Tabla de contenidos para November 2017 en Limelight

There’s always a buzz in the air around this time of year as Australia’s arts companies unveil their 2018 season plans. The Limelight office too is filled with “oohs” and “ahs” as we anticipate the pleasures in store (and potential features to be written) over the next year. In other words, welcome to our Season Preview issue, which this year has gone up by 16 pages in order to bring you essential and detailed listings for each company, gallery, venue and festival. So, diaries out… However, that’s not the only buzz that has been doing the rounds this month. As the Federal Government canvasses our views on same-sex marriage, each of our arts organisations has faced a difficult question: to say a collective “yes” or not to say a collective…

MOVE OVER, GENTLEMEN Recently I spent an evening in the Sydney Opera House concert hall. The conductor was Simone Young, the soloist was Imogen Cooper and Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto was the piece being played. From my box I could see the full orchestra. The visuals seemed unusual and I found myself quickly doing the math – 39 orchestral musicians, 24 women, 15 men. I thought, let’s do this properly and send the blokes home. Fill their spots with women, and find some pieces to play written by women, like Amy Beach, or Florence Price, or some other pieces written by women that history has kept hidden from me, and probably most of you too. One of the defences I often hear of classical music is that the repertoire is…

Australian guitarist Andrey Lebedev has won Third Prize in the guitar category at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. With no First Prize awarded, the Second Prize went jointly to Junhong Kuang from China and Swiss Italian Davide Giovanni Tomasi. Lebedev also won Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Piece – Interfret für Gitarre by the Slovenian composer Vito Žuraj. Lebedev recently came fourth in the Guitar Foundation of America, but placing in the ARD is his most significant win to date. “It is certainly my biggest win on an international platform,” he told Limelight. “I have won several important prizes around Australia and NZ (notably the Gisborne International Music Competition in 2013), but the reputation of ARD is unparalleled by any international competition for which the guitar is eligible.”…

Jun Tian Yun He Ancient Chinese music for guqin, “instrument of the sages.” I’m working on a new collaborative piece, one infinity, with Jun Tian Fang, composer Max de Wardener, choreographer Gideon Obarzanek, Dance North, Beijing Dance Theatre and Playking Productions, premiering 2018. A rich, beautiful world. Hollis Taylor Absolute Bird RER MEGACORP RERHT1 For years, Hollis has been lovingly and forensically listening to butcherbirds. I have the joy of premiering her concerto Absolute Bird with Paul Kildea and the Adelaide SO in October, so this is both pleasure and preparation, coaxing my ears and fingers into fluent birdsong. Andrea Keller Wave Rider JAZZHEAD One of my favourite Australian artists, brave and brilliant, this is a Keller classic with a heady mix of gifted musicians. Andrea’s music also features on…

SIR PETER HALL 1930 – 2017 Legendary British theatre director Sir Peter Hall died in September aged 86 surrounded by his family. Born in 1930 in Bury St Edmunds, he won a scholarship to read English at Cambridge Unversity. During a career spanning over 50 years, he staged the English-language premiere of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and the world premiere of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, among many other new plays and landmark productions. In 1960, aged 29, he founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, which he led until 1968. Appointed Director of the National Theatre in 1973, he oversaw the move from the Old Vic to the new complex on the South Bank. In 1988, he formed the Peter Hall Company. Hall was also an internationally renowned opera director. He…

“No way was Evgeny leaving the stage without satisfying the communal bloodlust” Your soapbox correspondent is in Paris and London at the moment, sampling the culture in between numerous glasses of wine. Monday in London is a hard night to find anything theatrical but it was exciting to go to Trafalgar Studios in Whitehall to see a play featuring Stockard Channing, famous as Rizzo in the film of Grease (though for me she will always be the feisty wife of Jed Bartlet in The West Wing – a series by the way that looks in the age of Trump like some Disney version of the White House). The play was called Apologia and she played a prickly matriarch with two grown sons in a cast that also featured Laura Carmichael,…

“AFTER JULIUS CAESAR, EVERYBODY WAS GOING, “WOW SHE’S A SOPRANO AND SHE CAN DANCE”, AND I WAS THINKING, “WELL, I’M NOT GOING TO DANCE IN EVERY SHOW. I’M NOT A ONE-TRICK PONY” You have a unique genealogical background. What do you think of yourself as nowadays? My parents were born in Sri Lanka and they’re mixed with Dutch and Scottish heritage, but they met in Australia and that’s where I was born, so I definitely consider myself an Australian. We moved to the US when I was ten, but I always think Australia gave me wings because had I not gotten those opportunities I would have never continued my training. At the same time, America with its pre-university age conservatories that can really harness people who are training at that…

