Arts and culture
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It may well be the most stimulating theatre presentation of the year and it is just what the most prestigious…
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If your backyard is good enough to have been considered for inclusion in the Open Garden Scheme then I’m sorry…
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There’s never been a better time to be… in Canberra. Parliament isn’t sitting, there’s decent accommodation at reasonable rates; best…
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An unlikely location for a theatre; the large pre-fab hall, in which I sat for my final exams at UNSW,…
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Ceylon was the exotic setting for the opera The Pearl Fishers. It premiered in Paris in 1863; its composer Georges…
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It may be the best thing to come out of Belgium after chocolates. Or even the only good thing after…
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Time for a quick glance over my shoulder at the passing year. Culturally it was busy enough but with little…
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We are now officially in summer and the beach season. The importance of the beach in our national self-image the…
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In 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, one of the most popular operas in Paris was Richard Coeur-de-Lion.…
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The first performance of King Lear took place in 1606 barely three years after James IV of Scotland had inherited…
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James Bond as played by Daniel Craig in the new movie Spectre might have been surprised to find himself sharing…
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Melbourne opera-goers are in for a surprise: a production of a masterpiece, set in an appropriate period with naturalistic sets…
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Mark Twain famously said ‘Golf is a good walk … ruined’. Bondi locals possibly think that Sculpture by the Sea…
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Edward Albee posed the question in 1962: ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ The answer, it seems, is no one. There’s…
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A first novel, written in a ‘gothic’ style while the author was undertaking a creative writing course, published in 2000…
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It’s a fairly assertive title: The Greats -Masterpieces of the National Galleries of Scotland. The assertiveness is justified; the galleries…
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1989 saw the establishment by Paul Dyer of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra with the assistance of Bruce Applebaum as General…
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The popularity of Writers’ Festivals is a growing cultural phenomenon matched by the boom in book groups. Now, book groups…
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He may not be a household name, yet, but Peter Boggs is one of our outstanding painters. His works hang…
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The Australian Chamber Orchestra is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the appointment of Richard Tognetti as its Artistic Director. That…
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It is not possible to imagine classical ballet without the music of Tchaikovsky. The scores of his three full length…
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The oldest professional orchestra in Australia with the longest continuous history, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will next year celebrate its…
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Last week’s opening by the Sydney Theatre Company of The Present was a high water mark in its history. Adapted…
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‘I Love a Piano’ sang Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, courtesy of Irving Berlin, in Easter Parade. So do most…
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It was at a Ball at the Trocadero in August 1955, sixty years ago this month, that I first heard…
