Despite the success of 1970s teleseries Roots, cinema has dragged its heels on serious depictions of the slave era.

Turturro stars stars as a hard-up, middle-aged man persuaded by his former employer to rent out his sexual services.

The concerts that helped win the Battle of Britain are the basis of Patricia Routledge and Piers Lane’s hit show. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

How did one composer document, and survive, the 20th century’s most brutal political experiment? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

What was Elgar doing in a mental institution in the 1880s? Writing polkas and quadrilles, apparently! Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

In an extract from her memoir, the ABC’s Emma Ayres recounts her cycle ride from England to Hong Kong. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Australia’s first period orchestra have been flying the early music flag for 25 years and now their founder and artistic director tells the story from his perspective Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Catching up with the globetrotting countertenor whose chart topping recordings are going off down under. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The Adelaide Guitar Festival Tsar talks about the challenges, reveals his guitar heroes and gives us his top picks. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The ANU School of Music has announced that leading conductor, harpsichordist and fortepianist Dr Erin Helyard is to join the staff as a Lecturer in Music from July 2014.

The secrets of Shostakovich, Elgar’s Asylum music, Dame Kiri’s farewell plus Emma Ayres on a bike… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

If you are not all Wagnered out by the blitzkrieg of bicentennial CDs, DVDs and live performances, you might find room on your shelf for one more addition featuring British baritone James Rutherford. He has already sung Sachs (at Bayreuth no less), the Dutchman, Wolfram, Kurwenal and Wotan in Die Walküre, next up is Amfortas. This album is by way of his portfolio. He is joined here by the excellent Bergen Philharmonic under their American principal conductor Andrew Litton who gives the band a good workout in the Overture to The Flying Dutchman and the Prelude to Act III of Die Meistersinger. Indeed, Litton proves himself to be something of an inspired Wagnerian here, constantly generating electricity. Rutherford has a generous vibrato which hopefully won’t develop into an uncontrolled mannerism, but he is alert to the textual nuances and there is dramatic depth aplenty. He clearly shows in the closing track, Wotan’s Abscheid, that he can handle the heavy-duty roles. Recorded last year at the Grieg Hall,in Bergen, the production quality is outstanding as you would expect from Swedish label BIS. Highlights include a lovely O du mein holder Abendstern and two lashings of Hans Sachs where his attention to text really……