Innehållsförteckning för July 2016 från Limelight

This issue of Limelight wasn’t intended to be a ‘Singing Special’, but casting my eye over it now, there’s a distinct vocal flavour running through it. Not that cover boy John Cleese is particularly associated with noises, sounds and sweet airs (unless you count Always Look on the Bright Side of Life or songs about spam and lumberjacks). But you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out what Jessye Norman, Dame Felicity Lott and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, have in common. And Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis wouldn’t get far without a crack choral outfit warbling away in the engine room. The opportunity to interview the great American soprano Jessye Norman reminded me just how intense the effects of a song well sung can be on an…

LETTER OF THE MONTH… DEFENDING A LOAD OF THESES Come on Guy, you can do better than this (Hell is a Musical Thesis, April 2016). A lot of these topics actually sound very interesting. The Assyrian weddings one, for example. Do you know what sort of music is typically played at these? What pieces and for what function? No? Neither do I. So I could read this ethnographic thesis and find out. Beginner piano practice – what a good idea to investigate this! Would help all those piano teachers out there better motivate their students. If you’re worried about impenetrability of some of the jargon, it’s no different to any other discipline. Try reading Chemistry or Medical Science titles: you will have no idea, and neither will I, because we…

One of the most well-loved music events in Europe’s summer calendar, Progetto Martha Argerich (the Martha Argerich Project) is under threat of closure due to a lack of sponsorship. Valued as a uniquely authentic music festival, free of commercial trappings, the Argentine pianist’s annual festival in Lugano, Switzerland, now in its 15th year, brings together musicians from all over the world. Highlights are captured every year on a three-disc set by Warner Classics (the 2015 edition, featuring Argerich with pianists Stephen Kovacevich, Nicholas Angelich, Sergio Tiempo, cellist Gautier Capuçon and violinist Ilya Gringolts was released in May). The event attracts loyal supporters, many of whom, like Angelich, Tiempo and Gringolts, return every year. Despite the event’s high standing, the main sponsor – private Swiss bank BSI – will no longer…

Berio The Cries of London Swingle II DECCA 4256202 Most of my listening is professional – looking for repertoire, assessing recordings that are sent to me, and preparing for the next gig. So this very tricky piece (which we performed in Melbourne as part of Metropolis) has featured heavily over the last few months. Gibbons Hymns and Songs TONUS PEREGRINUS/Pitts NAXOS 8557681 I do sometimes listen to my old recordings purely for pleasure, and this TONUS PEREGRINUS disc of my and Alexander L’Estrange’s arrangements of Gibbons always soothes the soul – his tunes and bass lines are the best. Marais • Lully Tous les Matins du Monde Le Concert des Nations/Savall ALIA VOX AV9821 The opening track of this melancholy album – an upbeat march by Jean-Baptiste Lully – has…

PHYLLIS CURTIN 1921-2016 American soprano Phyllis Curtin has died aged 94. She was renowned for her operatic roles, which included works by Britten and Carlisle Floyd, but also her contribution to American art song through works by composers such as Copland and Rorem. Curtin performed in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes while still a student at Wellesley College, Boston. She made her debut with the New York City Opera in 1953 and first performed with the Metropolitan Opera in 1961. She performed at opera houses around the world, including at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala and Glyndebourne. As a soloist she sang in the American premieres of Britten’s War Requiem and Shostakovich’s Symphony No 14, and created the role of Catherine Earnshaw in Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering…

Many are familiar with the courage of the eight musicians onboard the RMS Titanic who played on while the ship met its icy demise in Atlantic waters in 1912. What isn’t so well known, however, is that almost 100 members of the London Symphony Orchestra narrowly avoided the same fate. After booking passage on the Titanic for a tour of the US and Canada, the LSO suddenly changed their travel plans after the RMS Olympic crashed into a British military warship a month before departure. The repair work meant that many workers putting the finishing touches to the Titanic were re-assigned to work on the Olympic, delaying the Titanic’s maiden voyage from March 20 to April 10. With concert dates booked, the LSO couldn’t afford to wait, so quickly changed…

