Churchill Trust report author David Barnard is "irresponsible" and "self-interested," says Opera Queensland's Lindy Hume.

Vocal stars shine in a rare Verdi gem that deserves to be better known.

“What we stand to lose today is terrible,” Artistic Directors tell Government Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

There are few more tantalising torsos to be found in the history of opera than that of Donizetti’s abandoned Le Duc d’Albe. Commissioned to write two works for the Paris Opéra in 1839, the Italian composer, newly resident in the French capital, duly set out to adapt his Poliuto as the more Gallically apposite Les Martyrs, while simultaneously beginning work on the opera whose remains we have here. It is unclear why that second project never came to fruition. Two acts were composed and the remainder planned out when problems arose. Firstly, Donizetti was in a queue behind Halévy and Meyerbeer, neither of whom seemed in any hurry to deliver their commissions. Then there were rumours of a change of prima donna in the offing, potentially rendering his plans for writing a radical spitfire heroine obsolete.  Years dragged by. In 1845, one of the librettists, Eugène Scribe, sued the management to free up his text. Donizetti considered doing the same, but a year later he was a spent force, confined to an asylum suffering the final stages of tertiary syphilis. In the end, Scribe tactfully changed the location to medieval Sicily under the Normans and flogged his idea to Verdi,…

Isn’t it way past time that everyone started singing from the same hymn sheet?

Seriously stellar cast features Aussie theatrical legends alongside fresh musical talent.

All God's creatures spring to life in Suzuki's thoughtful hands.

The second in our series of interviews with the jurors for the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Jessye Norman, live shower songs and a 600-voice Carmina Burana to star in new NSW festival. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

We talk with the soprano about life, musical loves and the remarkable year she experienced in 2015. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

★★★★☆ Good ideas, good voices and great conducting help a rum old story.

★★★½☆ Warm and witty paean to smarts, arts and life in the Big Apple. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in