Incoming Principal plays a blinder, suggesting Perth may be the place to be in 2014. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Mezzo chooses Judy Garland classic to add her voice to the rising chorus of protest within the arts. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Smartphone apps are changing the way people interact with classical music. But why listen on an iPad? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

How the Baroque master used maths, physics and the power of God to create music of stunning complexity.

How did The Lark Ascending, which Vaughan Williams largely ignored, become a classical smash hit? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

How did a Hungarian white-bread baker found the most famous musical dynasty in history?

Aussie musician launches first of its kind online platform for instruments looking for love. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

One of the highest male voices in the world hails from down under. David Hansen talks about vanquishing his rivals and his new CD. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

I have recently been taking a personal stock take. I shut myself down for a couple days while staff went about the shelves and aisles of Guy Noble looking at what items were in stock. One of the things they found (apart from dusty boxes of memories and an old sports sock) was an astounding warehouse of impatience. I am one of up the most impatient people I have ever met. I am always railing against that phenomenon at traffic lights where every driver takes just a little bit more time than the one in front to put foot to accelerator and move on. This is an awful waste of time, and if the government really wanted to improve productivity in this country it would install a sort of countdown system so that a line of 20 cars could move off at the exact same time, thereby saving maybe six minutes over an entire day of driving. Those extra minutes could then be better spent checking on your friends’ Facebook updates or practising scales. I am so impatient I have no time for repeats. Certain movements of Haydn’s symphonies are so boring that to hear them once stretches the friendship;…

How the Australian World Orchestra snared the great Zubin Mehta for this year's concerts.

Cate Blanchett is a force of nature in Woody Allen’s latest, which leaves viewers not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Paving the way for the triumph of home-grown music over continental, Saul was presented in 1739 as part of a London season notable for the complete absence of Italian opera. It was a revolutionary work in many ways. It was the first English oratorio with a male lead; it was the longest English music theatre work to date; and it required larger forces than any theatre work previously performed in England. Harry Christophers delivers a highly charged, dramatic reading of the score, from the grand, ceremonial opening choruses, through the more intimate court settings, right up to the spooky scene where the Witch of Endor raises the spirit of Samuel. Listen to the sonorous use of three trombones (a German import in their day) in the battle music. Military kettledrums (which Handel borrowed from the Tower of London) enhance the famous Dead March. David’s ravishing harp solos and a specially commissioned carillon complete the novel line up and Christophers gives each its moment in the spotlight. Christopher Purves is Saul, a fine baritone and an even finer singing actor. His kingly descent through jealousy, fury and despair is meticulously mapped out with singing of enormous bite and panache. Although the…