Matador la experienca, at Melbourne’s Meat Market reviewed by Alex First
May 1, 2022 by Alex First
Matador la experienca has taken the best of Matador and stepped it up a notch to create a totally electrifying and immersive showcase of talent. Read more
Downton Abbey: A New Era – a movie review by Alex First
April 28, 2022 by Alex First
Set in 1928, the matriarch of the Crawley family – The Dowager, Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) – may be in failing health, but she has lost none of her bite. Read more
Exciting concert at Sydney’s Great Synagogue
Vladamir Fanshil continues his series of intimate concerts with an amazing offering at Sydney’s Great Synagogue. Read more
Friday morning with Richard, Wolfgang, Carl and Felix
April 24, 2022 by Fraser Beath McEwing
A music review by Fraser Beath McEwing Read more
The Northman: a movie review by Alex First
April 20, 2022 by Alex First
Viking mythology gets a workout in Robert Eggers’ The Northman. Eggers is co-writer with Sjon (Lamb) and directs the bloodthirsty piece. Read more
Happening: a movie review by Alex First
April 13, 2022 by Alex First
Happening 90 mins: France in 1963 was a place where abortion was a dirty word. In short, it was illegal. Read more
Ambulance: a movie review by Alex First
April 6, 2022 by Alex First
Just a fairly typical day in the life of a paramedic. Hardly! Read more
Apr-28 8:30pm SBS-World Movies: Where Hands Touch
April 6, 2022 by J-Wire
Germany 1944. 15-year-old Leyna (Amandla Stenberg), daughter of a white German mother and a black father, lives in fear due to the colour of her skin. Read more
Mozart, Haydn and Schubert according to Umberto Clerici: A music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
March 31, 2022 by Fraser Beath McEwing
The SSO hit the popularity bullseye last night with symphonies by Mozart and Schubert along with Haydn’s trumpet concerto. Read more
The Phantom of the Opera: Victor Grynberg reviews the opera on the harbour
March 28, 2022 by Victor Grynberg
It’s 25 years since I first saw a production of THE PHANTOM, that time in the original production in London’s West End. Read more
Phantom of the Opera: Murray Dahm talks with Naomi Johns
March 25, 2022 by Murray Dahm
Naomi Johns was very excited to be involved in her first-ever Opera Australia publicity when I spoke with her ahead of the opening night of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s Phantom of the Opera production which opens tonight. Read more
La Juive: an opera about the forbidden love between a Jewish woman and Christian man
February 18, 2022 by Features Desk
After pandemic restrictions shut down its scheduled opening in 2020, acclaimed French director Olivier Py’s new production of La Juive will finally have its Australian premiere at the Sydney Opera House, this coming March. Read more
The Marriage of Figaro: an opera review by Victor Grynberg
January 31, 2022 by Victor Grynberg
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is widely regarded as the third member of the greatest classical composers trio, along with Johann Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. Read more
Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club – a theatre review by Hila Tsor
January 24, 2022 by Hila Tsor
Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club begins through the narrative voice of Linda (Bron Lim) who meets up with her fitness obsessed friend Sam Andrews (Georgina Symes) to talk about the past, and present. Read more
Shira Haas hosts IPO 85th anniversary
January 5, 2022 by Features Desk
Marking the 85th anniversary of the founding of Israel’s most revered and respected cultural institutions, the Israel Philharmonic (IPO) has released a unique Film chronicling the IPO’s history and its lasting impact on music both within Israel and across the globe. Read more
The Nazis Knew My Name: a remarkable story of survival and courage in Auschwitz
January 5, 2022 by J-Wire
This book is about Magda Hellinger. It is an amalgam of materials both from writings and stories shared by Magda as well as those she recounted through the oral histories programs of both Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre and the Visual History Foundation [often described as the Spielberg project]. Read more
The Covered Wife: a book review by Jeffrey Cohen
December 13, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Over the past year or so there seems to have been a fascination in one way or another with Orthodox Judaism. Read more
Come from Away: a musical review by Victor Grynberg
October 28, 2021 by Victor Grynberg
It would not be accurate to describe “Come from Away” as simply a musical. Read more
Can Robots be Jewish? And other pressing questions of Modern Life: a book review by Jeffrey Cohen
October 6, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Amy Schwartz serves as the opinion and book editor at Moment Magazine. Moment is one of the more independent and thought stimulating magazine in the Jewish world started by Leonid/Leibl Fein over fifty years ago and is still being published today as an independent but also inclusive journal. Read more
Frances Prince launches her book “Gift of Time”
October 5, 2021 by Nomi Kaltmann
A new book, written by well-known community personality Frances Prince is launching this week in Melbourne. Read more
Have I got a Cartoon for You: The Moment Magazine Book of Jewish Cartoons
October 3, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen reviews the book edited by Bob Mankoff. Read more
Aida: Tragic love story is operatic triumph – an opera review by Victor Grynberg
June 24, 2021 by Victor Grynberg
Re-staged in Sydney for the first time since its amazing success in 2018 this digital backgrounded production of Giuseppe Verdi’s blockbuster reached even greater heights this season. Read more
Clerici was going to swap his bow for a baton: Music review by Fraser Beath McEwing of a phantom concert
June 23, 2021 by Fraser Beath McEwing
Covid wiped out tonight’s concert, much to my disappointment. Read more
Big blasts from Beethoven and Brahms: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
June 17, 2021 by Fraser Beath McEwing
In last night’s Sydney Town Hall concert, Brahms was ranked above Beethoven – when the SSO performed Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, Op. 56, before intermission, with Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F Major in prime-time after. Read more
Vox out of the box: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
May 23, 2021 by Fraser Beath McEwing
The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs could hardly have offered a more popular choral work than Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana as the centrepiece of their concert in the Sydney Town Hall yesterday. Read more
Lots of luscious Ludwig: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
May 13, 2021 by Fraser Beath McEwing
The lure of familiar Beethoven was probably enough to virtually covid-fill the Town Hall last night, but for those with more contemporary tastes, there were a couple of works for their corner too. Read more
Tear drops and wrecking balls: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
April 22, 2021 by Fraser Beath McEwing
While most of my reviews cover the SSO Masters Series (the substantial concerts that are sponsored by Abercrombie & Kent) every so often I am tugged by the heartstrings to an SSO Symphony Hour performance supported by Credit Suisse. Read more
Coherent Judaism: Constructive theology, Creation & Halakhah: A book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
April 21, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
I am sure that a number of my colleagues (and friends) would question whether Judaism could ever be coherent, especially with the words Halakhah as well as theology in its title. Read more
Six Minutes to Midnight – a movie review by Roz Tarszisz
April 7, 2021 by Roz Tarszisz
I often wonder if a story is old fashioned merely because it is set in the past. British film and television consistently produce fine dramas set in bygone eras and this one is no different.
Violetta dies, but La Traviata will live forever: an opera review by Victor Grynberg
March 30, 2021 by Victor Grynberg
Two of the most popular operas of all time are Giacomo Puccini’s LA BOHEME and Giuseppe Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA. Read more
