Heldentenor and iconic director fly the flag at this year’s International Opera Awards. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Legendary Hollywood child-star, TV and musicals actor (and husband of eight), passes away at 93. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Melbourne’s boutique opera company challenges the fine line between reality and theatre with new production. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Star pianist pairs Shostakovich and Bach in an intimate start to Sydney Opera House music series. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Kate Ceberano talks about her three-year stint as Artistic Director and reveals her top picks for this year. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Latvian soprano becomes first singer to debut in two roles in consecutive performances. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Mustonen and the MSO bring the chill of the north to bear on an April night in Melbourne. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Greek guitarist stars in a clutch of her own complex transcriptions of baroque classics. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Bach and Handel on original instruments in a final celebration of the Town Hall series.

Melbourne trio produce a polished pearl of a performance offset by an architectural gem. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

  After just two instalments in his projected seven-opera Mozart cycle, Rolando Villazón has taken a premature diversion a collection of obscure Mozart concert arias that he found in a Munich music shop. As he’s demonstrated already in Cosi fan tutte and Don Giovanni, Villazón is a persuasive Mozart advocate, but he needs all that skill and enthusiasm to make this grab-bag of juvenilia, rejects and odd-jobs hold together. The opening of the aria Aura che intorno spiri must be one of the greatest opening phrases in all Mozart, but the sublimity is intermittent. Many arias hint at genius and then faff about in a stop-start demonstration of genius almost at work. The most intriguing are Con ossequio, con rispetto and La spoco deluso, where one could speculate that Rossini built his career out of Mozart’s reject bin. The earliest aria, Va, dal furor portata, is gob-smacking when judged by the standards of 9-year-old composers, but compared with the Mozart of 20 years later, it’s scarcely must-have. Just how far Mozart progressed during the intervening period is demonstrated in the only German language inclusion, Musst ich auch durch taussend Drachen, sounding so much more mature and dramatic in intent, and…

    Just as the guitar is accustomed to finding itself “between worlds”, popping up in almost every imaginable genre of music, so too has the mandolin long held a place in the hearts of musicians from folk, popular and classical genres – for the latter, just think of Vivaldi and Beethoven’s wonderful works. But contemporary mandolinists like Chris Thile and present artist Avi Avital are taking things to a whole new level, performing Bach with a facility and sensitivity that would put many violinists to shame. This time round, Israeli-born Avital tackles different folk traditions, albeit from a classical perspective – hence the recording’s title. And while much here will be familiar – Bartók’s Roumanian Folk Dances or Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 – there are also less well-known works such as Sulkhan Tsintsadze’s Miniatures On Georgian Folk Themes. But whether it’s Bloch, Monti, Dvorˇák, Falla or Piazzolla, the performances and arrangements here are so fresh and novel that everything sounds new. Of course it helps that Avital is joined by a formidable line-up of soloists, including harpist Caitlin Finch, accordionist and fellow Bach exponent Richard Galliano and klezmer virtuoso clarinetist Giora Feidman. And that the different instrumental…