Arts and culture
Roberto Alagna as Pinkerton at the Met 2016
Born in France of Sicilian parents, Roberto Alagna has been one of the opera world’s outstanding tenors for nearly 25…
Wednesday Lily and Otto by Myriam Kin-Yee
To be celebrating the 200th anniversary this year of the Royal Botanic Gardens is quite astounding. Just 28 years after…
Artist’s impression of proposed new museum at Parramatta
There is an interesting article in the latest issue of Apollo, the international art magazine, a stablemate of The Spectator…
Helen Garner
True crime is the genre of literature based on actual crimes and the real life perpetrators. Initially popularised in the…
Sachin Joab in STC’s Disgraced
Our grandmothers told that we shouldn’t discuss politics or religion in polite society. Apparently that was not a lesson learned…
Culture buff
Contemporary dance may not be to everyone’s taste but too many tired, grey performances of Swan Lake will encourage converts.…
Culture buff
A glamorous program for the special Brisbane Baroque will transport music lovers straight to a baroque heaven. From April 8…
Culture buff
‘The Queen is dead!’ are not words any of us is anxious to hear; they will be followed by the…
Culture buff
We were in Canberra to attend the dinner celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Howard Government election; a good opportunity…
Culture Buff
Asked recently whether I thought Opera on the Harbour was really opera, I replied emphatically that it is. No one…
Culture buff
If you haven’t yet seen Verdi’s Luisa Millar at the Sydney Opera House you’re already too late; no worry, there…
Culture buff
He was named the first Australian of the Year in 1960; Sir Macfarlane Burnet OM AK KBE had been awarded…
Culture buff
Conde Nast was the publisher of Vogue Australia in 1965. That was the year I started with Vogue but, much…
Culture buff
We played them in the band at primary school but it was several decades before we appreciated the potential of…
Riotously unfunny
Enthusiastically touted as the first Australian sitcom in fifteen years, Channel 9’s highly promoted Here Come the Habibs has a…
Culture buff
It may well be the most stimulating theatre presentation of the year and it is just what the most prestigious…
Culture buff
If your backyard is good enough to have been considered for inclusion in the Open Garden Scheme then I’m sorry…
Culture buff
There’s never been a better time to be… in Canberra. Parliament isn’t sitting, there’s decent accommodation at reasonable rates; best…
Culture buff
An unlikely location for a theatre; the large pre-fab hall, in which I sat for my final exams at UNSW,…
Culture buff
Ceylon was the exotic setting for the opera The Pearl Fishers. It premiered in Paris in 1863; its composer Georges…
Culture buff
It may be the best thing to come out of Belgium after chocolates. Or even the only good thing after…
Culture Buff
Time for a quick glance over my shoulder at the passing year. Culturally it was busy enough but with little…
Culture buff
We are now officially in summer and the beach season. The importance of the beach in our national self-image the…
Culture buff
In 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, one of the most popular operas in Paris was Richard Coeur-de-Lion.…
Culture buff
The first performance of King Lear took place in 1606 barely three years after James IV of Scotland had inherited…
