Donald McDonald

Brett Whiteley (1939-1992) Self portrait in the studio 1976

29 June 2019 9:00 am

Painters and opera go together. Connected by passion and big gestures, it is not surprising that composers are drawn to…

Detail from the cover of WINX

22 June 2019 9:00 am

It is possibly lying on a Royal bedside table. Certainly we know that a week or so ago, a copy…

On the Beach at Trouville 1870. Bequest of Michel Monet 1966

15 June 2019 9:00 am

A magnificent Empire-style townhouse near the Bois de Boulogne contains a remarkable collection of paintings. On rue Louis Boilly, the…

Alyona Kovalyova and Jacopo Tissi in Diamonds Act 3 of Jewels

8 June 2019 9:00 am

The name is a byword for exacting standards and grand tradition. The Bolshoi Ballet, at the peak of the ballet…

Courtesy Opera Australia. Credit: Georges Anton

Anna Bolena

1 June 2019 9:00 am

Where would we be without the Tudors? Certainly our shelves, stages and screens would seem empty without their era which…

Captain James Cook. Wedgwood and Bentley, c.1779

25 May 2019 9:00 am

Three speakers: one is Director of The Royal Collection comprising over a million objects in 13 royal residences across the…

John Beard Edmund (+Bill)

18 May 2019 9:00 am

I don’t imagine the newest member of the Royal Family was named after the Archibald Prize but it was a…

Broadway production of Come From Away

11 May 2019 9:00 am

We all remember where we were when first hearing of 9/11. Some people were on trans-Atlantic flights. When the US…

Royal portraits at Bendigo

4 May 2019 9:00 am

One of our favourite places in London is in St Martin’s Place, just around the corner from Trafalgar Square and…

[Photo: Marco Borggreve]

Stanislav Kochanovsky

27 April 2019 9:00 am

The Melbourne Symphony was really on to something in 2017 when it engaged a young Russian conductor for a Rachmaninov…

Melbourne cast of Cosi

20 April 2019 9:00 am

It was one of the most delightful Australian films of the 1990s. Directed by Mark Joffe, Cosi was also one…

Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating

13 April 2019 9:00 am

This is a show for the nostalgic and the masochistic. The Gospel According to Paul is a one man show…

Self portrait 1934 Nora Heysen

6 April 2019 9:00 am

In his new biography of Winston Churchill, Andrew Roberts notes that ‘it was said of Emperor Napoleon III that he…

Fernando Guimarães

Fernando Guimarães

30 March 2019 9:00 am

The closing chapters of Homer’s Odyssey were the source for the opera regarded as the crowning achievement of composer Claudio…

Jacqueline McKenzie and Mandy McElhinney

23 March 2019 9:00 am

Mosquitoes is not a particularly alluring title for Australians but it is the title of the latest play by Lucy…

Aurum by Alice Topp

16 March 2019 9:00 am

Such a wonderful word: ‘verve’. Not used much now, it’s one of the words we owe to the French. We…

Kathryn Stott – Artistic Director

9 March 2019 9:00 am

Townsville is bouncing back; it is also tuning up for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Battered by the recent…

Pinchgut Artistic Director Erin Helyard

2 March 2019 9:00 am

A rarely performed sacred work by J. S. Bach and a masterpiece by Telemann that has never been performed in…

Bangarra 30th Anniversary

23 February 2019 9:00 am

A year of 30th anniversaries; the latest is Bangarra Dance Theatre founded in 1989 by a South African Cheryl Stone…

Gerald Murnane

16 February 2019 9:00 am

I know I’m a bit late getting to the party; the party that has formed to honour the writing of…

Paul Dyer

9 February 2019 9:00 am

In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) made a rather grand job application to Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg. He…

Best production The Harp in the South

2 February 2019 9:00 am

We are in the middle of the awards season for the entertainment industry. There have been the Golden Globes and…

Portrait of Leonard French by Hal Missingham

26 January 2019 9:00 am

Arguably the most monumental of Australian artists, Leonard French experienced extraordinary fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some…

Kitty Flanagan (courtesy Allen & Unwin)

Kitty Flanagan

19 January 2019 9:00 am

She’s bright and very funny. Kitty Flanagan was born and educated in Sydney. She is described as a stand-up comedian;…

Wozzeck (courtesy Opera Australia) Photo:Ruth Walz

Wozzeck

12 January 2019 9:00 am

The story is bleak, very bleak; the music bleak and very loud, yet Wozzeck is regarded as an outstanding 20th…