Culture Buff
Margaret Olley Pomegranates in a basket 1967
It’s a barely forgivable cliche to call them ‘the odd couple’; but Margaret Olley (1923-2011) and Ben Quilty (b. 1973)…
Brett Whiteley (1939-1992) Self portrait in the studio 1976
Painters and opera go together. Connected by passion and big gestures, it is not surprising that composers are drawn to…
Detail from the cover of WINX
It is possibly lying on a Royal bedside table. Certainly we know that a week or so ago, a copy…
On the Beach at Trouville 1870. Bequest of Michel Monet 1966
A magnificent Empire-style townhouse near the Bois de Boulogne contains a remarkable collection of paintings. On rue Louis Boilly, the…
Alyona Kovalyova and Jacopo Tissi in Diamonds Act 3 of Jewels
The name is a byword for exacting standards and grand tradition. The Bolshoi Ballet, at the peak of the ballet…
Anna Bolena
Where would we be without the Tudors? Certainly our shelves, stages and screens would seem empty without their era which…
Captain James Cook. Wedgwood and Bentley, c.1779
Three speakers: one is Director of The Royal Collection comprising over a million objects in 13 royal residences across the…
John Beard Edmund (+Bill)
I don’t imagine the newest member of the Royal Family was named after the Archibald Prize but it was a…
Broadway production of Come From Away
We all remember where we were when first hearing of 9/11. Some people were on trans-Atlantic flights. When the US…
Royal portraits at Bendigo
One of our favourite places in London is in St Martin’s Place, just around the corner from Trafalgar Square and…
![[Photo: Marco Borggreve]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Stanislav_Kochanovsky.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Stanislav Kochanovsky
The Melbourne Symphony was really on to something in 2017 when it engaged a young Russian conductor for a Rachmaninov…
Melbourne cast of Cosi
It was one of the most delightful Australian films of the 1990s. Directed by Mark Joffe, Cosi was also one…
Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating
This is a show for the nostalgic and the masochistic. The Gospel According to Paul is a one man show…
Self portrait 1934 Nora Heysen
In his new biography of Winston Churchill, Andrew Roberts notes that ‘it was said of Emperor Napoleon III that he…
Fernando Guimarães
The closing chapters of Homer’s Odyssey were the source for the opera regarded as the crowning achievement of composer Claudio…
Jacqueline McKenzie and Mandy McElhinney
Mosquitoes is not a particularly alluring title for Australians but it is the title of the latest play by Lucy…
Aurum by Alice Topp
Such a wonderful word: ‘verve’. Not used much now, it’s one of the words we owe to the French. We…
Kathryn Stott – Artistic Director
Townsville is bouncing back; it is also tuning up for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Battered by the recent…
Pinchgut Artistic Director Erin Helyard
A rarely performed sacred work by J. S. Bach and a masterpiece by Telemann that has never been performed in…
Bangarra 30th Anniversary
A year of 30th anniversaries; the latest is Bangarra Dance Theatre founded in 1989 by a South African Cheryl Stone…
Gerald Murnane
I know I’m a bit late getting to the party; the party that has formed to honour the writing of…
Paul Dyer
In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) made a rather grand job application to Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg. He…
Best production The Harp in the South
We are in the middle of the awards season for the entertainment industry. There have been the Golden Globes and…
Portrait of Leonard French by Hal Missingham
Arguably the most monumental of Australian artists, Leonard French experienced extraordinary fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some…
Kitty Flanagan
She’s bright and very funny. Kitty Flanagan was born and educated in Sydney. She is described as a stand-up comedian;…