BORN SYDNEY, NSW, 1993 STUDIED SYDNEY CONSERVATORIUM, ANAM LIKESICE CREAM (COOKIES AND CREAM IS THE BEST), CHOCOLATE, LEMON TART DISLIKES AVOCADO, BANANAS, VACUUMING What first attracted you to the cello? I originally leaned to play the piano with my mum. She taught me from the age of about four or five, but once I got to around the age of nine, I decided to give it up (I’m afraid to say that I didn’t like practising my scales). It was when I was in year 5 that my first cello teacher, Tristan Randell, came to my school and played some pieces for our assembly. I heard the sound of the cello and was captivated instantly. I went home that day and immediately said to my mum that I wanted to…

“THE BIG ITALIAN STUFF I DIDN’T EVER DO. I HAD COMPLEXES ABOUT BEING SO TALL. I’VE GOT HUGE HANDS AND FEET, SO AS MIMÌ, I THOUGHT, MY TINY HAND WOULD NOT BE SO TINY” Britain in the 1950s was full of opportunity. What led you towards music and singing? I had very good local teachers. I had a great aunt who taught me the piano when I was quite little, about five. Terrifying! And then I had lessons at school. The head of music taught me piano and his wife taught me violin. I wasn’t so focused on music – I was mad about French. I spent a year in France as part of my French degree. I had to give English conversation lessons on weekdays, which left a weekend…

LIVED 1732 – 1809 MOSTLY IN THE ESTERHÁZY COURT AND VIENNA BEST KNOWN FOR STRING QUARTETS, OVER 100 SYMPHONIES, PIANO SONATAS, THE CREATION SIMILAR TO MOZART, EARLY BEETHOVEN, CPE BACH A late-night Prom: Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s London Baroque Soloists are spinning their way through the finale of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No 90 in C Major. The music arrives at a definitive fanfare in the home key and stops. The promenaders begin to applaud – only to hear Sir John shout “It’s not finished!” Nor is it, for after four silent bars the movement quietly picks up in the remotest key, wandering through all manner of byways before getting back on what is surely the home straight. But then it all happens again: same stop, same audience reaction, same continuation.…

Front Row is Limelight’s online benefits service. Available to all who sign-up to receive Limelight Emails, Front Row will take you closer to the music than ever before. The service, unique within Australia, offers privileged access to performances and rehearsals with our most celebrated ensembles, competitions and giveaways, behind the scenes tours, free recordings and downloads, and exclusive promotions for must-see events. How it works Visit the Front Row page on our website for all the latest offers. Simply provide us with your details for the chance to win. By signing up for our Limelight Emails you’ll receive all special announcements from our advertising partners, plus a once-a-month email with all currently available Front Row offers.…

“Frogs, flies, lice and locusts are all brilliantly portrayed in this amazingly creative score” Handel Israel in Egypt Lydia Teuscher s, Julia Doyle s, Hilary Summers a, Benjamin Hulett t, Roderick Williams b, The King’s Consort/Robert King VIVAT VIVAT111 Mendelssohn’s ardent championing of Bach is well known, but it is heart-warming to know that his ardour also extended to that other great Baroque luminary, Handel. In fact, the young Mendelssohn on his first visit to London in 1829 spent hours poring over Handel manuscripts. A few years earlier Mendelssohn, having been introduced to Handel from an early age, interpolated the melody for “and he shall reign forever and ever” from the Hallelujah Chorus into the finale of his String Octet. Mendelssohn led his first performance of Israel in Egypt…

“Barenboim’s Goldbergs make Igor Levit sound neat and under-characterised” Warner Classics seems intent on reissuing almost everything in its cache, in a mid-price series that reproduces the original LP artwork. There are too many releases to cover, but some gems cannot be overlooked. Otto Klemperer’s 1967 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No 9 with the New Philharmonia remains unique. The 81-year-old conductor makes no attempt to blend orchestral sonorities. His Mahler is starkly uncompromising, sounding surprisingly modern in spite of slow tempos. The ländler movement is blunt to the point of irony, while the drawn-out final Adagio (at 24’17”) is not beautiful à la Karajan or Chailly, but intense. Klemperer finds deep serenity in the final pages. Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream under the…

PREVIEW The Art Gallery of New South Wales will present an exhibition of 40 works from iconic Mexican artists Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957). The story of Kahlo and Rivera is not only the marriage of two famous 20th-century artists, but also one of a bond that took on the genuine characteristics of legend. Few other artists in the 20th-century have so forcefully captured the public’s imagination. Myths that surrounded them in their lifetimes arose not only from their individual and significant bodies of work, but also from their active participation in the historical, artistic and political happenings of their time. Kahlo and Rivera are exemplars of the socially committed artist. Their outspoken, uncompromising leftist politics often collided with the wishes of wealthy patrons and aroused significant controversy…

