JS Bach’s Mass in B minor BWV 232 is described by Sir John Eliot Gardiner in his recent book Bach, as “unprecedented in its scale, majesty and sobriety.” An ensemble taking on a performance of this masterwork has an exacting task in doing it justice. That task becomes even more formidable when the ensemble reaches…
Commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of World War One and to honour the Gallipoli campaign, the Sydney University Graduate Choir has commissioned composer and Music Director Christopher Bowen OAM to write An Australian War Requiem. World War One– the ‘war to end all wars’ – broke out in August 1914 and was a conflict which…
Possibly the most challenging aspect of writing about my evening at Giasone, Pinchgut Opera’s 2013 production, has been to decide which of the many facets of this beautifully integrated production was the most memorable – was it the casting or the singing? The musical direction or the orchestra? Was it was the inventive staging…