Few historical figures seem more suited to the heightened passions of opera than Poppaea Sabina. Born in Pompeii in 30AD, divorce from her first two husbands oiled her Machiavellian way to marriage with the Emperor. Nero, for his part, had his own mother killed to prevent objections. He also executed Poppea’s first husband (and later drowned their first child), posted her second husband, Marcus Salvius Otho, off to Lusitania and, when criticised, ordered his morally outraged tutor Seneca to open his veins in a bathtub. He then banished his half-sister-cum-first wife Octavia to a rocky outcrop. Of course, much is speculation and rumour, but within the salacious reports of Suetonius, Tacitus and Cassius Dio there must lurk at least a grain or two of truth. While Handel’s comical Agrippina deals…

“I’M MAINLY DOING OPERA FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS. I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THAT. IT’S GOOD TO SIT BACK FROM IT FOR A WHILE AND DO OTHER STUFF, BUT ULTIMATELY THAT’S WHAT I DO” The first concert tour of From Broadway to La Scala in 2015, featuring Greta Bradman, Lisa McCune, David Hobson and you, sold out and became a best-selling CD and DVD. Were you expecting that? I was really nervous about it last time. We all were a little bit, because it was a different format for us and when you do something for the first time you’re never sure if it’s going to have a platform. What was great was that I think the people that put it together knew it would…

Toccata, Sonatina, Piano Sonata et al Murray McLachlan p REGIS RRC1184 An excellent overview of Khachaturian’s career as seen via a fine selection of his infrequently heard piano works. Violin and Cello Concertos Arabella Steinbacher v , Daniel Müller-Schott vc , CBSO/Sakari Oramo ORFEO C623041A These beautiful concertos reflect Khachaturian’s fine understanding, as a former cello player, of the expressive potential of string instruments. Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 Armenian Philharmonic/ Loris Tjeknavorian ASV CDDCA858 Symphony No 1 is full of engaging ideas while No 3 is a splendid noise-fest for 15 trumpets and organ. Exerpts from Gayane and Spartacus et al London SO/Aram Khachaturian WARNER CLASSICS 6278902 (2CD) These zestful and atmospheric performances are a fine introduction to Khachaturian’s ballets and…

“Little is broad and lyrical at moments of high drama, as well as spirited and finely articulated” Szymanowski • Karłowicz Violin Concertos Tasmin Little v, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Edward Gardner CHANDOS CHSA5185 (SACD) It’s only recently that Tasmin Little released her recording of Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Sonata on the Chandos label, and she must have a liking for the composer as she’s followed it up with readings of both concertos by the Polish master. There’s much to be found in Szymanowski’s music, which draws on various early-20th-century influences. His Violin Concerto No 1 is considered by many to be the first modern violin concerto, and it’s a true stylistic melange: a heady concoction of impressionist colours, expressionist drama, and the sweeping lyricism of late romanticism (basically, what would become the stock…

“The Françaix is typically charming, veering from comic allegros to serene slower movements” A Tribute to Janet Music by Mozart, Britten, Knussen and Françaix Nicholas Daniel ob, Britten Oboe Quartet HARMONIA MUNDI HMM907672 Since winning BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1980, English oboist Nicholas Daniel has built a career establishing him as one of the world’s leading soloists, alongside his work as a conductor and founder of the Britten Sinfonia. He has also amassed an impressive discography of 25 or so recordings, many of them featuring new works he has commissioned. But like many top-flight musicians he wouldn’t be where he is today without a mentor to inspire him, and so his latest album A Tribute To Janet – which also marks the recording debut of his Britten…

“As on radio, Ford is inclusive, witty, and refreshingly unsentimental” [ MUSIC ] The Memory of Music Andrew Ford Black Inc., $32.99, PB, 288pp ISBN 9781863959490 Ford’s new memoir illuminates the life of a national treasure Andrew Ford is a composer, writer, and broadcaster. Many would know him as the host of Radio National’s The Music Show, surely the best show of its kind. It is characteristic of Ford that in his new memoir, The Memory of Music, he points out that the show is collaborative; ‘a producer-led show’. But the producers (Maureen Cooney and the now-retired Penny Lomax) picked the right host back in 1995. As well as being incredibly knowledgeable, Ford is a great listener who gets the best out of his guests. Collaboration is central to music,…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast Start your day with a delicious selection of the best in classical music, including your daily Swoon 9am Mornings Spend your morning with great music, including new releases and classic performances, plus the latest news and stories from the world of music 12pm Afternoons Classical music to take you through your afternoon at home, at work, or out and about 4pm Classic Drive A journey home through classical sounds, designed to relax, refresh and delight you 7pm Evenings Brings you recent classical concerts from Australian and international orchestras and ensembles 12am Night Music Classical music that’s perfect for all-night listening, presented by some of your favourite ABC Classic FM voices SATURDAY 6am Weekend Breakfast The relaxing and entertaining way to wake up to your…

