Rosalind Appleby

Jordi Savall’s reputation preceded him and the Perth Concert Hall was bursting at the seams for the first night of his national tour. The Spanish musician and his band Hesperion XXI are renowned for their interpretations of early music. This concert program was based around the folia – one of the oldest remembered European musical themes. The folia chord progression can be traced back to Ital ... (read more)

When John Copley’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor is remounted, it often comes with the marketing phrase ‘a piece of Australian operatic history’. The production was created for Joan Sutherland in 1980, giving Australian audiences a second opportunity to see her in the role that caused a sensation when she first performed it at Covent Garden in 1959 (she also sang it during the legendary ... (read more)

Opera is dead, scaremongers have been saying for years. Yet Perth is witnessing an operatic renaissance, and recently a company was launched, the third new one in six years. The emergence of these organic, grassroots organisations is all the more remarkable given the devastation inflicted on small-to-medium arts sector by government funding cuts in May 2016. These new companies are distinctive fo ... (read more)