Princess movies and opera alike reveal the limited number of models available to women. “Le Dernier Sorcier”, composed by Pauline Viardot in 1869, shows that a much richer world is possible.
A feast for the senses reminiscent of an all-night rave or the film Bladerunner, Chamber Made’s new work Diaspora bathes the audience with broad spectrum frequencies of light and sound.
A conductor’s role is about communication with performers and their audience. They do so using eye contact, dress, and of course, the fabled waving of the arms.
A world premiere performance of a new Australian opera is an exhilarating experience. But the music in this reworking of the Peter Carey novel underwhelmed.
An Australian Chamber Orchestra concert features works by Jonny Greenwood, Sufjan Stevens and The Nationals’ Bryce Dessner, along with those of modern Polish composers.
If The Return of Ulysses is not Monteverdi’s most inspired creation, it is close to it. And Pinchgut Opera’s premiere may have been the first time this wonderful work was presented professionally in Australia.
Despite the exclusion of their creative work from mainstream opera companies, Australian women composers are creating spaces for themselves, writing work that tackles urgent social issues.
Telecommunications company Huawei has used artificial intelligence to complete Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. But the result fails to capture the spirit of Schubert’s original compositions.
Many school music teachers aren’t trained recorder players. And cheap and badly made recorders are often sold in discount stores. But this an instrument with a fine musical pedigree.
“They have been crucifying Othello into an opera,” Lord Byron later wrote after watching Rossini’s opera. But the performance does much to highlight the play’s racial politics.
Pelléas and Mélisande tells a story of forbidden love between its title characters, set in the fictitious kingdom of Allemonde. However the action offstage before the opera’s 1902 premiere was just as dramatic.
South African-born composer Stanley Glasser’s musical legacy is in many ways unknown in his motherland which he left under political duress in 1963, and awaits critical engagement.
A Tasmanian Requiem brings together Western and Aboriginal voices to confront the violence of the state’s Black War. It shows what a historical reckoning, and reconciliation, might look and sound like.