Classic Melbourne

Saturday night was the second time in recent years that a performance of Anton Bruckner’s magnificent Te Deum (1884) has been presented at All Saints Anglican Church, St Kilda. As a space consecrated in the late nineteenth century, it provides a more appropriate setting for two major sacred choral works composed around the same time than any concert hall, no matter how splend...

Instead of the “murder and mayhem” of the 70th Anniversary Celebration of Australian Opera, this celebration was offered as an evening of “operatic wit, whimsy and unforgettable song”. Again, we saw Victorian Opera’s Artistic Director, Stuart Maunder, guiding the ship. As one who has “worshipped at the [G&S] shrine” since 1965, when he first saw The Pirates of Penzanc...

For a string quartet, it’s all about chemistry; and the longer a group plays together, the tighter the bond.

So, how does a quartet cope with an unanticipated absence mid-tour? In its stride, if the quartet is the Australian String Quartet (ASQ), and the substitute is Melbourne-based violinist/violist Jenny Khafagi. During the ASQ’s “Interwoven” tour, Khafagi was c...

Presented by the MSO Wind Ensemble, this concert was a rare treat for Melbourne’s regular concertgoers and admirers of music for wind groups. As one of three programs in the MSO’s Sonic Spectacular series, Gran Partita comprised a performance of Richard Strauss’s Sonatina No. 1 in F major, Aus der Werkstatt eines Invaliden (From an Invalid’s Workshop)

What a night! Opera Australia’s personable and articulate CEO, Alex Budd, launched Melbourne’s celebration of the company’s 70th Anniversary with a few words about its preeminent role in Australian cultural life. In a brief survey of highlights, the Acknowledgment of Country assumed special resonance given his mention of Leah Purcell’s opera, The Drover’s Wife, which...