Category: Music

Interviews, Music

INTERVIEW: Amanda Pelman | WASO & David Bowie – Nothing Has Changed

Editor

  David Bowie left this planet to return to the stars two days after his birthday this year, and the music industry lost a legend. But do legends every truly die, especially when they leave behind such a massive body of work and millions of fans who keep their memory alive? Amanda Pelman is making sure Bowie’s legend lives on here in Australia with her tribute show David Bowie – Nothing Has Changed, which comes to Perth in November to the West Australian Symphony Orchestra along with artists like Steve Kilbey, Tim Rogers, Deborah Conway and more. Pelman, a living music industry legend in … Continue reading INTERVIEW: Amanda Pelman | WASO & David Bowie – Nothing Has Changed

Interviews, Music

INTERVIEW: Evan Kennea | WASO: The Planets & The Rite of Spring

Editor

    The West Australian Symphony Orchestra are doing something spectacular and audacious this coming weekend: they’re performing Gustav Holst’s The Planets and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring together in one concert. Performing one or the other would be enough to get audiences excited, but both? In one night? How is it even possible? Can we all (musicians and audience) handle such a thing? I was so intrigued by WASO’s daring that I had to ask Evan Kennea, Executive Director, Artistic Planning, just how the idea for this pairing of modern orchestral masterpieces came about. About a year and a half … Continue reading INTERVIEW: Evan Kennea | WASO: The Planets & The Rite of Spring

Music, Reviews

REVIEW: Claire Chase | Selections from Density 2036

Editor

Claire Chase is an American flutist on a creative mission, and I think she may have found a few converts to her cause here in Perth. Her performance presented by PICA and Tura New Music on Wednesday the 29th was part of her Density 2036 project, which sees the commission of new solo flute compositions over a span of 22 years, starting back in 2013. Density 2036 commemorates Edgard Varese‘s groundbreaking 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5, which Varese composed for the premiere of George Barrere’s platinum flute, which has a density of approximately 21.5g per cubic centimetre. The pieces we heard on Wednesday … Continue reading REVIEW: Claire Chase | Selections from Density 2036

Music, News

NEWS: The BeauVine Festival

Editor

JumpClimb Events just loves to get people together to eat, drink and be merry, so they’ve gone and created yet another festival for us Perthians to do just that. JumpClimb are the folks that organise the Beaufort Street Festival and Noodle Palace at Fringe World, so this probably won’t be your typical food and wine fair. They’re brining along some artists and live music to spice up the atmosphere at Birdwood Square in Highgate this coming weekend. Birdwood Square is normally the weekend haunt of the local football clubs, but its Highgate location makes it a pretty accessible spot for Mt. Lawley/Northbridge/North … Continue reading NEWS: The BeauVine Festival

Music, News

NEWS: Expresstival 2015

Editor

Get diverse, Perth! Expresstival is happening tomorrow, Saturday 17 October from 1:30 – 7pm at Forrest Place, Perth. Free for all ages, and some fantastic artists are involved.   Phil Walley-Stack’s STRONG is on, in case you missed him at the Astor last Friday.     MC Trooth will be performing, and the theatre crowd might remember him from Class Act Theatre‘s 2014 hip hop adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.     And emerging artist Ruby Smedley will be painting live at the event. Theatre crowds might know her from her scenic painting work with Black Swan. ABOUT THE … Continue reading NEWS: Expresstival 2015

Interviews, Music, Theatre

INTERVIEW: Ash Gibson Greig for The Confidence Man @ PTC

Editor

Perth-based composer Ash Gibson Greig had his work cut out for him when he signed on to compose the soundtrack for Side Pony Productions’ The Confidence Man back in 2013, because in actual fact the show required not just one soundtrack, but six.  The Confidence Man, a groundbreaking theatrical work by Zoe Pepper and Adriane Daff that tells the story of a heist gone terribly wrong, requires some further explanation: six volunteer actors from the audience wear audio headsets with running soundtracks that tell them what to do on stage. These soundtracks each contain music, dialogue, monologues and stage directions voiced by a … Continue reading INTERVIEW: Ash Gibson Greig for The Confidence Man @ PTC

Music, Reviews

REVIEW: Ute Lemper | Perth Concert Hall

Editor

It’s been eight years since Ute Lemper was last in Perth, and the Garbo-esque beauty appears to have been glad for the return, if not slightly dazed by both the chilly temperature and the time difference between Perth (or “Perte,” as she kept referring to it in her Franco-German accent) and wherever the internationally renowned chanteuse had jetted in from. Her musicians, (John Benthal on guitar, Victor Villena on bandoneon, Vana Gierig on piano, Steve Millhouse on bass and Micha Molthoff on violin) preceded her on stage, and the cool, cross-cultural cabaret quintet didn’t waste any time in creating a latin-infused jazz ambience. Not long after they had established a rhythm … Continue reading REVIEW: Ute Lemper | Perth Concert Hall

Music, Reviews, Views

REVIEW: Mozart & Mahler | WASO | Perth Concert Hall

Editor

I have to say, last week was pretty spectacular in Perth live arts: The Little Mermaid at The Blue Room on Thursday night, followed by Mozart and Mahler with WASO at the Perth Concert Hall on Friday, then a play reading with Upstart Theatre Company in Fremantle on Saturday, ending with MOH – On the Concept of Love with Ankoku Buyo Collective at The Crafty Swine on Sunday. I also managed to fit in an advance screening of Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine while I was at it, thanks to my buddy Robert, from What Robert’s Watching. I’d have to say, however, out … Continue reading REVIEW: Mozart & Mahler | WASO | Perth Concert Hall

Music, Reviews

REVIEW: Carmina Burana | St George’s Cathedral Choir

Editor

Carmina Burana by Carl Orff is one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music, chiefly for its first and final movements, “O Fortuna,” which Hollywood loves to use to score things like medieval battle scenes and supernatural confrontations. It is based on a manuscript of poems and text penned by students and clergy in the 11th and 12th centuries, written mostly in Medieval Latin and Middle High German. It explores the themes of love, lust, gluttony, the glory of spring, and spiritual matters. Carl Orff selected 24 of these poems as the basis of his musical work, which he intended to be … Continue reading REVIEW: Carmina Burana | St George’s Cathedral Choir