On the afternoon of Saturday 25th October I arrived in Geelong for a concert in Costa Hall, a programme that included Beethoven’s First and Eighth Symphonies and two flute concertos. Two Beethoven symphonies in one concert - who wouldn’t fly a thousand miles for that?...
I was given Apeirogon as a present during the recent Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The festival itself was great fun, full of music and good company. Colum McCann’s book is another matter. It’s hard and heartbreaking and finishing it brings a sense of relief...
From the Rugby Championship to the World Cup, the pattern is clear: too many matches are being tilted not by players but by referees’ interpretations.The recent southern hemisphere championship has once again left players, coaches, and supporters shaking their heads. South Africa, New Zealand, Australia,...
Carmen, Figaro and Bohème playing on successive nights is a good excuse to head to Sydney for some opera. Besides, I have a personal connection with Figaro: back in 1971, before the Opera House opened, I was an extra in the marriage scenes of Opera...
Once upon a time passengers on commercial airlines were offered a choice of magazines. You were asked to leave them on the plane but in May 1983 on a Pan Am flight from Bombay to London when I was unable to finish an article, What...
[Continued from Part 3] St Petersburg Andrei’s apartment was comfortable and spacious with room for his studio. His artistic style might be described as Post-Impressionist and there are echoes of Gauguin and Cézanne as this photo from my brother’s gallery shows. Andrei considers himself Siberian and spent...
Friday afternoon’s lecture at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music has stayed with me more than most. Professors David McAlpine and Chi Lo from Macquarie University - both leading researchers into hearing loss and auditory neuroscience - spoke about music and the listening brain. It...
At a morning concert during the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, The Death of Juliet - Prokofiev’s final scene from Romeo and Juliet, arranged for viola and piano by Vadim Borisovsky - was performed with great poise by Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt and Joseph Havlat....
[Continued from Part 2] Moscow Moscow, K0. Day 8. Having arranged to meet Ulrich for lunch the following day I set out for a police station to have my visa registered. Once I realised it was an ‘out of town’ station I had my guide call his...
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music 2025 is still unfolding, but last night’s performance of a scaled-down Mahler Symphony No. 10 was a bold musical statement. Scored for just 17 players and conducted by Michael Collins, this interpretation used Michelle Castelletti’s chamber arrangement, bringing Mahler’s vast...