Aida: Tragic love story is operatic triumph – an opera review 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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Violetta dies, but La Traviata will live forever: an opera review 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

Incidental music on the way to heaven: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

Although I’ve often heard the full-strength Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in the Sydney Opera House, it was nearly always teamed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in some major, combination work. Read more

Last Kings of Shanghai: a book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen

There are many who will read this review who would have heard of the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who issued some 1800 visas in Kovno in 1940 which enabled the holders to transit Japan and spend the war years in Shanghai. Read more

Bluebeard’s Castle: Sumegi’s vocal mastery a triumph

Bela Bartok, the most famous of the 20^th Century Hungarian composers only wrote one opera, a one-hour one-act piece with only two singers, Bluebeard and his new wife Judit…writes Victor Grynberg. Read more

One of the best: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

Like a rich layer of icing on a cake that may not have been to everybody’s taste, the SSO sent us home last night haunted by Saint-Saens Symphony No.3, the much loved ‘organ symphony’. Read more

The Miracle Typist: a book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen

Leon Silver’s The Miracle Typist is a powerful true story of one soldier’s long journey home. Read more

Tosca: Puccini’s masterpiece even better under John Bell’s direction

Since its premiere in Rome in 1900 at a time of political unrest, Giacomo Puccini’s opera of the Vincent Sardou French-language play “La Tosca” has been one of the most popular pieces in the whole operatic repertoire…writes Victor Grynberg. Read more

A flying start despite Covid: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

“What a privilege it is to make music again” violin soloist Daniel Rohn called to the Covid-thinned Town Hall audience last night before embarking on his stunning Bach encore. Read more

The Merry Widow: an operetta review by Victor Grynberg

So there we were in the Joan Sutherland Theatre of the Sydney Opera House, about to see our first Opera Australia production since their magnificent production of the early Verdi masterpiece “Attila” had its season dramatically curtailed by the arrival of COVID fears 10 months ago. Read more

What are you doing on Tuesday evening?

Tune in at 7.30pm tomorrow night for a free digital concert performed by AWO colleagues and two stellar visual artists. Read more

The Freedom Circus: a book review by Geoffrey Zygier

As the years pass by and the number of survivors dwindles, the stream of Holocaust-themed books continues to gush. Read more

Happy birthday Ludwig : a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

Working within coronavirus limitations, the Australian Chamber Orchestra is framing its early resuscitation around smaller audiences and multiple performances. This made for a roomy gathering at the Sydney Recital Hall last night. Read more

Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Rabbi Louis Jacobs

It seems strange that I received this book on the day I heard about the death of Jonathan Sacks, the Emeritus Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue of the United Kingdom…writes Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen. Read more

Opera Australia to return to the Sydney Opera House in January

Opera Australia will return to the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage for the first time since the coronavirus shut down its 2020 season in March, today announcing a three-month COVID-safe season that includes two productions never before performed by the Company. Read more

Fraser Beath McEwing reports: What the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has in store for 2021

Tossing aside the pandemic and the problem faced by wind players blowing through face masks, the SSO has announced the programs for its 2021 season. Read more

Heart of Violence: Why People Harm Each Other – a book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen

Paul Valent brings two unique interests in writing this book. Not only was he the long-serving President of the Child Holocaust Survivors Melbourne but he has been a major voice in the study of Trauma and Founder of the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Read more

The Order: a book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen

This is Dan Silva’s twenty-third novel and as usual features as its chief protagonist is Gabriel Allon who is not only head of Israel’s secret service, the Mossad, but also an art restorer. Read more

Behind the South African Festival

Claire Jankelson and Di Singer are the directors of the South African Film Festival. Claire answers questions for J-Wire. Read more

Lie back and listen to Ludwig: a didn’t-happen music review by Fraser Beath McEwing

Instead of arriving at the Sydney Town Hall next Wednesday night to hear the SSO, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, organ, and four soloists perform Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, I’ll probably be waiting for an Uber-eat paper bag to arrive at home. Read more

The Yellow Bird Sings: a book review by Geoffrey Zygier

I seem to have become our esteemed editor’s go-to guy when he needs someone to crit books about the Holocaust. Read more

Impressions from, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Debussy – and the Sydney Town Hall: a music review from Fraser Beath McEwing

The first concert in the SSO Masters Series for 2020 ushered in the beginning of a two-year stint in ye auld and venerated Sydney Town Hall while the Opera House concert hall is up for a rebore. Read more

Faust: McVicar’s devilish take on classic opera…an opera review by Victor Grynberg

One of France’s greatest ever composers, Charles Gounod had an immediate hit on his hands when his opera Faust finally premiered in Paris in 1859. Read more

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