As Australia and indeed most of the western world looks forward to 2021 being a year where some sense of normalcy returns I asked MD Pepe Newton if the readers of classikON might find a series of interviews with composers…
Review: Australian Chamber Choir – music that elevates your inner being
The Australian Chamber Choir Scots Church Melbourne, Sunday April 18, 2021 Music by Brahms, John Tavener and Fauré In 2016, on a wonderful adventure of art and music, I spent six weeks in Paris and one of my treats was…
CD Review: Christopher Pidcock | Immersed in Bach
One of Australia’s most versatile and thoroughly musical cellists Christopher Pidcock has recently released a wonderfully inventive CD of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 4 in E flat BWV1010 and has interspersed with each of the 6 movements a solo cello…
Review: ‘ACC5’ sweet & concise
Australian Chamber Choir – Water Music Sunday 15th November Performed by: The Australian Chamber Choir’s ACC5 directed by Lucien Fischer Amelia Jones and Ailsa Webb – Soprano Elizabeth Anderson – Contralto Anish Nair – Tenor Lucien Fischer – Bass In…
CD Review: Michael Kieran Harvey’s Greta
Greta Composed and performed by Michael Kieran Harvey Michael Kieran Harvey is one of Australia’s cultural icons – a warrior for causes both artistic and for those that will ensure our planet heals after centuries of environmental abuse. At the…
CD Review: Australian Chamber Choir’s Baroque Christmas
I first came across the Australian Chamber Choir several years ago when classikON asked me to review one of their performances in Sydney. In 2017 I wrote of hearing for the first time this performance ensemble; ‘Sometimes you go to…
in Focus | CD Review
in FOCUS CD Music by eight composers from diverse musical backgrounds and countries. For us here in Australia the main interest in this fascinating CD emanating from London is in the music of the Melbourne composer, Andrián Pertout. Last year…
What we’ve been up to … Alan and Amelia
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO | This series, introduced in our classikON What’s ON (subscribe here), shares our Ambassadors thoughts at this time. They are voices of the audience, with a range of knowledge and history with music, for some…
Ensemble Offspring’s Epic Fragments had virtuosic energy and exquisite ‘very very soft’
In a small and quaintly repurposed venue in Newtown, Ensemble Offspring presented a one hour concert of miniatures written over the last hundred or so years from an exquisite performance of Alban Berg’s Vier Stucke Op.5 (1913) to local composer…
Lorelei Dowling’s “I Was Like Wow” champions the music of recent times
Lorelei Dowling is one of many Australian musicians who have created seriously impressive careers outside of her native land and one that proves that to have a major solo career, and one where you specialize in a branch of music…
The Art of Disappearing composed by Cameron Lam has great variety of emotional and musical attitudes
A recent recording release devoted to music of young Sydney composer Cameron Lam (b.1989) shows that the art of vocal writing is safe in the hands of the younger generation of Australian composers. At around 65 minutes The Art of…
Australian Chamber Choir’s “Keys to Heaven” showcased their sumptuous sound
In the recently restored and now even more exquisite Christ Church St Laurence, the Australian Chamber Choir presented Keys to Heaven, a concert of music dating from the late 1400’s through to about 1640. The sumptuous sound of one of…
Strelitzia Ensemble’s First Impressions impressed with its innovative & intriguing program of women composers
The concert in the visually delightful Melbourne Recital Centre Primrose Potter Salon by the piano trio Strelitzia showcased music by four women composers. This venue tends to emphasise bass sonorities but with violinist Lucy Warren leading there was never a…
Australia Ensemble’s Heart*Beat was live music at its exhilarating best
Before the music started at this Australia Ensemble concert, Dene Olding gave thanks to the late Justice Jane Mathews for all her support to music in Sydney and that the evening’s music was dedicated to her memory. Jane loved attending…
Scots’ Church Choir & Melbourne Chamber Orchestra’s gift to the people of Melbourne
What a gift to the people of Melbourne – a free performance on Sunday 21st April by The Scots’ Church Choir and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra of one of the masterpieces of the Baroque era – J.S. Bach’s Mass in…
Danaë Killian is one of Melbourne’s piano treasures
On Saturday 20th April 2019, Dr. Danaë Killian gave a short piano recital which included fine performances of Mozart and Liszt and she championed the music of four composers of her city. From a star afar, a 2-minute miniature by…
Australian Chamber Choir’s “St John Passion” an immersive, enthralling & transcendent experience
Disclaimer: The St John Passion by J.S. Bach is my favourite work of all time. I am in love with this composition. At nigh on 2 hours of music the St John Passion is a journey with the greatest composer…
Andrián Pertout’s monumental piano work ‘Luz Meridional’ is full of delights
Rarely do I hear a new work that is so strong and meaningful and as full of so many delights as Andrián Pertout’s monumental piano work Luz Meridional. This is singularly one of the most important piano compositions ever written…
Ensemble Three recording Despite Our Silent Elders shows directions in new music in Australia
The CD is named after the longest work on the recording, Elliott Hughes’ Despite Our Silent Elders. At just under 16 minutes this straightforward composition allows the stellar talents of Joel Brennan, trumpet, trombonist Don Immel and guitarist Ken Murray…
Duo Blockstix recording of Works for percussion and recorder
This recently released CD of Australian works is a pleasing addition to the recorded repertoire of local composers and is testament to the skills of the multi-talented and virtuosic performers Alicia Crossley and Joshua Hill. Blockstix Duo display not only…