“Vondráÿek will be one to watch, having taken first prize at the Queen Elisabeth competition” The running order for The Competition was drawn in May, with the help of former parliamentary Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, and the entire competition will be broadcast live on ABC Classic FM. Bishop joined the Competition’s Artistic Director Piers Lane, Chairman Neville Grace and Classic FM presenter Damien Beaumont in expressing their excitement at some of the innovations introduced for what will be the 11th outing for the competition and the first under Lane’s artistic guidance. Apart from a starry list of jurors, which includes names such as Nikolai Demidenko, Carl Vine, Hamish Milne and Orli Shaham, the competition’s new Artistic Patron, Valery Gergiev is offering the winners an opportunity to perform in St. Petersburg in…

FINE MUSIC 102.5 LIVE AND LOCAL July 7, 8pm Omega Ensemble’s wind players perform Nielsen’s Serenata in vano, Mozart’s Wind Serenade in C Minor and Tchiakovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. July 14, 8pm Alexander Briger conducts Sydney Youth Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5, and Simon Tedeschi joins for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 1. July 21, 8pm A performance of Gounod’s Petit symphonie for winds, Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin and Mozart’s Serenade in E Flat from the Sydney Soloists. July 28, 8pm Recordings of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti and guests in works of Fash, Bach, Mozart and Britten. Limelight loves your feedback. Here's how to contact us: • Leave a comment on our website or Facebook Page • Tweet us @LimelightEd • Tag us on Instagram…

Frankenstein The world premiere of Royal Ballet Artist-in-Residence Liam Scarlett’s new full-length ballet, inspired by Mary Shelley’s Gothic masterpiece, a story of love, fear, loneliness and longing. Scarlett has returned to the music of Lowell Liebermann (his partner on Viscera), commissioning a new score. Starring Principal dancers Laura Morera, Federico Bonelli and Australia’s-own Steven McRae as ‘The Creature’. July 1-6 La Favorita On stage at La Fenice for the first time in French (after its 20th-century revivals in Italian in 1965 and 1988), Donizetti’s great romantic opera unfolds against the background of the Moorish invasions of Spain and power struggles between church and state. The story charts a love triangle involving Alfonso, King of Castile (Vito Priante), his mistress Léonore (Veronica Simeoni) and her lover Fernand (John Osborn). July 22-27…

PHILIP CLARK JOHN CLEESE UK-based composer-turned-improviser Philip Clark is a regular contributor to avant-garde music magazine The Wire. He also writes for Gramophone and The Guardian, and is writing a book about Dave Brubeck. He tweets as@MusicClerk. TONY WAY O SING JOYFULLY Tony Way is a director of music at Melbourne’s historic St. Francis’ Church. Holding a masters degree in music, he is an organist and choir director, as well as a published composer. He has been reviewing classical music for over two decades. PETER BASSETT OPERA MANNERS Peter Bassett has been speaking and writing about opera since he was a schoolboy. Today he is best known for his books and talks on Wagner’s stage works, his involvement with the Adelaide productions of the Ring and Parsifal, and for leading…

Australian artists have faced some difficult moments over the past three years, especially in the wake of the 2015/16 Federal Budget last May, which revealed devastating cuts to the funds available to be distributed by the Australia Council. In particular, Friday May 13, 2016 is a date that will be remembered by many as one of the blackest in Australia’s artistic history when the Australia Council announced the list of 128 recipients of their highly sought after four-year funding grants. Many unsuccessful applicants, including 65 organisations previously funded by the Australia Council, were left facing uncertain futures. Among the de-funded organisations were musical groups like Gondwana Choirs, Taikoz and Synergy Percussion, as well as leading dance theatre companies Legs on the Wall and Force Majeure. The number of organisations listed…

BATT-RAWDEN GALLOPS Composer and publisher of Limelight Andrew Batt-Rawden has been chosen as the inaugural Composer in Residence at Gallop House in Perth. He will spend six months living in the refurbished two-story heritage building, which is operated by the National Trust of Australia (WA). “Getting out of Sydney’s going to be a good experience for me,” said Batt-Rawden. “I can’t wait to make new connections with people I’ve been looking forward to working with for years.” MATURE VERDI GOES VIRAL A soprano in her eighties has become an Internet sensation after a video of her performance of La Vergine Degli Angeli from Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino went viral. Fausta Truffa sings with a passion and virtuosity that belies her age, and her performance has been viewed over two…

