Culture Buff
Culture buff
Ceylon was the exotic setting for the opera The Pearl Fishers. It premiered in Paris in 1863; its composer Georges…
Culture buff
It may be the best thing to come out of Belgium after chocolates. Or even the only good thing after…
Culture Buff
Time for a quick glance over my shoulder at the passing year. Culturally it was busy enough but with little…
Culture buff
We are now officially in summer and the beach season. The importance of the beach in our national self-image the…
Culture buff
In 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, one of the most popular operas in Paris was Richard Coeur-de-Lion.…
Culture buff
The first performance of King Lear took place in 1606 barely three years after James IV of Scotland had inherited…
Culture buff
James Bond as played by Daniel Craig in the new movie Spectre might have been surprised to find himself sharing…
Culture buff
Melbourne opera-goers are in for a surprise: a production of a masterpiece, set in an appropriate period with naturalistic sets…
Culture Buff
Mark Twain famously said ‘Golf is a good walk … ruined’. Bondi locals possibly think that Sculpture by the Sea…
Culture buff
Edward Albee posed the question in 1962: ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ The answer, it seems, is no one. There’s…
Culture buff
A first novel, written in a ‘gothic’ style while the author was undertaking a creative writing course, published in 2000…
Culture buff
It’s a fairly assertive title: The Greats -Masterpieces of the National Galleries of Scotland. The assertiveness is justified; the galleries…
Culture buff
1989 saw the establishment by Paul Dyer of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra with the assistance of Bruce Applebaum as General…
Culture buff
The popularity of Writers’ Festivals is a growing cultural phenomenon matched by the boom in book groups. Now, book groups…
Culture buff
He may not be a household name, yet, but Peter Boggs is one of our outstanding painters. His works hang…
Culture buff
The Australian Chamber Orchestra is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the appointment of Richard Tognetti as its Artistic Director. That…
Culture buff
It is not possible to imagine classical ballet without the music of Tchaikovsky. The scores of his three full length…
Culture buff
The oldest professional orchestra in Australia with the longest continuous history, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will next year celebrate its…
Culture buff
Last week’s opening by the Sydney Theatre Company of The Present was a high water mark in its history. Adapted…
Culture buff
‘I Love a Piano’ sang Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, courtesy of Irving Berlin, in Easter Parade. So do most…
Culture buff
It was at a Ball at the Trocadero in August 1955, sixty years ago this month, that I first heard…
Culture buff
It is an out and out masterpiece so any new production of The Marriage of Figaro matters a great deal.…
Culture buff
It’s the play with no name, literally. Chekhov’s first play, written in 1878, was never completed despite its estimated five…
Culture buff
It was a sparkling winter morning when the Art Gallery of NSW revealed the 47 finalists for the Archibald Prize…
Culture buff
My 18-year old consultant can’t understand why I haven’t written a column about games – video and computer games, that…
