Culture Buff

Wozzeck (courtesy Opera Australia) Photo:Ruth Walz

Wozzeck

12 January 2019 9:00 am

The story is bleak, very bleak; the music bleak and very loud, yet Wozzeck is regarded as an outstanding 20th…

Beware of Pity

5 January 2019 9:00 am

Festivals are an opportunity to present performances that might not otherwise be seen; there are several in this year’s Sydney…

Female statue head Villa Casali, Italy, 55-65 CE marble. © Trustees of the British Museum, 2018. All rights reserved.

Female statue head Villa Casali

15 December 2018 9:00 am

Most of us love Rome while still being a little overwhelmed by it. The Roman Empire’s geographical spread and duration…

Banjo

8 December 2018 9:00 am

He was a solicitor, journalist,war correspondent, soldier, grazier but, most importantly, a poet. Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson CBE (1864-1941) was…

John William Waterhouse.The Lady of Shalott 1888 oil on canvas.

1 December 2018 9:00 am

That a poet could enjoy huge popularity in mid-career and still be popularly admired more than a century after his…

Richard Tognetti and the ACO

24 November 2018 9:00 am

As leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti has never done quite what was expected, other than to be…

Helen Thomson and Caroline Brazier

17 November 2018 9:00 am

By my count, the 2019 Season will be the 40th produced by the Sydney Theatre Company. The coming season is…

Nadine Garner

10 November 2018 9:00 am

As the most subscribed theatre company in the country, the Melbourne Theatre Company can be deservedly proud of its long…

Gail Kelly by Paul Newton

3 November 2018 9:00 am

Australians have a particular affection for portraits as evidenced by the popular Archibald and Moran portrait prizes and Anh Do’s…

Paul Cézanne Fruit 1879/80

27 October 2018 9:00 am

This year both Melbourne and Sydney have major exhibitions of ‘modern masters’. The big Winter show from New York, MoMA…

Mitchell Galleries

20 October 2018 9:00 am

One of the loveliest and best-loved buildings in Sydney, the Mitchell Building of the State Library of NSW is enjoying…

Stuart Devlin candelabras (1980-81) in Dining Room

13 October 2018 9:00 am

Every day, Australians carry some of his work in their pockets. Stuart Devlin (1931-2018) designed the decimal currency introduced in…

Artists of The Australian Ballet

6 October 2018 9:00 am

There is a lot of dance news about at the moment. The Australian Ballet’s new version of Spartacus, to the…

Some Brandenburg section leaders

29 September 2018 9:00 am

‘Celebrating 30 Years of Baroque’ is Paul Dyer’s theme of the 2019 Season of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra; 30 years…

Kate Morton

22 September 2018 9:00 am

She was born in a small town in South Australia, later grew up on Tamborine Mountain and, when aged barely…

Evita and Che

15 September 2018 9:00 am

‘The people adore me/ So, Christian Dior me’ is just one of the many witty and pointed couplets written by…

Michael Fabiano

8 September 2018 9:00 am

There will be a lot going on at Opera Australia in 2019 with arguably the most interesting repertoire for a…

Richard Tognetti [Photo: Zan Wimberley]

Richard Tognetti

1 September 2018 9:00 am

Going from strength to strength, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s recently announced 2019 Season shows no flagging of inspiration or ambition.…

Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984)

25 August 2018 9:00 am

Exhibitions prior to major art auctions can be a wonderful way to view works by significant artists that may not…

The House

18 August 2018 9:00 am

The House is the economically direct title of a new book about  ‘the dramatic story of the Sydney Opera House…

Lang Lang in an improbable situation

11 August 2018 9:00 am

An internationally admired orchestra in a beautiful hall: that’s the Melbourne Symphony in Hamer Hall of the Victorian Arts Centre.…

Photo: Rene Vaile

Wayne Blair

4 August 2018 9:00 am

Such a lovely title, it’s hard to believe that The Long Forgotten Dream hasn’t been used before. The title belongs…

John Russell. The terraces at Monte Cassino c1889 Private collection, courtesy Nevill Keating Pictures, London, on loan to the National Gallery, London.

John Russell

28 July 2018 9:00 am

Once he was known as ‘Australia’s lost impressionist’ and referred to as John Peter Russell. Now at the Art Gallery…

Cast members of An Ideal Husband

21 July 2018 9:00 am

He was already skating on thin ice when Oscar Wilde opened his newest play at the Haymarket Theatre on 3…

Aida

14 July 2018 9:00 am

Aida was commissioned from Giuseppe Verdi to celebrate the opening of the Opera House in Cairo in early 1871, the…