“ Opera companies should just bite the bullet and start to use amplification ” Let’s talk about opera. The art form is in a lot of trouble around the world. It is expensive to mount, ticket prices are high. More and more young singers are fighting for fewer and fewer roles in fewer and fewer productions of fewer and fewer operas. But does opera deliver enough bang for the very sizeable buck that it charges? Sometimes I think not. Two experiences in London this week tellingly made the point. Last night I went to English National Opera’s Madam Butterfly. I was in stalls, row M, not too far from the stage, but the orchestra under Sir Richard Armstong was playing with such gusto that the singers fought to be heard…

“AUDIENCES DON’T WANT TO HEAR SAFE PERFORMANCES, THEY WANT TO FEEL THE ELECTRICITY ONSTAGE, AND THAT ONLY COMES WITH FEELING COMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO LET GO” Who were your heroes growing up? My violin hero was this wonderful, indomitable violinist called Ida Haendel. She was a huge inspiration for me, partly because she was a female role model. Back then – I hesitate to say in the 16th century – but back then there were far fewer female violinists. That’s one of the things that has changed beyond measure in the last 40 years or so. It’s now a very balanced gender mix. One’s tempted to say that there are even more female violinists than males, and certainly a huge number of female soloists in the profession. Obviously Yehudi Menuhin was…

“IT’S TRULY FRIGHTENING, WHAT COULD HAPPEN, IF WE’RE NOT VIGILANT. IT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY FOR THE WORLD” Art and politics sometimes make for uncomfortable bedfellows, but every now and then they come together in the complete package. About half an hour into our conversation I ask the great soprano Jessye Norman if she is still a Democrat? “Absolutely, God!” she exclaims. “With all that is going on on the other side, more loudly than ever. It’s truly frightening what could happen if we are not vigilant. It would be a tragedy for the world, and certainly a tragedy for the United States.” Direct, spontaneous statements have earned Norman a reputation for outspokenness and honesty, sometimes rare in a profession where people may feel a guarded approach oils the wheels…

What do Beethoven, Sir Andrew Davis and David Robertson have in common, apart from the obvious making of music and the waving about of arms in front of orchestras sort of thing? Given the prolific repertoire lists of the two maestros and their proven track records conducting the music of 19th-century Vienna’s original revolutionary, it might surprise you to learn that Beethoven’s epic mass setting was kept at arm’s length by both for many years. Of course, the work is notoriously hard to pull together, requiring considerable forces and stamina from choir and audience alike. But there are other reasons that, as Davis puts it, he, “along with a good many eminent conductors both past and present, have waited long to climb the mighty peaks of this great work.” “It…

A PEOPLE’S COMPOSER For all his ultimate fame, Haydn never forgot his humble birth nor lost touch with the concerns of the common people. From first to last – as in his glorious summation of country life, The Seasons (1802) – his music is full of allusions to folksongs, popular dances, street cries, bagpipe drones and peasant bands. A CONNOISSEUR’S COMPOSER If the symphonies represented Haydn’s more public face, much of his boldest musical thinking went into his string quartets, addressed in the first place to the players themselves and to small circles of informed listeners – never more so than on one occasion in 1784 when the performers comprised Haydn, Mozart and their fellow composers, Vanhal and Dittersdorf. A COMPOSER’S COMPOSER Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms were all deeply…

“It’s great having this calibre of magazine in Australia. Jam-packed with interesting articles, its reviews and fun facts have saved me many a time when stuck in a corner at parties with music scholars. The great photography and layout also help me when I’m feeling too lazy to read. As I tour for much of the year, Limelight keeps me up to date with the latest releases and news, and its always exciting to catch up on the activities of my peers. It is my dream to see Limelight as a fixture in waiting rooms around the country. Here’s looking forward to next month’s issue!”…

