Giving a little could mean a lot for the arts, as I salute Australia’s philanthropists. “Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man’s world”, as those sage, Swedish masters of song, Abba once said. Dollars and cents have once again been the hot topic of the week among artists in Australia, but not all the news was doom and gloom. While Senator Brandis revealed that no outside consultation with the artistic community had preceded his radical restructuring of the arts funding infrastructure, and Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore prepared to fight to save the Powerhouse Museum from property developers, the Australian Ballet recorded an astonishing $8.5 million dollar surplus in it 2014 Annual Report. Figures like this are rare as hens’ teeth in the arts, so how did this organisation register such a favourable result? The answer has some very intriguing implications for the way the arts are supported. Australian Ballet received a phenomenal amount of financial support through donations and philanthropy – to the tune of $9 million. Lets just take a minute to think about that: $9 million donated by ardent lovers of the magnificent art form that is ballet, who believe passionately that it was……

Hearing the pioneering collaboration between beatboxer Tom Thum and Queensland Symphony Orchestra, I asked myself – when was the last time a musical instrument came from a different world into the orchestra, and stayed? The trombone, perhaps? Until Beethoven’s 5th and 6th symphonies, the trombone was a church instrument. With its ecclesiastical connotations – like organ music – it was an utterly alien sound in a concert hall. Yet nowadays it’s unthinkable to have a symphony orchestra without trombones. Many things start as novelties or even downright weird and end up a universal truth.  I’d love to see Current end up a universal truth in the Brisbane calendar. This is the brand-new new music initiative of Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and their Tom Thum concert was the runaway hit. QSO had to put a second concert on sale after the first sold out, a triumphant change to new music concerts having to paper their houses. Within a frame of 29 hours, Current comprised 13 events: one large orchestral concert, three chamber orchestra concerts, an installation-type performance outdoors, eight mini-recitals of chamber music, choral music and jazz, plus – and this innovation was invisible to the public because it was a closed-set…

A joyous disc of Mozart to forget the week’s financial woes. This week has seen news of financial shenanigans at the Federal Government level as well as reports of staff cuts and restructuring at Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium. The announcement in the budget that George Brandis intends to take over $100 million from the Australia Council and reassign it to his Arts Ministry has received a mixed response. “Arts funding has until now been limited almost exclusively to projects favoured by the Australia Council,” said a statement from Senator Brandis’ office amounting to a tacit slap on the wrist. “The National Programme for Excellence will make funding available to a wider range of arts companies and arts practitioners, while at the same time respecting the preferences and tastes of Australia’s audiences. This will allow for a truly national approach to arts funding.” Brandis is a known keen supporter of the arts, attending a wide range of events and generally proving well informed. On the other hand, he has been accused in the past of bypassing proper channels to channel money into ‘favourite causes’ such as the Australian Ballet School or Melba Records. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per…

The good news and the bad news... but mostly the good news.

Composer Lyle Chan reveals the startling effect of Sydney siege on the creation of his new orchestral work. Untitled (Dec 2014) was begun as a ‘party piece’ for orchestra. When the Queensland Symphony Orchestra asked if I had a piece to contribute to its new music initiative, Current, I wanted to give them a fun, glittering showpiece. I wrote about 3 minutes of high- energy frolicking, almost mischievous music before, out of nowhere, came the Sydney hostage crisis.    I tried to ignore it but got absorbed into watching it unfold on TV. Martin Place is a 10-min walk from my home across Woolloomooloo Bay and I’m there a few times a week. That day I rescheduled my meetings in the area because it was out of bounds, surrounded by police, but my friends who worked inside the cordoned area were not allowed to leave, which distressed them because of speculations a bomb could go off at any time. I went to bed that night with no further information and woke early the next morning to news of the saved and the killed. I walked to Martin Place that morning and saw the start of the floral tributes. As I…

Heldentenor Stuart Skelton has made a tough call, but probably the right one. The most disappointing news for many this week will have been the withdrawal from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Tristan and Isolde of Aussie heldentenor par excellence Stuart Skelton. His role debut will now take place in Baden-Baden next year instead of on his home turf – and no one is sorrier, I suspect, than Stuart. A singer known for his resilience and reliability, this will have been a difficult call to make. We are all grateful to Lance Ryan stepping in to fill the breach. As the press release made clear, Stuart had suffered earlier in the year from a nasty chest infection, and although he is perfectly well now, it set back his preparation for what most Wagnerian singers would consider one of the pinnacles of the repertoire. He simply didn’t have enough time left to work the role into his body to his – and what he would consider equally important – the audiences’ likely satisfaction. This kind of thing simply goes to show that far from the stereotype of the fat lady singing, today’s opera stars need to be as match fit as a world-class athlete. Having interviewed…

