The gumleaf is a wind instrument that comes with a steep learning curve. Today we celebrate the 80th birthday of one of its key proponents, Roseina Boston.
The most interesting moment of the Brits.
Yui Mok/PA Archive
Much of the creative work we value – whether it’s films, music, novels, or TV shows – requires a significant input of time and resources. The established method for raising the resources to fund such work…
With the launch of The Flying Dutchman, opera is sailing the seven seas – in 3D.
Victorian Opera/Deakin.Motion.Lab
3D goggles might be commonplace at the cinema, but few associate the opera with digital technology, or would ever expect to wear 3D goggles in a theatre. A new production of The Flying Dutchman, created…
SBS’s support for Eurovision has been rewarded with our inclusion this year in the contest.
EPA/ Joerg Carstensen
Yesterday, it was announced that for the first time, Australia would be given a competitive place in the Eurovision Song Contest. Not only this, but Australians can also vote (and let’s not overlook the…
Kraftwerk perform in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Yui Mok/PA Archiv
If there is one band in the world that deserves intellectual exploration, it has to be Kraftwerk. Founded in 1970 in Düsseldorf, the two founding members, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, forever changed…
How does a classic film like The Godfather change when its score is played live?
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
On the weekend, Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) played the score to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic The Godfather during a screening of the film at the Sydney Opera House. The Godfather is the film…
The real value of Lomax’s work is only now becoming clear.
Wikimedia Commons
If Alan Lomax were still alive, he would turn 100 Saturday. His name might not be as familiar as some other giants of folk music in the 20th century (such as Pete Seeger). But if you listen to folk or…
Rock musicians, such as Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, have experimented with the length and breadth of songs since the 70s.
EPA/Adrian Popescu
My daughter came home from school orchestra rehearsal one day and said: Daughter: We are learning a great new song by Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. Me: Song, darling? I’d call it a piece. Daughter…
Amid Golden Globe recognition and Oscar buzz, Damien Chazelle’s film about a young jazz student and his abusive teacher is pulling in viewers who would normally run screaming from the words “drum solo…
Perry Keyes songs about working class life in Sydney’s suburbs aren’t necessarily an easy fit for the festival setting. Photo by Johnny Barker.
Sydney Festival
Whenever I approach mass cultural events – especially ones that seem to bear the conceit that they are “higher” and more culturally valuable than, say, a comic book fair – I am reminded of two of the 20th…
DJ Nina Las Vegas of Triple J, a station taking risks that benefit others.
AAP/City of Sydney
It’s a common refrain among the “dries” in any government that arts and cultural policy should set its course by the lights of economic policy, usually competition, growth and innovation policy. Sometimes…
After a very drawn out and fraught construction, the Philharmonie de Paris is finally open. The 2,400 seat concert hall was conceived with ambitious plans to democratise classical music, and is situated…
Jess Glynne, one of 2014’s debut chart smashers.
Ian West/PA Wire
In early September 1994, Whigfield released her single Saturday Night. It appeared from nowhere and echoed everywhere. As songs go it seemed quite innocuous. But its catchy wafer-thin sound actually represented…
Perfect for every stressed Christmas shopper.
Ollyy/Shutterstock
The festive season music charts are some of the most competitive of the year, and so Christmas is all about singles. This was especially the case in 2014, which saw the X-Factor’s Ben Haenow trump Band…
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at … zzzzzz snooooore. It’s that time of year again, and at the risk of promoting bah humbug over chestnuts roasting, I’m very Ebenezer Scrooge when…
During the summer I visited the Louvre in Paris. I wanted to see the Mona Lisa but wasn’t quite prepared for the iconic power of the image. Standing in front of the picture reminded me of a rock concert…
‘Real Love’, originally written by John Lennon, gets us hooked on Monty.
John Lewis
There’s no holding back now: the gloves are well and truly off in the run up to Christmas as major advertisers continue their fight for a slice of your seasonal spend. Over the past few weeks, audiences…