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?...
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...
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....
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...