SIGHT READING TRAINER This new app is billed as aimed at those users who are serious about learning and practising sight-reading, claiming to be designed to mimic the look and style of actual sheet music. Its greatest advantage is the fact that notes disappear off the screen when you play them correctly, meaning that students are made to move on. Settings allow the user to adjust the difficulty of the level of sight-reading and receive hints if so desired. What’s more, each wrong note played garners you a loud cartoon punching noise – depending on your tolerance levels for obnoxious sounds, this is either a help or a hindrance. The simple interface is also something to be admired, but users may find it a little on the basic side. Furthermore,…

1. The founder of which religion inspired a tone poem by Strauss and an opera by Rameau? 2. Singing dogs appear in which operas by Britten and Janácek? 3. WTC 9/11, Tehillim and Different Trains are works by which American composer? 4. What was the relationship between Joseph and Michael Haydn? 5. Who is this fellow, and which Scandinavian composer wrote an opera about him? 6. Which eccentric composer’s wedding was conducted at the Hollywood Bowl before a paying audience of 20,000 in 1928? 7. Which US president advised his daughter: “Do not neglect your music, it will be a companion which will sweeten many hours of life to you.” 8. Which Pushkin short story links operas by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Franz von Suppé? 9. Was Maurice Ravel’s pianistic…

ALADDIN Now Playing  aladdinthemusical.com.au The stage version of the Disney cartoon with show-stopping razzle-dazzle. Her Majesty’s, Melbourne until Jan 28, Brisbane from Feb, Perth from Jul AMERICAN PSYCHO Jul 19 – Aug 19  hayestheatre.com.au A bloody dark comedy about what it means to be alive, with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik. Hayes Theatre Sydney ASPECTS OF LOVE Nov 22 – Dec 30  hayestheatre.com.au Andrew Lloyd Webber's show set in post-war France and Italy. HTS BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL Now Playing  beautifulthemusical.com.au King's inspiring and moving journey from schoolgirl to superstar. Sydney Lyric Theatre until Jan 21, Melbourne from Feb, Brisbane from Jul THE BOOK OF MORMON From Feb 28  bookofmormonmusical.com.au Broadway’s smash hit penned by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez is coming to say "hello" to…

WILL YEOMAN DUTCH MASTERS PAGE 30 Will Yeoman is Literary Editor and Senior Arts Writer for the West Australian. He is also a regular chair at writers’ festivals, gives talks for WA Symphony Orchestra and broadcasts on ABC 720. In his spare time he enjoys playing the classical guitar and reviewing for Limelight. VINCENT PLUSH BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST PAGE 44 For 40 years, Vincent Plush has led a career in Australia, the USA and Asia. He is well known as a composer, curator, educator, broadcaster and writer/commentator about cultural issues. He recently completed his PhD thesis, Music in the Life and Work of Patrick White. ALEX LALAK SEVILLE PAGE 58 Alex Lalak is an Australian journalist currently based in Paris. She writes for a range of publications and previously worked as…

I have listened to ABC Classic FM since its inception. Despite the excellence of some of the presenters, nowadays it tries our patience like never before. Management has to be to blame. Especially horrible is the website, much worse since some woeful software was installed on the listings pages, producing a range of incomprehensible and randomly-indented rubbish every day. This is NOT an isolated glitch. This is THE NORM. The ABC never sees criticism as constructive. I have been told snappily that “for most listeners, more than four days’ notice of a broadcast concert is plenty of time.” (so what are you whingeing about?). Complete listings for four days in advance would be a luxury. Sometimes the online data extends no farther than midnight of that day! ABC Classic FM…

Riccardo Muti will conduct the Australian World Orchestra in 2018, the orchestra has announced. The Italian maestro, who is Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will lead the AWO in three concerts across Sydney and Melbourne from May 2 to 5. “We are absolutely delighted that Maestro Riccardo Muti, who has not been to Australia for more than 15 years, will conduct the AWO in 2018,” AWO Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Alexander Briger said. “There’s a huge sense of anticipation from the musicians about performing with this great conductor, especially AWO trombonist Michael Mulcahy who has a strong connection with Muti as a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Tobias Lea from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.” Since its inaugural concerts in 2011, the AWO has had a…

