The Australian String Quartet and the Ngeringa Farm Arts Foundation launch a fund to own outright the four precious Guadagnini instruments presently played by the quartet – the first and only ensemble in Australia that plays instruments crafted by the same person.
After Lindy Hume’s impassioned stance last week on maintaining the integrity and relevance of opera in the 21st century, over 400 years after it emerged, the directors of the UK’s seven major opera houses give their views on why opera is still important and how they would introduce neophytes to the art form.
Soprano Patricia Rozario is in Brisbane this week to sing the music of Peggy Glanville-Hicks in a festival of Indian music. Born in Mumbai, she has been the muse and foremost interpreter of the vocal music of John Tavener and Arvo Part. Click to read more.
The McDonald’s Sydney Eisteddfod is calling for entries to the 2014 competition. The 92-page syllabus includes almost four hundred classical and contemporary events for aspiring singers, dancers, musicians, composers, choirs, bands and orchestras. The program caters for all age groups and styles. Once again, the $57,000 Sydney Eisteddfod McDonald’s Operatic Aria and the $36,000 Sydney…
This is a fascinating feature from the New York Times about what makes the Vienna Philharmonic sound so unique. Maestro Zubin Mehta gives his views along with some of the musicians from the orchestra. For a start, the horns and the oboes in the orchestra are of the Viennese type and distinct from those played…
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra marks 25 years of music-making with their new studio recording Brandenburg Celebrates which has already climbed to #2 on the ARIA charts. Brandenburg Celebrates is now available on the ABC Classics label (ABC 4811929). The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s discography of some 18 recordings includes five ARIA-Award winners. The music chosen by…
The celebrated Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has released a new double album From Afar on the Deutsche Grammophon label, described as a “window into his musical life story.”