Review: The Elixir Of Love/Opera Australia
The Elixir of Love (L’elisir d’amore) Melodramma giocoso in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Felice Romani, after Eugène Scribe’s text for Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s Le philtre (1831); Opera Australia, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, August 11th, 2014. After a very popular and beautifully executed season of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in 2013,…
Jonas Kaufmann In Concert – The Night The Audience Wouldn’t Go Home
Jonas Kaufmann, In Concert, August 10, 2014, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. It was an evening to cherish. Presented by Opera Australia, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann gave his Australian debut, in concert at the Sydney Opera House, and the audience wouldn’t go home. I admit to certain reservations about this event. Was a recital of…
Concert Review: Classical Pioneers/ orchestra seventeen88
orchestra seventeen88 The Chapel of Santa Sabina College, Strathfield 9 August 2014 The launch of a new orchestra is always a risky business. Three years ago the Orchestra Romantique was formed for historically informed performances of music of the Romantic period but it gave only a few performances before its disappearance at the end…
CD Review: Compassion – Nigel Westlake/Lior/Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Compassion/Nigel Westlake/Lior Sydney Symphony Orchestra ABC Classics 481 0678 First published in March 2014, this review is being re-published in the light of the nomination of ‘Compassion’ by Nigel Westlake and Lior, for Orchestral Work of the Year in the APRA AMCOS Australian Music Centre Art Music Awards for 2014. In October 2013, composer Nigel Westlake was awarded the…
Concert Review: Australian Brandenburg Orchestra/ Dmitri Sinkovsky
Dmitri Sinkovsky with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, City Recital Hall, July 23rd, 2014. It’s not too rare for an instrumental musician to swap instrument for baton or to direct an ensemble from the instrument. However, I can’t recall any musician proficient enough in the practice of two instruments (and that includes voice), to perform both…
Concert Review: Symbiosis 1
Symbiosis I, Jane Sheldon,soprano/ Jason Noble, clarinet/James Wannan, viola, 107 Projects,107 Redfern St, Redfern. Friday 18th July, 2014. Redfern’s 107 Projects was host to an enjoyable chamber music concert, the first in a traveling series called Symbioses by New-York based Australian soprano Jane Sheldon. The series launch also featured two local guest instrumentalists, clarinetist…
Review: The Chimney Sweep/ Pinchgut Opera
The Chimney Sweep (Der Rauchfangkehrer) Musikalisches Lustspiel in three acts by Antonio Salieri, libretto by Joseph Leopold Auenbrugger. Performed in the vernacular. City Recital Hall, Monday July 7th 2014. Pinchgut Opera. At a time when opera companies are wringing their hands over budgets and trimming expenses back to the core, Sydney’s Pinchgut Opera has made a courageous venture in presenting for the first…
Review: Otello/Opera Australia
Otello Opera in 4 acts by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Arrigo Boito, The Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Opera Australia, Saturday July 5, 2014. With a few strategic sweeps of his baton, conductor Christian Badea unleashed the full force of the Opera Australia orchestra and chorus, igniting the slow burning fuse of the opera…
Review: Verdi’s Rigoletto/Opera Australia
Music critic Michael Church once noted the existence of “Those who mistakenly believe that historical operas by dead composers can only be made ‘relevant’ if they are updated and taken out of their traditional theatrical context”.* Whether or not you subscribe to this view, Opera Australia’s Roger Hodgman directed offering of Verdi’s masterpiece Rigoletto demonstrates…