Recently the phone beeped and displayed a Vic Emergency warning: ‘AVALANCHE IN YOUR WATCH ZONE’. It was a nice change from ‘DAMAGING WINDS’ or ‘BUSHFIRE AT…’ and it seemed appropriate as I was just finalising the orchestration of my new opera, The Snow Queen, which will premiere in Wodonga, not far from where I live, this November. Victorian Opera commissioned the piece as part of its ongoing commitment to new work that can easily be toured throughout regional areas and that will appeal to all ages. Like many fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen is perfect for the stage: a blend of myth and panto it is, fundamentally, a quest story – a hero goes in search of something or someone and meets with various challenges along the…

In a world where anyone can see a vibrant, hi-res reproduction of a painting with just the click of a mouse, it’s easy to forget the irreplaceable thrill of standing before the real thing. That is why major exhibitions such as Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum – surely one of the most important and beautiful exhibitions ever to visit our shores – are unmissable. Part of the Sydney International Art Series, and showing exclusively at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the exhibition features over 70 paintings and etchings from the Rijksmuseum’s world-famous collection of 17th-century Dutch art. Included are masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch, Frans Hals, Judith Leyster, Jan Steen, Nicolaes Maes, Gerard Dou and many other renowned artists who flourished…

The distinctively clear-toned voice of English soprano and early music specialist Dame Emma Kirkby can be heard on hundreds of recordings. But while she became a pioneer of historically informed performance, Kirkby forged her career not through the standard conservatory route, but almost incidentally through a love of singing in choirs and amateur groups. When I catch up with the soprano over the phone from London ahead of her performances with lutenist Jakob Lindberg in Melbourne, Bermagui and Sydney, she explains that there was “nothing special at all” about her introduction to music, she was simply a “typical small child singing in the family car.” “I went to a series of schools because my father was in the Navy,” she explains. “So we moved a lot, and I was rather…

LIVED 1903 – 1978 MOSTLY IN MOSCOW BEST KNOWN FOR SPARTACUS, VIOLIN CONCERTO, SABRE DANCE, WALTZ FROM MASQUERADE SIMILAR TO PROKOFIEV, SHOSTAKOVICH, IPPOLITOV-IVANOV The work that truly launched Khachaturian’s international reputation had a far from auspicious start. Composed in 1936, his Piano Concerto was an ambitious attempt to blend the trans-Caucasian folk music of his hometown, Tiflis (today the Georgian capital, and known as Tbilisi), with the dramatic virtuosity of a Liszt concerto. For its first public outing the soloist was Lev Oborin, winner of the first Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition of 1927. However, the performance was held on an open-air stage in Sokolniki, a Moscow ‘park of culture and leisure’. Oborin had to play on an upright, and Khachaturian’s ambitious orchestral score, including within its soulful slow movement…

1903 The son of a bookbinder, he is born on June 6 in Kodzhori, near Tiflis. From 1911 he livesn with his parents and three elder brothers in Tiflis, where he teaches himself piano and plays horn in a school wind band. 1921 Moving to Moscow, he begins to study biology at the University and cello at the Gnessin Institute. He soon turns to composition, however, studying from 1929 at the Conservatory and composing music for plays at the Armenian Drama Studio. 1933 He meets Prokofiev, who arranges for Khachaturian’s Trio to be performed and published in Paris. That same year he meets fellow composition student Nina Makarova, his future wife. 1939 He spends several months in Armenia, collecting folksongs that subsequently influence his ballets, Happiness and Gayane. David Oistrakh…

You’ve recorded quite a bit of Szymanowski lately. What attracts you to his music? First of all, I love his evocative harmonies! They are rich and sensual for much of the time, but he also has the ability to weave a fine thread of melody that can be utterly haunting! I guess it’s this juxtaposition that I find very exciting and which really draws me in. For listeners unfamiliar with his work, with whom would you suggest Szymanowski shares musical characteristics? People often liken his music to Debussy and Scriabin. I agree, as all three composers share a sense of impressionism, evocative harmonies and the ability to create powerful climaxes in their sound worlds. I do think that Szymanowski was also inspired by Franck, particularly in the violin and piano…

“Zimerman’s clean rendition reveals this music to be uniquely quirky and timeless” Schubert Piano Sonatas Nos 20 and 21 Krystian Zimerman p DG 4797588 Those who admire the Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman as I do will be excited by this new release, his first solo album in years. The hallmarks of his playing are here: a chiseled clarity of texture (nothing vague or mushy), subtle expression that always remains in scale and, above all, freshness. These magnificent sonatas were Schubert’s last, both published posthumously, but they are full of joy (particularly No 20, in the open-hearted key of A Major). The fact that they represent Schubert’s final thoughts on the sonata is no reason to layer them with nostalgia. I find in some German pianists a tendency to sink into…