Artistic Director Shona McCullagh discusses New Zealand Dance Company’s new ANZAC tribute, Rotunda. The New Zealand Dance Company is committed to creating new connections to dance and collaborating deeply. Our new piece, Rotunda, is a major work for our company – a heartfelt piece that honours the role brass bands have played in New Zealand society since 1845. It is also a living memorial to the loss of innocent, good young men who were slaughtered or left traumatised by the events of often ill-planned battles during the First World War. The work draws from the extraordinary courage and indomitable spirit of NZ and Australian men, and the women who set about running the country with aching hearts and dread that their men might not return. And so very many didn’t. Of the 18,166 New Zealanders who died in the First World War: 12,483 lie in France and Belgium, 2,721 died at Gallipoli and 381 died in Sinai and Palestine. Many of the dead lie in unknown graves: 4,227 in France and Belgium, 1,684 at Gallipoli and 61 in Sinai and Palestine. The Australian numbers are even more atrocious making this work so relevant to us all. One of the missing dead in…

We do Handel’s Messiah every Good Friday. I’ve sung it two times so far and it doesn’t get any easier. I have to get up at 6.20am Tuesdays to Fridays for rehearsal every week but at Easter and Christmas there are extra practices including today at 7.45 am and then again from 4.15 til 8.30. And it’s our first day of “holidays”!! The other day we finished at 9.30 at night and then had an early morning session! Not that I’m complaining (much). Messiah is an awesome piece of music and it’s so great to hear all those instruments in the cathedral. The trumpets and drums are really loud. Sometimes the choir has extra people in it (parents and members of the church) and we can sound really loud too. Choral music sounds extra good at St Andrews because it bounces off all the sandstone walls and columns. Also in the solos you get to look around at all the beautiful stained glass windows and stuff and imagine you’re back in the olden days. My friends who sing some of the solos are amazing – they have even performed for Opera Australia and in The Lion King. Sometimes, after the…

Composer Cyrus Meurant talks collaboration, choreography and being part of a collective. In working with choreographers and theatre directors I have been inspired to compose music I would otherwise never have imagined. It is also through this collaboration that artists can create rich and dynamic works, with the potential of engaging an audience in a fundamental way. In performing my score for Klash – composed for the National College of Dance in 2012 – three musicians were on mobile platforms and were moved around the stage throughout the work. The various instrumental configurations were integral to the structure and drama of the work. We were able to explore the physicality of the musician’s movements in performance and how various approaches to spatial and instrumental layout can influence the form and content of a composition. The dancers were also able to physically interact with and respond to the musicians. For another recent dance collaboration, Wild Life, I performed solo violin from the Juliet balcony in the Civic Theatre. During the development of the work I was also able to compose on the violin in the dance studio and often during rehearsals. This process of development yielded a far more integrated… Continue…

The Sydney Opera House trumpets new composition talent with their Fanfare Competition. The Fanfare Competition is a new initiative by the Sydney-based youth arts organisation Artology, in conjunction with the Sydney Opera House and the Australian Youth Orchestra. It was modelled on the 2009 Royal Opera House Fanfare competition in London, and brought to Australia by Artology Managing Director, Anna Cerneaz. In its first year of running, 2014, the competition received over 120 submissions from young composers aged 12-21, from all over Australia. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 8 inaugural finalists. The company plans to run a competition every year, making the fanfares into a feature of the iconic building: ‘when they [audiences] find out how the fanfares came about they’re actually going to come I imagine, just to listen to the fanfares’ – Louise Herron, CEO of the Sydney Opera House, 2014. The competition required us to submit a short-score of our ideas; and upon being selected, we were flown to Sydney to develop and orchestrate those ideas under the mentorship of composer Dr Nicholas Vines.  At the workshop, I met some extremely talented colleagues, many of whom have become good friends. What struck me…

Composers Lisa Cheney and Peggy Polias assess the current state of composition.

Amy Macpherson, Co-director of contemporary dance company Phantom Limbs takes us inside their latest work.