“Soon the whole of Europe would be awash with the craze for opera” In the year 1638, Galileo Galilei is under house arrest in Italy, condemned by the Inquisition for his dangerous views. These include the idea that the sun, not the earth, is the centre of the Universe, and that tides are caused by the movement of the earth. As if to second Galileo’s case, the unmoveable force of physics is showcased by a series of massive earthquakes which cause widespread damage in the south of the country. History would prove Galileo right, of course; it would also vindicate the commercial nous of the Tron family, who lived some 250 kilometres north of Galileo’s Florentine home in Venice. The Trons had identified a gap in the market: opera was…

Australian artist Jasper Knight’s paintings explore a love for the handmade and find beauty in unexpected places. His works reflect a focus on form, shape and surface, and often include signage and hardware materials. He has previously held solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs and internationally in London. Born in 1978 in Sydney, Knight completed a Master of Arts at the University of New South Wales. He has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize on numerous occasions since 2005, with acclaimed portraits of notable Australians including Richard Gill and Bob Carr. Knight’s broadly coloured, painterly works viscerally depict symbols of the urban landscape. His unique mix of Modernist-inspired technique with a distinctly Australian aesthetic generates post-photographic pictures of gritty harbour scenes, industrial sites, trucks and cars,…

Mustang Opens: June 23 Genre: Coming of age drama Duration: 94 minutes Free-spirited bathing beauties in a tale full of Turkish delight The mustangs in this wonderful Turkish feature from female writer-director Deniz Gamze Erguven are not animals but five young sisters with the independence of spirit associated with wild horses, despite the best efforts of their grandparent guardian to keep them closely tethered. The story begins one summer day when the girls – who do actually look like sisters, each with their similarly long, dark hair – innocently make what turns out to be a fateful decision in turning down their ride from school to go swimming in the sea, where they play a game with local boys that goes no further than fully-clothed, mutual splashing. In the conservative…

After David McVicar’s productions of Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, this will be the final installment of his Da Ponte trilogy. Mozart’s romantic comedy enjoyed a triumphant premiere in 1790, a year before the composer’s death. The often farcical comedy, charged with sexual politics, sees friends Guglielmo and Ferrando attempting to seduce each other’s fiancées – sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella – in a bid to test their fidelity. Rather than placing it in the 18th century, McVicar has set this scenario against a more recent backdrop. “The new production sets this most troubling and ambiguous of operatic comedies in the dying days of a Europe about to lose itself in the carnage of the First World War,” says McVicar, “The ravishing costumes of the early 1900’s are bathed…

FINE MUSIC 102.5 Fine Music 102.5 (previously 2MBS) is Australia’s first FM radio station, broadcasting a mix of classical, jazz and contemporary music. To listen, tune in to 102.5FM or stream online at finemusicfm.com 3MBS 3MBS is a fine music community radio station in Melbourne. 3MBS passionately supports fine music, especially Melbourne musicians and composers, and is the only locally-based classical music radio station in Victoria. To listen, tune in to 103.5FM or stream online at 3mbs.org.au 4MBS One of Australia’s premier classical radio stations, 4MBS has received many awards for the promotion of young and emerging artists in Australia. Based in Brisbane. To listen, tune in to 103.7FM to listen or stream online at 4mbs.com.au 5MBS While mainly a classical station, Adelaide’s 5MBS also broadcasts a wide selection of…

1. Who composed pianistic representations of Samuel Pickwick, Ondine and General Lavine? 2. Which Graham Greene novel was an operatic success story for Malcolm Williamson? 3. Which of Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arnold Bax and Sir Arthur Bliss was never made Master of the King’s (or Queen’s) Music? 4. Which Irish composer and pianist was credited with inventing the Nocturne? 5. Who composed a contemporary opera about this famously“mad”Russian? 6. Talking birds feature in which operas by Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakov and Janácek? 7. Who wrote, in order, about Paul, Peter, Albert, Billy and Owen? 8. Which famous composer and conductor was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn with a copy of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony lying across his heart? 9. Which German Romantic composer of five symphonies maintained:“So much is spoken about music,…

McVicar polishes off the trilogy Last year British director Sir David McVicar staged The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Australia (right). Limelight joined him in rehearsal for this year’s Così fan Tutte. Edwardes embraces Aussie women Are there a lack of opportunities for women composers? Claire Edwardes (below left) and Ensemble Offspring plan to do something about that in 2017. Backstage at John Bell’s Carmen An exclusive rehearsal room interview with the great Australian director (below right) as he prepares a new staging of Bizet’s masterpiece for Opera Australia. Sydney Sings in focus As Sydney prepares to host Leo Schofield’s latest festival of the voice, Limelight will be on the ground to bring you news and reviews as they happen. www.limelightmagazine.com.au…