Three Sisters In a remote town, three sisters dream of excitement, freedom and romance, but it seems heartbreak is on the menu. Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Opera House, November 6 – December 16 Taking Steps Alan Ayckbourn’s delicious play takes place on one chaotic night in three rooms of a creaky Victorian mansion ripe for redevelopment. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, November 23 – Jan 13 Vivid White Eddie Perfect doles out a dose of black comedy for this new satire about the Australian property market. Melbourne Theatre Company, Southbank Theatre, November 18 – December 23 The Father John Bell stars in this powerful, funny and deeply moving new mystery about an aging patriarch. Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts Centre Melbourne, November 2 – December 16 The Testament of Mary Pamela Rabe gives…

Victorian Watercolours Over 80 magnificent watercolours made between the 1830s and 1900 from the Gallery’s collection are presented in this exhibition. Art Gallery of NSW, until December 3 Hyper Real A levitating man and a genetically engineered baby: two of the eerily life-like sculptures in this exhibition tracing the evolution of hyperrealism. National Gallery of Australia, until February 18, 2018 Our Knowing and Not Knowing: Helen Maudsley Abstract shapes, fragments of buildings, figures and landscapes emerge in this exhibition. National Gallery of Victoria, until March 12, 2018…

NON-FICTION Jacques Offenbach and the Making of Modern Culture Laurence Senelick Cambridge University Press, HB, 384pp, $185.00 ISBN 9780521871808 Offenbach’s operas were a force for cultural change, in his own time and in the decades to follow. Senelick demonstrates the ways this musical phenomenon took hold across the world. NON-FICTION Maestros and Their Music John Mauceri Alfred A. Knopf Inc, HB, 272pp, $43 ISBN 9780451494023 Maestros and Their Music: The Art and Alchemy of Conducting offers an accessible tour of the enigmatic craft of conducting by celebrated international conductor John Mauceri, who explores his art’s combination of legacy, tradition and technique. NON-FICTION Heresies of Music Patrick Brislan Vivid Publishing, PB, 294pp, $23.95 ISBN 9781925515480 The wickedly funny Heresies of Music: An A-Z Diagnostic Guide ‘diagnoses’ many commonly-used descriptions of some…

3MBS MELBOURNE IN CONCERT November 5 at 6pm Melbourne Youth Orchestras celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier this year with a concert titled New Worlds that saw MYO alumnus Josh Rogan return as a soloist in William Lovelock’s Trumpet Concerto. Led by MYO Chief Conductor Steven Hillinger, New Worlds opened with Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, followed by the world premiere of Australian composer Graeme Koehne’s Song of the Open Road. “Lovelock’s Trumpet Concerto is a very exciting work, and the overwhelming sense of the piece is very positive and celebratory,” Rogan told Limelight. “Even from the first bars, you can’t help but feel uplifted and hopeful, and it is this attitude of the piece that I thought would be so appropriate for the occasion.” The concert came to a…

This new Opera di Roma production of Bizet’s Carmen was captured live in June at the spectacular ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. The colourful production is directed by exciting Argentine director Valentina Carrasco of Spanish theatre group La Fura dels Baus. Carrasco has relocated the opera from 19th-century Spain to the border between Mexico and the US where President Trump plans to build his infamous wall, with a large US immigration sign on one side of the stage. The production includes references to Mexican folklore and ends with Escamillo decapitating a giant piñata shaped like a bull, as Don José murders Carmen. The star cast is led by Italian mezzo-soprano Veronica Simeoni as Carmen, with Roberto Aronica as Don José and Alexander Vinogradov as Escamillo. Spanish conductor Jesús López-Cobos…

THE CRITICS HAVE SPOKEN... From orchestral blockbusters to intimate piano recitals and epic operas, we reveal the 15 discs that fired up our reviewers in 2017. But which will be awarded the coveted title of Limelight Recording of the Year? BACH TO BASICS THIS CHRISTMAS A look at the curious history of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with an insider’s guide to its manifold beauties care of one of today’s leading Evangelists. FINLAND, FINLAND, FINLAND How did one of Europe’s most remote countries, with one of its smallest populations, come to produce such exceptional musicians? And where do you go after Sibelius? HENRY VIII’S MUSICAL PROPAGANDIST Queen Catherine Parr is best known for having outlived her bloodthirsty husband, but new musical evidence suggests she was more than just a pretty farthingale. PLUS...…

