Arts and culture
Mitchell Galleries
One of the loveliest and best-loved buildings in Sydney, the Mitchell Building of the State Library of NSW is enjoying…
Stuart Devlin candelabras (1980-81) in Dining Room
Every day, Australians carry some of his work in their pockets. Stuart Devlin (1931-2018) designed the decimal currency introduced in…
Artists of The Australian Ballet
There is a lot of dance news about at the moment. The Australian Ballet’s new version of Spartacus, to the…
Some Brandenburg section leaders
‘Celebrating 30 Years of Baroque’ is Paul Dyer’s theme of the 2019 Season of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra; 30 years…
Kate Morton
She was born in a small town in South Australia, later grew up on Tamborine Mountain and, when aged barely…
Evita and Che
‘The people adore me/ So, Christian Dior me’ is just one of the many witty and pointed couplets written by…
Michael Fabiano
There will be a lot going on at Opera Australia in 2019 with arguably the most interesting repertoire for a…
![Richard Tognetti [Photo: Zan Wimberley]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Culture_Buff.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Richard Tognetti
Going from strength to strength, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s recently announced 2019 Season shows no flagging of inspiration or ambition.…
Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984)
Exhibitions prior to major art auctions can be a wonderful way to view works by significant artists that may not…
The House
The House is the economically direct title of a new book about ‘the dramatic story of the Sydney Opera House…
Lang Lang in an improbable situation
An internationally admired orchestra in a beautiful hall: that’s the Melbourne Symphony in Hamer Hall of the Victorian Arts Centre.…
Wayne Blair
Such a lovely title, it’s hard to believe that The Long Forgotten Dream hasn’t been used before. The title belongs…
John Russell
Once he was known as ‘Australia’s lost impressionist’ and referred to as John Peter Russell. Now at the Art Gallery…
Cast members of An Ideal Husband
He was already skating on thin ice when Oscar Wilde opened his newest play at the Haymarket Theatre on 3…
Aida
Aida was commissioned from Giuseppe Verdi to celebrate the opening of the Opera House in Cairo in early 1871, the…
Ben Jacks
A concert in the schedule of the Sydney Symphony recently caught my eye: Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3 and his…
The Wharf and its neighbour
After 35 years on The Wharf at Walsh Bay, the Sydney Theatre Company has moved out. But it will be…
Giorgio de Chirico Gare Montparnasse
The other morning, the Director of MoMA from New York, Glenn D Lowry was on ABC Breakfast. He was knowledgable…
Michael Lewis as Rigoletto
Sir Walter Scott published The Bride of Lammermoor in 1819 as one of his hugely successful Waverley novels which captured…
Kororadika Beach by Augustus Earle
Antiquarians can seem an exotic group to many of us and yet there are several successful dealers in this country,…
Culture buff
George Bernard Shaw called it ‘a chronicle play’, I suppose a sort of docudrama if a superior one. Saint Joan…
Emma Pearson
A remarkable achievement; since its inception in 2002, Pinchgut Opera has staged 20 rarely performed operas, many for the first…
Tafelmusik – Bach and His World
One of the most admired music ensembles in the world is touring for Musica Viva Australia until 4 June (Perth,…
Girls at the Piano
We need to remind ourselves that there was once a time when there were no Keynesian socialist bureaucracies determining ‘cultural…
Marta Dusseldorp
Nora walks out and shuts the door behind her; shuts the door on her children, her husband, her life to…