The first piano to arrive on Australian soil – as part of the First Fleet in 1788 – has found a new home at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. The “First Fleet Piano” is one of 130 historically significant pianos collected by Stuart Symonds that will become the Stewart Symonds Collection at Edith Cowan University. The procurement of the instrument was facilitated by Australian pianist and conductor Geoffrey Lancaster, who worked closely with Symonds while writing his book The First Fleet Piano: a Musician’s View, which documents the history of the instrument. “This is an extraordinary gift to WAAPA and one that we are very excited about,” Lancaster said, “The acquisition of the First Fleet piano, let alone the acquisition of one of the world’s most significant historical…

SINGER SUES OVER FFJ FILM Soprano Julia Kogan has become locked in a legal battle with her ex-boyfriend, screenwriter Nicholas Martin, claiming that she ‘collaborated’ with him on the screenplay for the new Meryl Streep film Florence Foster Jenkins. “I contributed a large chunk of the actual screenplay – every aspect of it,” Kogan claims. “I sat him down and pitched him the idea for the film.” PERLMAN BOYCOTTS NCS Itzhak Perlman has become the latest artist to boycott North Carolina in a stand against the state’s “House Bill 2”. The new law limits transgender bathroom access and pre-empts local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances. The violinist cancelled his concert with the North Carolina Symphony, following in the footsteps of other high profile musicians including Bruce Springsteen and Stephen Schwartz.…

MARTIN MITTERRUTZNER SINGS MOZART Young Austrian tenor Martin Mitterrutzner is a member of the ensemble at Frankfurt Opera where he has sung the leading tenor roles in all of Mozart’s best known operas. He has also sung Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte at the Salzburg Festival and as a leider singer he performed at the famous Schubertiade in Hohenems. For Sydney Sings he stars in a concert of Mozart arias with the celebrated Camerata of St Johns, its dynamic leader Brendan Joyce and conductor Alexander Briger. Martin will also perform a program of Schubert leider in the beautiful Ballroom of Sydney’s historic Government House. CITY RECITAL HALL, ANGEL PLACE 4 AUGUST AT 7PM GOVERNMENT HOUSE 7 AUGUST AT 3PM CARLO VISTOLI SINGS HANDEL Young Italian countertenor Carlo Vistoli is a…

My essential point of reference in a lifetime of making music has been the natural environment, whose myriad voices, shapes, patterns and drones have influenced everything I’ve composed and provided a ground for the inclusion of diverse cultural material relating to the earth. During this time, the study of ‘ecomusicology’ was born and has grown into a movement that aims to help us redefine our relationship with the environment. The need to restore music’s traditional function as an agent of healing and sustainability has preoccupied me for many years as the ravages of climate change and environmental degradation continue. Frog and Star Cycle, like my Full Moon Dances and Bird Spirit Dreaming, fulfils the requirements of a concerto – in this case a double concerto – to display the soloist’s…

According to Beethoven’s self-serving secretary, Anton Schindler, the 18-year-old soprano Henriette Sontag (left), alto Caroline Unger (below), and even the chorus master petitioned the composer to change some of the difficult, high-lying lines in the Missa Solemnis. Although Beethoven turned a conveniently deaf-ear to their demands, ultimately his disability proved his undoing. “When he would make none of the revisions, storm clouds gathered and Caroline Unger was bold enough to tell the master to his face that he was ‘a tyrant over all vocal cords’,” Schindler writes. “Beethoven replied, smiling, that both singers had been spoiled by Italian music, which accounted for their present difficulties. ‘But these high notes here,’ replied Fräulein Sontag, ‘couldn’t they be changed?’ ‘And how about this place?’ added Fräulein Unger. ‘It is too high for…

The Symphonies Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra/Adam Fischer BRILLIANT CLASSICS BRILL99925 (33CD) Wise and ample readings recorded in Haydn’s own concert room at Eisenstadt. The Seasons RIAS Kammerchor and Freiburger Barockorchester/ René Jacobs HARMONIA MUNDI HMC971829/30 (2CD) Haydn’s culminating masterpiece in a dramatic, clear and immediate recording. String Quartets Op. 76, Nos 1-6 Quatuor Mosaïques NAIVE V8665 (2CD) Haydn’s greatest quartets performed by masters of period performance. Piano Sonatas Nos 23, 24, 32, 37, 40, 41, 43, 46, 50, 52 Marc-André Hamelin HYPERION CDA67554 (2CD) Bright, dextrous virtuoso playing; lucidly inventive music.…

