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…

Concert Review: From the Heart/ DocsVox

From the Heart NSW Doctors Choir – DocsVox, NSW Doctors Orchestra – Musicus Medicus, Jill Sullivan mezzo-soprano, Young Artists of Pacific Opera, Simon Kenway, Music Director Sydney Conservatorium of Music 17 February 2019 Written by Dr Paul Bennett   Trial successful – Proceed to Launch! The final stage in taking a medicine from benchtop to…

Opera Review: Werther/ Opera Australia

Werther. Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House 22 February 2019 The winter snows melt and the chilly scene is transformed into one that is resplendent with the abundance of summer – fruit, flowers, wheat, grapes and the promise of re-birth as the children of the village rehearse a Christmas carol. In stark contrast…

Recital Review: Berg: Romantic To Maverick

Berg: Romantic to Maverick,  Opera Australia The Opera Centre, Sydney 3 February, 2019 Berg: Romantic to Maverick, a recital of Art Song by Alban Berg and his contemporaries, discerningly complemented Opera Australia’s presentation of Alban Berg’s epochal opera Wozzeck, currently in its season at the Joan Sutherland Theatre of the Sydney Opera House. Soprano Taryn Fiebig,…

Opera Review: Wozzeck/Opera Australia

Wozzeck, Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House 25 January, 2019 Considered one of the most formidable works in the canon, Opera Australia’s presentation of Alban Berg’s era-defining opera Wozzeck, directed by William Kentridge, is brilliantly conceived and executed. An Opera Australia co-production with the Salzburg Festival, the Metropolitan Opera and The Canadian Opera…

Concert Review: Celebrating Strauss/ Sydney Youth Orchestra

Celebrating Strauss: Richard Gill, a celebration of life Sydney Youth Orchestra Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music 8 December 2018 Written by Deen Hamaker Australia lost one of its foremost champions of music education in Richard Gill AO in October 2018, who for over 40 years was at the forefront of music education in this…

Concert Review: Salon Société/ Twilight Musical Dialogues

Salon Société, Musical Luminati Series, Twilight Musical Dialogues Adamstown Uniting Church, Newcastle  30 November, 2018 Adamstown Uniting Church, Newcastle, The final instalment of the Twilight Musical Dialogues’ 2018 series Musical Luminati, entitled Salon Société Omega Ensemble members Sally Walker on flute, David Rowden on clarinet and Clemens Leske on piano. Inspired by the French Salon tradition,…

Opera Review: Artaserse/ Pinchgut Opera

Artaserse/ Pinchgut Opera City Recital Hall 29 November 2018 Written by Deen Hamaker When Johann Adolphe Hasse reset his opera Artaserse for the Dresden Court Opera in 1740, he was oblivious to the Australian continent. That Pinchgut Opera’s version of his masterpiece has sat unperformed since that time is incredible enough, let alone that Sydney…