“I fluctuated between wanting to be an opera singer and Kate Bush” My parents were both singers, so we had a huge amount of music in the home: Gilbert and Sullivan, Joan Sutherland, Chopin Nocturnes, Harry Secombe... When I first started listening to music, I was very into Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, and those were huge influences on me because that’s how I became a singer. I played the guitar and when I was about 15 I started working in pubs – underage! – and acoustic venues, playing all that singer-songwriter music. And that’s remained – I still love that style of music. I studied classical music and jazz at university as part of my music degree. It was at this time that I became a busker,…

ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  artgallery.nsw.gov.au Until Feb 4 MIKALA DWYER: A SHAPE OF THOUGHT Objects and installations, both playful and provocative, re-imagine familiar materials and what they say to us about the world. Sydney HOT PICK Until Mar 4 ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE: THE PERFECT MEDIUM Whether photographing a figure, a fetish or a flower, Mapplethorpe’s subjects were unified by his unflinching quest for beauty. A comprehensive survey of his career, this exhibition features over 200 photographs including floral still lifes, portraits, figure studies and erotic imagery that charted his involvement in New York’s gay scene. Sydney Nov 11 2017 – Feb 18 REMBRANDT AND THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE Immerse yourself in outstanding works of art by the greatest Dutch painters of the 17th century. Sydney ART GALLERY OF SOUTH…

SLAVA WINS CLASSICAL ARIA Classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan has won the award for Best Classical Album at the 2017 ARIA Fine Arts and Artisan Awards for his chart-topping Bach Cello Suites Volume I, recorded on a baritone guitar. Volume II is being released by ABC Classics on November 3. Best World Album went to Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp for Songs of the Latin Skies, while Clarke’s Classics, featuring the late John Clarke, won Best Comedy Album. A BREXIT BATTLEGROUND Nigel Farage attacked concertgoers who waved European Union flags at the Last Night of the Proms as being in denial about Brexit and of making the event “all about them”. His comments were likely sparked by TV footage showing a mass of blue and gold stars at the traditionally patriotic…

1. What did you learn from Leonard Bernstein as a trumpeter playing in the New York Philharmonic? This was a man who was deeply committed to every performance. Whether you agreed with every interpretation or not, that’s beside the point in this particular discussion – but he cared, he thought about it, he wanted to communicate to the audience in an important way. And that’s huge. That kind of artistic commitment is something that is so important. It was just fantastic. 2. What was it that drew you out of playing and into conducting? It was my dream to be principal trumpet in a major American orchestra, and if possible the NYP, and then it happened, my teacher retired and I moved in! And it was thrilling. After a few…

It could never be said that Anton Bruckner, who Brahms once described as a purveyor of “symphonic boa-constrictors” was short on strange habits. The Austrian composer from the small village of Ansfelden had an obsession with dead bodies – he kept a photograph of his mother’s corpse (taken on her death bed) on display in his teaching room and he apparently managed to get his mits on the skulls of both Beethoven and Schubert (though he was thwarted in his attempt to gain access to the skull of a dead cousin). He also attended the funerals of strangers, hoping for a glimpse of the bodies. Just as disconcertingly, he would make long lists of the teenage girls he had his beady eye on in his diaries (accusations of impropriety –…

“Perhaps we will have a revolution in this country led by music education” The National Music Teacher Mentoring Program is beginning to have a profound effect on the way music education is delivered to Primary school children in at least four states of the Commonwealth. The aim is to provide first rate mentoring to classroom teachers across Australia to assist them to deliver the music requirements in the national curriculum. Professional works alongside professional, collaboratively and not competitively. In a recent report prepared by the programme’s National Project Manager Bernadette McNamara it was revealed that the NMTMP is now in four of the eight educational jurisdictions, namely, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. In New South Wales, along with the State Schools, the NMTMP is being run…

Sweelinck: Cantiones Sacrae Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam/ Harry van der Kamp GLOSSA GCD922406 (2CD) Harry van der Kamp has recorded much by grandfather of Dutch music, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621), from his lively madrigals to the complete Psalms on 12 CDs. These exquisite sacred miniatures are an excellent place to start. Crowning Glory New Dutch Academy/ Simon Murphy PENTATONE PTC5186365 (SACD) One of today’s experts on the Dutch Baroque is an Aussie. Violist Simon Murphy introduces “Symphonies from the 18th-century Court of Orange in The Hague”, including two fine pieces by Italian ex-pat Francesco Zappa. Schenck: Il Giardino Armonico, 12 Trio Sonatas La Suave Melodia ETCETERA KTC1356 A series of lively baroque trios by the Dutch composer Johannes Schenck (1660-1712) go to prove that, in this period at least, the Netherlands…

