Culture Buff
Julia Baird
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning sovereign in British history surpassing Queen Victoria who is the subject…
Jim Maxwel
Two of the ABC’s most admired radio presenters have published books that are perfect holiday reading: Richard Fidler’s Ghost Empire…
Royal Opera House production of King Roger
Soon after the Norman Conquest of England (1066 and all that) Count Roger Hauteville of Normandy took control of Sicily.…
Valda Wilson as Theodora
Mostly I’m more interested in what is to come than in what’s already been, but I have let my mind…
Arthur Streeton And the Sunlight Clasps the Earth 1895
Last week you could have done some Christmas shopping at the Mossgreen and Sotheby’s art auctions in Sydney. You might…
The kiss Auguste Rodin (1901-04)
Local writers have been repurposing Kenneth Clark’s 1958 differentiation of the nude from naked in discussing the current exhibition at…
Rose Byrne at rehearsal
David Mamet has a birthday next week; he’ll be turning 69. Quite a grand old man of American letters. Playwright…
Sebastian Smee
His schooling was at St Peter’s College, Adelaide followed by the University of Sydney where he graduated with honours in…
Valda Wilson sings Theodora
Antioch on the Orontes River, founded in late 4th century BC, became an important city in the East of the…
La Belle Époque
Farce is a difficult theatrical form to write and to stage successfully. Farce operates beyond reality; a farce must establish…
Ko wai Koe (Who Are You) 2005 from the series The Odyssey of Captain Cook by Marian Maguire
When colourful Tasmanian identity David Walsh announced his intention to build an art gallery in Hobart, open to the public…
Adam Frandsen plays The Architect
First performed 21 years ago, it’s title was The Eighth Wonder. This year it is being revived under a cumbersome…
David Hockney
Born in Yorkshire 79 years ago, he fell in love with the idea of California as a child via Hollywood…
Kevin Jackson as Nijinsky
In 1981, at the Sydney Theatre Company, we presented a stylish production of Chinchilla, a play by Robert David MacDonald…
Ladies in Black
David Jones administration may be moving to Melbourne but that won’t worry Sydney: it knows where DJ’s really belongs. Reading…
Paul Dyer & ABO section leaders
Announcements of 2017 seasons are coming thick and fast. The Sydney Theatre Company, having lost an artistic director on the…
Pirramimma, Wentworth Falls
Gardens are one of the indicators of civilisation. It is said that the first references to gardens occurred about 4,000…
Maxim Vengerov
Sir Andrew Davis, chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, described its recently announced 2017 season as ‘a marvellous feast…
Martha Argerich
This is the time of the year when the major performing arts companies announce their seasons for next year, beginning…
John Armstrong
‘What is art for?’ is a question too rarely asked. The question is posed, and answered, in the book Art…
Sculptures at Barangaroo
The most significant enhancement to Sydney Harbour since the restoration of Walsh Bay, the Barangaroo development is coming into its…
The Ring Cycle
Although it was premiered in Bayreuth in 1876, it was another 122 years before The Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner…
Archibald portraits
‘A portrait is a painting with something wrong about the mouth’ is a quotation attributed to John Singer Sargent, painter…
Disney’s Aladdin
To my parents in the 1930s, the name Disney meant Mickey Mouse. Now the name is associated not only with…
Mozart’s operas
A couple of weeks ago Opera Australia celebrated its 60th Anniversary with a gala concert at the Opera House. Surprisingly…
