Loretta Barnard is an author, arts writer, reviewer, editor and project manager, who is a regular contributor on the arts to a number of online sites. Her most recent book is Imagining Australia: a history of our nation through music, film, literature & art
The musicians
Sophie Cole, violin; Dylan Holly and Jaan Pallandi, double bass; David Elton, trumpet; Rebecca Lagos and Timothy Constable, percussion; Louisic Dulbecco, harp
Program
André Jolivet, ‘Heptade for Trumpet and Percussion’
Olivier Messiaen, ‘From the canyons to the stars’: …
This latest offering from George Saunders begins with Jill ‘Doll’ Blaine hurtling towards earth, preparing to meet her newest charge, a dying man she must guide into the afterlife. Since her own death, she’s performed this job many times, offering …
Above pic : The Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House regularly features musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing in recital. Pic Jay Patel
‘Cocktail Hour with Handpicked Wines’ is a relatively new program from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. …
This is the third album from Sydney-based Elysian Fields, an ensemble that gives the term ‘fusion band’ a whole new, and somewhat indefinable, dimension. In their music, you can hear a world of baroque, jazz, modern classical, and folk influences, …
He’s not called a superstar for nothing. There are concert pianists, and there are capital-letter Concert Pianists. Lang Lang is unquestionably among the latter. A consummate musician, a pianist who immerses himself so totally in the music that it’s almost …
In her debut novel, Jacqx Mililli has tackled the world of vaudeville in Australia in the first half of the twentieth century. Based on reminiscences the author heard from a real-life vaudeville performer, whose father led a travelling troupe of …
Above : Author pic
This fantasy/romance novel centres around Wren, princess of Thezmarr, an alchemist and poisoner, and Torj, a warrior whose bravery is renowned across the Midrealms. These two have history, having fought together in the magical Shadow War …
Four stars
This is an absorbing story of Maddy, a young woman in her first year of university, with all its accompanying stresses. Sometimes she’s erratic and moody, and feels weighed down by the pressure her mother puts on her …
Ruth Mary is a tooth fairy, whose usual job is to collect teeth from under children’s pillows, but one night, she’s given a special assignment from the Fairy Queen: to collect the teeth of three jungle animals. She dons her …
It’s 1839, and 20-year-old Bonnie is fleeing an arranged marriage. She arrives in London in 1839, where she meets Crawford, a charming conman, who makes money tricking people in a range of schemes, among which is selling dodgy burial sites.