinema, chanteuse Nadia Piave brings the luscious music of European cinema right into the intimacy of your lounge room. Accompanied variously by the piano, the guitar and violin, Nadia sings some of the most classic songs from European cinematic gems that represent the best in film direction and soundtracks. The 16…
Concert Review: Twilight Musical Dialogues – Musical Kin
Twilight Musical Dialogues – Musical Kin – Husband and Wife Sally Walker (flute and artistic director), Clemens Leske (piano), Ami Williamson (singer-songwriter), Naomi Blanch (saxophone), Alexander Quayle (percussion) Adamstown Uniting Church, Newcastle 21 June 2019 Written by Andrew Chubb Twilight Musical Dialogues’ concert “Musical Kin – Husband and Wife”, featured works by composers linked not…
Opera Review: Whiteley/ Opera Australia
Whiteley Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House 15 July 2019 Written by Deen Hamaker Brett Whiteley was an iconic Sydney artist who lived life large and loud. His art was wild and outrageous, flamboyant and erotic, unsettling and unapologetic. It encapsulated Sydney, the Harbour City with its deep blue waters, its blinding…
Opera Review: Anna Bolena/ Opera Australia
Anna Bolena – Donizetti/Romani Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House 2 July 2019 Written by Victoria Watson Bel canto opera is best known through the works of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, written in Italy in the early 19th century. This was a second flowering of the “bel canto” (beautiful singing) concept however, with the…
Opera Review: Madama Butterfly/Opera Australia
Madama Butterfly Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 28 June 2019 Written by Deen Hamaker The premiere of Madama Butterfly at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1904 was one of the most famous fiascos in operatic history. However, with a few revisions, success followed and today, 115 years later, it is one of…
Concert Review: A Royal Affair/ Sydney Chamber Choir/ The Muffat Collective
A Royal Affair Sydney Chamber Choir/ The Muffat Collective Great Hall, Sydney University, 1 June 2019 It was a splendid liaison between music and history when the Sydney Chamber Choir presented A Royal Affair, conducted by newly appointed Music Director, Sam Allchurch. If not for royal patronage, Europe’s rich repository of music would be a…
Concert Review: The Art Of Disappearing/ Halcyon/ Geist String Quartet
The Art of Disappearing Halcyon/ Geist String Quartet Saturday June 1st 2019 Annandale Creative Arts Centre Written by Victoria Watson The Art of Disappearing is a new song cycle by exciting young Sydney composer, Cameron Lam, set to the poetry of celebrated Queensland writer Sarah Holland-Batt. The work has been recorded on the Kammerklang label…