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.
From found music and fart noises to finding your voice, four emerging dancemakers embrace the chance to invent the new. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Despite a sprawling plot that offers precious little in the way of hope for humanity, La Forza del Destino is blessed with one of Verdi’s finest scores. Martin Kušej’s psychologically complex staging for Bavarian State Opera won’t appeal if you’re looking for a chocolate-box production, but it packs a punch and makes much sense of this rambling Spanish Revengers Tragedy. Set in a world of scrappy urban warfare, the kind haunting many a modern war zone, it conveys a constant threat of terrorist atrocities. The direction has its unrealistic moments – people leap, roll and slide on and off the family dining table like nobody’s business, while simulated sex and Verdi don’t always gel – but its visceral nature tallies with the opera’s grim themes of honour and revenge, and graphic imagery of modern-day massacres will strikes chords. Musical standards are very high indeed, with Asher Fisch leading a dramatically punchy reading of the score. Kaufmann is thrilling, yet subtle as Don Alvaro and, despite a silly wig, puts in a convincing portrayal. Anja Harteros is a perfect, neurotic Leonora, voice rich and text imaginatively handled. Ludovic Tézier is a robust Don Carlo, Vitalij Kowaljow plays powerful double roles, and…
★★★★½ Weilerstein’s Dvořák demands to be seen as well as heard. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
State Symphony Orchestra Chairmen express collective disappointment at station’s less talk, more music direction. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The German Heldentenor in Opera Australia’s Ring talks stamina, directorial decisions and the joys of being dead. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
50 years on from his tragically early death, Clive Paget talks to Barbara Wunderlich about her father’s golden legacy. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Leading Australian Heldentenor discusses the long and winding road that lead up to his very first Tristan. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
She once hated her lessons so much she ran away three times, but now the coloratura soprano believes in the power of music.
Ivan Ilić reveals a long lost arrangement of Haydn’s Symphony No 44, “Mourning” for solo piano. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The Israeli violinist explains why he loves our open-minded culture, and what he finds in Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Shostakovich. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★½ Renaissance masters make sublime and welcome return to Oz. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
“I swallowed the whole thing and now it’s inside me,” says the French pianist of his teacher’s words of wisdom. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The socially savvy mezzo supports many causes, but after the Paris attacks she’s decided to go on the record.