Composers are not always the most obedient or predictable of clients. There are many instances in the history of 20th-century music where they have not quite delivered what was asked of them, but one of the most spectacular instances of ‘disobedience’ would have to be William Walton (1902-1983) and the circumstances behind his gargantuan ‘cantata’, Belshazzar’s Feast. In August 1929, the BBC’s chief music programmer Edward Clark wrote to three composers asking for works “suitable for broadcasting” (in old BBC/ABC parlance). The triumvirate were Constant Lambert, Victor Hely-Hutchinson and William Walton, then regarded as the brightest star in the English musical firmament, due largely to the success of Façade, his settings of surrealist poetry by Edith Sitwell, composed when he was just 20. These commissions, the BBC dictated, would be…

CAUCASIAN INFLUENCE Khachaturian’s works reflect his musical experiences growing up as a boy in Tiflis: his melodies, often of a modal or folk character, are typically decorated with ornamental flourishes and usually ‘developed’ through improvisatory means, rather than in the manner of a Classical sonata. BRILLIANT COLOURS Both of Khachaturian’s composition teachers were students of Rimsky-Korsakov, and he naturally studied the latter’s work as well as those of Borodin and Glinka – all of them masters of colourful orchestration. Khachaturian added to the mix propulsive and sometimes complex folk rhythms and Caucasian-style percussion. UNAMBIGUOUS EXPRESSION There are no hidden depths to Khachaturian’s music: unlike Shostakovich, for instance, for most of his career he considered himself a beneficiary of the Soviet regime, and had relative freedom to express himself. For instance,…

“Goerne’s voice has darkened and broadened over the last two decades” Bach Cantatas for Bass Matthias Goerne bar, Freiburger Barockorchester/ Gottfried von der Goltz HARMONIA MUNDI HMM902323 Ich Habe Genug (BWV82) is probably one of Bach’s best loved cantatas. Written for the Feast of the Purification of Mary, it is a moving meditation on having one’s hopes and dreams fulfilled, just as the hopes of the aged Simeon are fulfilled by holding the infant Jesus in his arms. The original version was written for bass, but Bach later arranged it for soprano. Anna Magdalena also copied parts of the work into her famous Notebook. This year, as Matthias Goerne enters his second half-century, he has chosen to revisit this cantata and another (Ich Will Den Kreuzstab Gerne Tragen, BWV56), which…

“Alongside the Glorias you will find an ethereal performance of Beethoven's Mass in C” For lovers of the English choral tradition, a 42 CD box has been released of the 1960s and 70s Argo recordings by the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, under the direction of George Guest (1924-2002). The repertoire is wide: the expected Purcell, Tallis and Byrd are here, but also works from the Romantic period and the 20th century. Alongside the expected Vivaldi Glorias, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, you will find an ethereal performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C (with soloists Felicity Palmer – when she was still a soprano – Helen Watts and Robert Tear), motets by Bruckner (both utilising the Academy of St Martin in the Fields), and a beautiful disc of French sacred…

Ones Country – the spine of our stories An Australian journey of discovery, unearthing myths from North East Arnhem Land. Bangarra Dance Theatre, Carriageworks, November 24 – December 2 New Breed Emerging and new choreographers team up to create new works with members of the Sydney Dance Company. Sydney Dance Company, Carriageworks, November 30 – December 9 Peter Pan Peter Pan whisks the Darling children from their London home to the magical realm of Neverland. West Australian Ballet, His Majesty’s Theatre, November 17 – December 10…

PREVIEW When Paige Rattray directed Switzerland, Joanna Murray-Smith’s thriller about crime writer Patricia Highsmith, for Queensland Theatre in May 2016, she enjoyed working on the play so much that she found herself waxing lyrical about the experience to Artistic Director Sam Strong. “He said, ‘Joanna’s just sent me [an adaptation of] Scenes from a Marriage, the Ingmar Bergman, I’ll flick it to you,’” recalls Rattray. “I’d put in a few suggestions for different plays to direct [in 2017] but I started reading it and I nearly died! I rang him and said, ‘delete every other script I’ve given you, I have to direct this play!’” What’s more, Rattray knew exactly the actors she wanted to play the warring married couple at the heart of the play: real-life husband and wife…

