Arts and culture
Cast members of An Ideal Husband
He was already skating on thin ice when Oscar Wilde opened his newest play at the Haymarket Theatre on 3…
Aida
Aida was commissioned from Giuseppe Verdi to celebrate the opening of the Opera House in Cairo in early 1871, the…
Ben Jacks
A concert in the schedule of the Sydney Symphony recently caught my eye: Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3 and his…
The Wharf and its neighbour
After 35 years on The Wharf at Walsh Bay, the Sydney Theatre Company has moved out. But it will be…
Giorgio de Chirico Gare Montparnasse
The other morning, the Director of MoMA from New York, Glenn D Lowry was on ABC Breakfast. He was knowledgable…
Michael Lewis as Rigoletto
Sir Walter Scott published The Bride of Lammermoor in 1819 as one of his hugely successful Waverley novels which captured…
Kororadika Beach by Augustus Earle
Antiquarians can seem an exotic group to many of us and yet there are several successful dealers in this country,…
Culture buff
George Bernard Shaw called it ‘a chronicle play’, I suppose a sort of docudrama if a superior one. Saint Joan…
Emma Pearson
A remarkable achievement; since its inception in 2002, Pinchgut Opera has staged 20 rarely performed operas, many for the first…
Tafelmusik – Bach and His World
One of the most admired music ensembles in the world is touring for Musica Viva Australia until 4 June (Perth,…
Girls at the Piano
We need to remind ourselves that there was once a time when there were no Keynesian socialist bureaucracies determining ‘cultural…
Marta Dusseldorp
Nora walks out and shuts the door behind her; shuts the door on her children, her husband, her life to…
The Firebird – choreography by Liam Scarlett
Not every young Artistic Director writes a best-selling memoir that is made into a successful feature film. Mao’s Last Dancer…
Heather Mitchell
This probably is a bad idea; I mean writing a column about a transgender person. Even Germain Greer got herself…
Installation view Colours of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay
The French are sharing some of their beautiful visual heritage with us right now. At the AGNSW are the wonderful…
Cartier London Halo Tiara 1936
We’ve grown used to fashion and related objects being the subject of exhibitions at our major galleries but a commercially…
Kathryn Stott
It may not be paradise in every respect, but Townsville in mid-winter could be a reasonable approximation. The Australian Festival…
ACO at the Barbican
As Australians, we have a need to be recognised ‘overseas’. International tours by Australian performing arts groups have been an…
Russell Crowe
The things we collect can say a great deal about us; so can the way we disperse a collection. The…
Artists of The Australian Ballet, Murphy
An entire dance program honouring the work of a single person is a rare honour. The Australian Ballet has graciously…
My sole desire c1500 from The Lady and the Unicorn series Musée de Cluny
Almost a festival of Prosper Mérimée: at the Opera House we have performances of Carmen which is based on his…
Rinat Shaham (Carmen) & Marcelo Puente (Don José)
There was an intriguing surprise at a fine performance of Carmen last week; the surtitles carrying the translation of the…
Paula and Helen Thomson in Top Girls
Caryl Churchill is getting on a bit; I know because she was born just two days after me. She is…
Railways and the Raj
Many of our acquaintances now rarely watch 7.30, partly out of irritation with the succession of whingers and trade union…
Morning Star, 2017
President Macron is lending the Bayeux Tapestry for exhibition in the British Museum; the medieval tapestry masterpiece The Lady and…
