Donald McDonald

Jim Maxwel

7 January 2017 9:00 am

Two of the ABC’s most admired radio presenters have published books that are perfect holiday reading: Richard Fidler’s Ghost Empire…

Royal Opera House production of King Roger

29 December 2016 3:00 pm

Soon after the Norman Conquest of England (1066 and all that) Count Roger Hauteville of Normandy took control of Sicily.…

Valda Wilson as Theodora

10 December 2016 9:00 am

Mostly I’m more interested in what is to come than in what’s already been, but I have let my mind…

Arthur Streeton And the Sunlight Clasps the Earth 1895

3 December 2016 9:00 am

Last week you could have done some Christmas shopping at the Mossgreen and Sotheby’s art auctions in Sydney. You might…

The kiss Auguste Rodin (1901-04)

26 November 2016 9:00 am

Local writers have been repurposing Kenneth Clark’s 1958 differentiation of the nude from naked in discussing the current exhibition at…

Rose Byrne at rehearsal

19 November 2016 9:00 am

David Mamet has a birthday next week; he’ll be turning 69. Quite a grand old man of American letters. Playwright…

Sebastian Smee

12 November 2016 9:00 am

His schooling was at St Peter’s College, Adelaide followed by the University of Sydney where he graduated with honours in…

Valda Wilson sings Theodora

5 November 2016 9:00 am

Antioch on the Orontes River, founded in late 4th century BC, became an important city in the East of the…

La Belle Époque

29 October 2016 9:00 am

Farce is a difficult theatrical form to write and to stage successfully. Farce operates beyond reality; a farce must establish…

Ko wai Koe (Who Are You) 2005 from the series The Odyssey of Captain Cook by Marian Maguire

22 October 2016 9:00 am

When colourful Tasmanian identity David Walsh announced his intention to build an art gallery in Hobart, open to the public…

Adam Frandsen plays The Architect

15 October 2016 9:00 am

First performed 21 years ago, it’s title was The Eighth Wonder. This year it is being revived under a cumbersome…

David Hockney

8 October 2016 9:00 am

Born in Yorkshire 79 years ago, he fell in love with the idea of California as a child via Hollywood…

Kevin Jackson as Nijinsky

1 October 2016 9:00 am

In 1981, at the Sydney Theatre Company, we presented a stylish production of Chinchilla, a play by Robert David MacDonald…

Ladies in Black

24 September 2016 9:00 am

David Jones administration may be moving to Melbourne but that won’t worry Sydney: it knows where DJ’s really belongs. Reading…

Paul Dyer & ABO section leaders

17 September 2016 9:00 am

Announcements of 2017 seasons are coming thick and fast. The Sydney Theatre Company, having lost an artistic director on the…

Pirramimma, Wentworth Falls

10 September 2016 9:00 am

Gardens are one of the indicators of civilisation. It is said that the first references to gardens occurred about 4,000…

Maxim Vengerov

3 September 2016 9:00 am

Sir Andrew Davis, chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, described its recently announced 2017 season as ‘a marvellous feast…

Martha Argerich

27 August 2016 9:00 am

This is the time of the year when the major performing arts companies announce their seasons for next year, beginning…

John Armstrong

13 August 2016 9:00 am

‘What is art for?’ is a question too rarely asked. The question is posed, and answered, in the book Art…

Sculptures at Barangaroo

6 August 2016 9:00 am

The most significant enhancement to Sydney Harbour since the restoration of Walsh Bay, the Barangaroo development is coming into its…

The Ring Cycle

30 July 2016 9:00 am

Although it was premiered in Bayreuth in 1876, it was another 122 years before The Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner…

Archibald portraits

23 July 2016 9:00 am

‘A portrait is a painting with something wrong about the mouth’ is a quotation attributed to John Singer Sargent, painter…

Disney’s Aladdin

16 July 2016 9:00 am

To my parents in the 1930s, the name Disney meant Mickey Mouse. Now the name is associated not only with…

Mozart’s operas

9 July 2016 9:00 am

A couple of weeks ago Opera Australia celebrated its 60th Anniversary with a gala concert at the Opera House. Surprisingly…

Amber Scott and Adam Bull in Swan Lake

2 July 2016 9:00 am

Amid predictable demands for increased funding for the arts, The Australian Ballet is setting off on its 25th ( yes,…