Clive Paget is a former Limelight Editor, now Editor-at-Large, and a tour leader for Limelight Arts Travel. Based in London after three years in New York, he writes for The Guardian, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, Musical America and Opera News. Before moving to Australia, he directed and developed new musical theatre for London’s National Theatre.
The Finnish maestro discusses the joys of Sibelius’s symphonies and thoughts on his second cycle. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Charles Dutoit will direct the composer’s tribute to Rimsky-Korsakov with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in June 2017. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Inspired musical values and post-Trump passions let down by awkward staging.
★★★★☆ Rules are joyfully bent and broken in four explorations of the new. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★½ Lise Lindstrom’s Brünnhilde crowns climax of Melbourne Ring. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★½ Vocal heroics and visual magic in Armfield’s theatrical Siegfried. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Hot Aussie HIPsters bring out Joseph Haydn’s genial side.
Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio presents an Enlightenment-eye view of the Orient filled with the curiosity of the West for a culture that had receded from warlike enemy to mesmerising neighbour. David McVicar’s genius is to set it in period in this superbly acted production from Glyndebourne. Vicki Mortimer’s warm, detailed designs capture the lure of the Ottoman Empire while McVicar explores the tension between the Pasha (a convert to Islam – a fact usually cut) and Europeans whose ideas of freedom are challenged by a seductive captivity. Konstanze must choose between a sexy, decent man and a contracted marriage to a bit of a stuffed shirt. The dangerous reality of cultural incompatibility is played out between the feisty Blonde and the unmannerly Osmin. Robin Ticciati conducts the period Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with style and verve. Sally Matthews is a noble-voiced Kostanze, secure of coloratura. Martern aller Arten, set dangerously in the Pasha’s bedroom is electric. Edgaras Montvidas is slightly open-toned as Belmonte, but captures the prig who thinks shouting makes foreigners understand him better. Tobias Kehrer is a magnificent Osmin, a vocal dead ringer for Gottlob Frick, perfectly matched by Mari Eriksmoen’s… Continue reading Get unlimited…
Thoughtful second part to Armfield's Ring transports us to soprano heaven.
The American soprano reflects on the dangers of typecasting and the status of Gershwin’s opera today. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★☆ The showgirls return as Ring revival kicks off in style. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
US composers last century sought something distinctively American. Was it under their noses the whole time?
Opera Australia’s Valkyrie talks about the highs, the lows, the hojotohos and how Anna Wintour inspires her interpretation. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
