Concert Review: Testament/ Acacia Quartet

Testament, Acacia Quartet 19 May,2019 The Independent Theatre, North Sydney Written by Ria Andriani Acacia Quartet’s programme Testament, was a rich offering, from the ice-breaker Mozart, to Alice Chance, reflective Mansurian and luscious Debussy. Mozart’s String Quartet in C major, K465, nicknamed ‘Dissonance’ offered a good introduction to the group’s character and musicality. Though considered dissonant…

Album Review: The Garden Party/ The Marais Project

The Garden Party, The Marais Project/ Move Records Celebrating two decades of professional music making, The Marais Project has released a new recording, The Garden Party on the Move label, featuring fresh repertoire and new collaborators alongside some previously recorded pieces with older friends. The Marais Project was founded by viola da gamba player Jennifer…

Concert Review: English Baroque/ Australian Brandenburg Orchestra/ Circa/ Jane Sheldon

English Baroque Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Circa, Jane Sheldon, Lauren Stephenson City Recital Hall, Sydney 8 May, 2019 A collaboration with Circa must seem like taking a friend to a party only to find that they steal all your attention. The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s third collaboration with the Brisbane based contemporary human circus company Circa, is…

Concert Review: Oxana Shevchenko/ Sydney International Piano Competition

Oxana Shevchenko, Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 14 April, 2019 Written by Paul Bennett With a slightly bowed head and a confident walk without hint of strut or swagger, Oxana Shevchenko is all about the music. She welcomes her audience in the manner of a genial hostess with…

Concert Review: Ascension/ Bach Akademie Australia

Ascension, Bach Akademie Australia St Francis of Assissi Church, Paddington, Sydney 29 March, 2019 Despite the innumerable words written about the music of J S Bach, there is nothing that touches the soul quite like hearing it performed by those who understand it best. JS Bach’s music  brims with inexplicable harmonies and poignant melodies against…

Concert Review: Janáček And Brahms/ Sydney Youth Orchestras

Sydney Youth Orchestras Janáček and Brahms Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music 24 March, 2019 The Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music resounded with the cacophony of 70 young orchestral players of the Sydney Youth Orchestra Philharmonic, rehearsing their parts at full volume, playing fast as they could, before being tamed by the…

Concert Review: The Silkroad Ensemble

The Silkroad Ensemble, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House  9 March, 2019 Written by Victoria Watson In 1998, virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma launched a radical experiment in cultural collaboration,  which brought together musicians from many corners of the world to co-create a bold artistic language founded in diversity that served as a metaphor for the possibility…

Opera Review: Salome/Opera Australia

Salome – Richard Strauss Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House 6 March 2019 If Richard Strauss’ Salome were a movie, it may well display an X rating. Incest, necrophilia, lust, decapitation and suicide are all notorious elements in this, the third of Strauss’ operas and the one which made his name. Opera Australia’s…