THE PEOPLE’S PAINTER VISUAL ARTS Painter, comedian and author Anh Do has won the 2017 Archibald Prize ANZ People’s Choice Award for his portrait of Jack Charles. The artist interviewed and painted the actor on his popular ABC show Anh’s Brush with Fame. The portrait is a vivid depiction of the actor, whose tumultuous life story was told in the 2008 documentary Bastardy, with hidden surprises – or Easter eggs – that reveal themselves on closer inspection. This isn’t the first time Do has met with success in the Archibald Prize – he was a finalist in 2014. MAO’S LAST DANCER DANCES DANCE Announcing Queensland Ballet’s 2018 season, Artistic Director Li Cunxin revealed that he will play the magician Drosselmeyer in Ben Stevenson’s production of The Nutcracker for QB on…

Exit: Music Jewish International Film Festival (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra) Opens: Oct 25 – Nov 12 (dates vary according to city) Genre: Classical music documentary Duration: 82 minutes Deeply researched documentary restores musical old masters How much great music has been lost, overlooked or never even written because of the cataclysmic events of history? That’s the question explored by fascinating Canadian documentary Exit: Music, screening in this year’s Jewish International Film Festival. Directed by James Murdoch (no, not that one), the film takes as its focus five mainly Jewish composers of the mid-20th century whose careers were severely disrupted by Nazism. All somehow managed to survive – albeit usually at great personal cost – and continued to write music after gaining asylum overseas or in one case hiding. The most…

In November ABC Classic FM will broadcast a rare Australian outing of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. The concert performance recorded this year in Sydney saw Swiss maestro Charles Dutoit join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. French baritone Marc Barrard makes an implacable Golaud, his molten, dark-hued baritone pouring through the concert hall. His marriage to the apparently traumatised Mélisande occurs between scenes, leaving the audience’s imagination and Debussy’s enigmatic score to hint at the gaps. There’s a self-possessed confidence to his dismissal of Pelléas and Mélisande’s “childish games” that makes his gradual descent into jealous rage all the more terrifying. Barrard’s straight-laced performance is offset by Austrian mezzo-soprano Michaela Selinger – who brings lightness and agility to Mélisande, her sound spritely from the first breathy “Ne me touchez pas” (do not…

ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA  aso.com.au Feb 18 CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT Muhai Tang conducts masterworks and traditional Chinese favourites, including the Australian premiere of Sean O’Boyle’s Rooster Fanfare. Festival Theatre Apr 6 – 7 ORGAN SYMPHONY James Ehnes joins the ASO for Bernstein’s Serenade, with Nicholas Carter conducting the Tannhäuser Overture and Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony. Adelaide Town Hall Apr 19 – 20 KONSTANTIN PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY Konstantin Shamray is soloist in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Eivind Aadland conducts Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. ATH Jun 1 – 2 GRACE & GRANDEUR Mark Wigglesworth conducts Bruckner Seven, with young Australian violinist Grace Clifford the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. ATH Jun 22 – 23 BEYOND PICTURES Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody, with Arvo Volmer conducting Vladimir Ashkenazy’s orchestration…

AUSTRALIAN DANCE THEATRE  adt.org.au Jun 14 – Aug 11 THE BEGINNING OF NATURE Inspired by nature’s rhythms, the work features an operatic-style score performed by Indigenous singers in the Kaurna language. National tour THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET  australianballet.com.au Hot Pick: Mar 16 – Apr 26 MURPHY In 2018, acclaimed choreographer Graeme Murphy celebrates 50 years with The Australian Ballet. The company pays tribute with a revival of his vividly reimagined Firebird, paired with highlights from his outstanding career, featuring inventive dance, eyeopening design and transporting music. Arts Centre Melbourne, Sydney Opera House Apr 28 – Jun 16 THE MERRY WIDOW Based on the operetta, this ballet is a laugh-along favourite with hummable melodies. SOH, Canberra Theatre, ACM Jul 6 – 12 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Artistic Director David McAllister brings his smash-hit…

ADELAIDE FESTIVAL Mar 2 – 18  adelaidefestival.com.au Mar 2 – 6 HAMLET Neil Armfield’s production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet starring Allan Clayton. Adelaide Festival Centre Mar 2 – 7 THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON Robert Lepage tells the story of two brothers who gradually become entwined in the history of the space race. Her Majesty’s Theatre Hot Pick Mar 7 ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter possesses a beauty of tone, an instinct for phrasing and word colour without parallel. Hear her in recital with an eclectic collection of works from Sibelius and Stenhammer to Bach, Bernstein and songs by the composer inmates of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Adelaide Town Hall Mar 10 – 13 KINGS OF WAR Ivo van Hove’s conflation of five plays by…