TRAVEL INFO Average Temperatures: Winter: 8°C – Summer: 21°C Currency: Euro (AU$1=EUR 0.68) Best time to visit: Boating on the river is best enjoyed in summer and the Beethoven Festival runs in September, but Bonn’s museums can be enjoyed year-round. TOURIST INFORMATION bonn.de On my first evening in Bonn, I had dinner next door to Ludwig van Beethoven. More exactly, next door to the house in the Bonngasse in which he was born and in which he spent the early years of his life. It sits in a narrow side street round the corner from a colourful fruit and vegetable market. Beethoven’s Bonn presence is everywhere; in its concert halls, museums – there are no less than nine superb shrines of the city’s colourful past – and…

Do you remember your first encounter with Monteverdi’s music? Yes, I was 14 years old. I was in my first year at the conservatory, studying singing and I got a call from a quite famous group in the Czech Republic at the time, called the Madrigal Octet. Their second soprano was sick and they had a concert of madrigals that night, and they asked if I would replace her? I was quite good at sight-reading, so I thought it would be a great thing to do – when you’re young you think you can do anything! So it was a very early love affair? Yes, it was a love affair. It also advanced my study of the Italian language very much, because we didn’t really have any Czech translations of…

“Video allows us to see every smear of the lipstick as Canio assumes the mantle of scary clown” Mascagni • Leoncavallo Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci Jonas Kaufmann t, Staatskapelle Dresden, Salzburg Festival/ Christian Thielemann SONY 88875193409 (2DVD) 88875193419 (BLU-RAY) The twin verismo peaks of ‘Cav’ and ‘Pag’ have oft appeared on the same programme since they were first shackled together by the Met in 1893 (bizarrely, they’d previously coupled ‘Pag’ with Gluck’s Orfeo in a staging where Melba sang Nedda). Less frequent has been the same tenor singing both Turiddù and Canio on the same evening (Domingo and Vickers pull it off on DVD), while a double role debut is even less common. Now you can add Jonas Kaufmann to that list (at the 2015 Salzburg Easter Festival), and here…

WARLOW’S DON WINS HAYES THEATRE Anthony Warlow has been named as one of the recipients of the 2016 Helen Hayes Awards in recognition of his performance as Don Quixote in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Man of La Mancha. The Washington Post approved of the Australian musical theatre star’s performance, noting “The charismatic Warlow leads the charge in one of those cases when a role just flat-out fits”. STC LOSES ITS HEAD THEATRE Jonathan Church has quit as Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company after only nine months in the job. The British director succeeded Andrew Upton last year. “Jonathan has led the development of an exciting season for 2017,” said STC Chairman Ian Narev. “Over these nine months, he has been balancing his time in Sydney with his…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast There is no better way to start your day. Music from Scarlatti to Sculthorpe and everything in-between 9am Mornings New releases, classic performances plus the latest news and stories from the world of music 12pm Midday Interview guests share their stories and choice of music 1pm Afternoons Featuring major classical performers and highlights from our exclusive collection of Australian concerts 4pm Classic Drive A journey through classical sounds to relax your mind and soothe your soul 7pm Evenings Concerts from Australian and international ensembles 12am Overnight Featuring Australia’s finest musicians, all night long SATURDAY 6am Weekend Breakfast The relaxing way to wake up to your weekend 9am Saturday Morning Three hours of wonderful music to accompany your Saturday morning 12pm Music Makers Exploring the…

This month’s “Classical Site of the Month” should more appropriately be named “Classical Hashtag of the Month”. Social media has been widely used by musicians and audiences alike to connect and share information and now on Twitter there is a forum for discussing music with industry professionals. The hastag #musochat brings together musicians from all over the world for an informal discussion of classical and new music. The discussion has been running for almost a year now and is more popular than ever. The format is simple: participants can sign up to host a discussion, are assigned a date, and then they post six to eight questions throughout the course of an hour, using the #musochat hashtag. Anyone on Twitter can follow the conversation and take part by answering the…