2MBS Fine Music Sydney

Simon Moore speaks with James Beck, Cellist and Artistic Director of the Sydney Art Quartet, who perform La Belle Epoque on 18 and 19 March at The Swifts, Darling Point.

Hailed by The Australian as possessing a “rare gift as a melodist” and by Limelight as expressing “both exquisite delicacy and tremendous power”, Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth writes across the mediums of orchestral, chamber, vocal and experimental music.  

American-Australian harpist Emily Granger makes her solo debut recording, In Transit, with a collection of contemporary works that reveal the breadth and beauty of harp music from her two countries.

This double CD features music by a lesser-known Dutch composer, Hendrik Andriessen, who had a brother and two sons who were also composers, one of the sons being much more famous than any of the others. Andriessen had a long career as an organist and composer and this recording is a welcome introduction to his orchestral music.

Simon Moore spoke with Soprano Chloe Lankshear on Thursday Breakfast this morning, in the lead up to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs upcoming concert, Mozart: Requiem & Revelations.

Nigel Butterley OAM, the Sydney composer, has died at the age of 86.

Having learned to play the piano at the age of 5, Butterley attended Sydney Grammar. In those days, Grammar had no music department, and the young musician had to turn to the Conservatorium for tuition. After a spell in London, studying under Ivy Priaulx Rainier, Butterley returned to Australia.

Leading Australian arts and cultural figure Mary Jo Capps has been appointed Chair of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM). She takes over the leadership baton from Sandra Yates who is stepping down after eight years leading the celebrated festival.
Mary Jo Capps brings a wide range of experience, expertise and knowledge to the AFCM Chair, as well as an intimate understanding of the Australian arts and cultural sector.

He is a man who has entertained Australia for over 30 years. He’s danced on film in Strictly Ballroom, stepped into stilettos for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, donned top hat and whip for a tightrope-walking PT Barnum, and everything in between – including West Side Story, Singing in the Rain, The Pirates Penzance, Cabaret, and Anything Goes. But perhaps his most well-known performance has been to bring entertainer Peter Allen back to life in the original Australian production of The Boy From Oz.

The Sydney Morning Herald has hailed The Marriage of Figaro as Opera Australia’s finest Mozart production in decades, and indeed this particular Mozart opera was voted the best opera ever written by the world’s greatest singers.

Mace Francis brings back the power, vigour and versatility of a big band with his new project, Mace Francis Plus 11. Inspired by the swingin’ jazz sounds of the ‘50s, this new album is a deft exploration of a bygone era; a big, bold brass section, snappy melodies, and a rhythm so contagious, that unlike Covid-19 you want to catch it!