A cracking inaugural concert gives the Robertson era the look of a potential age of gold. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Deadpan Shakespeare, Russian-style, makes for an evening of divine mayhem and madness. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

From interactive iPads to magical encounters on the mean streets of Perth, it’s comfortable shoes time at the Festival. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Reconciliation seems a distant dream play as Strindberg’s relocated classic reopens old wounds. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Canberra and Willoughby Symphony chief spreads his wings and expands his interests abroad. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Handa Opera on the Harbour, the Melbourne Ring and Stuart Skelton all make this year’s nominations. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

High-octane storytelling and a Dancing with the Stars moment make for a memorable night of Israeli dance. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös has plenty of operatic experience having produced versions of Angels in America and Chekov’s Three Sisters. His 2008 setting of a short story by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, then, might seem to promise more, but despite this excellent Glyndebourne cast recording giving it every opportunity to land, it remains peculiarly elusive and, for all it’s South American colour, a slightly drab affair. The story concerns the increasingly obsessive love of a priest for a 12-year-old girl suspected of contracting rabies after being bitten by a dog. Oddly, her age appears not to be an issue here, and sung by the capable Allison Bell, she simply comes across as a young woman – albeit one given to a good old scream now and again. There’s a greater tension between the world of the local ‘natives’, accused by the Catholic hierarchy of superstition, and the harsh attempts by the Bishop and Abbess to exorcise Sierva’s ‘demon’. Perhaps the problem is that the short story is just that – short. The characters lack background and relationships are sketchy. The libretto is skillfully adapted, but too often the score seems to drift along when it should seize the dramatic possibilities. Many…

Otello on an aircraft carrier sails on a sea of orchestral pleasures if short of a proper captain at the helm. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Takashi Niigaki composed his music for 20 years and says Mamoru Samuragochi isn’t even deaf. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Mamoru Samuragochi, dubbed the Japanese Beethoven, admits paying another composer. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Zambello’s handsome Carmen is graced by some fine performances, and not just from the horses.