The Music Show
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The Rite of Spring- 100 years on
Stravinsky's ballet 'The Rite of Spring' is one of Western music's 'big bangs'- and it's 100 years old on May 29, 2013. There's been a lot of musical water under the bridge since then- so what's the 21st century view of musicians and composers now? Hear the thoughts of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Peter Sculthorpe, Mary Finsterer, Paul Grabowsky, Thomas Ades and Martin Bresnick- and hear The Rite of Spring on The Music Show.
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Creative Australia Winner
Eugene Ughetti picked up one of the Australia Council's "Creative Australia" gongs this week. The percussionist and composer earned himself $100,000. Australia Council Chair Rupert Myer said at the Creative Australia awards: “These grants provide artists with the valuable time and financial security to focus on their work and in turn drive innovation and dynamic growth in our arts,” Here's a sample of Eugene at work as percussionist and leader in this piece by Speak Percussion.
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Chris Latham & Tamara Anna Cislowska
The creator and the performer of In Praise of Creative Women which showcases works by neglected female composers. The group includes English composer Rebecca Clarke & Welsh born Australian composer Phyllis Campbell, a theosophist and a close friend of Marion Mahony wife of Walter Burley Griffin. Australian pianist Tamara Anna Cislowska has embraced this music, its history and women who composed it. Chris Latham, Artistic Director of the Canberra International Music Festival outlines its...
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Tom Vincent's new jazz CD
It's the pianist's first outing in a quartet and the new album has the impressive title of Morphic Resonance Project. The band is touring centres up the NSW coast and into Southern Qld this week.
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Gavin Bryars: music beyond Jesus Blood
Scottish composer Gavin Bryars is famous for his epic piece Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet composed over 40 years ago. He's one of the composers-in-residence at the 2013 Canberra International Music Festival. Bryars starts this conversation on a philosophical note saying music only means something when it has an audience and he discusses John Cage's ideas about what music is for.
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Simone Dinnerstein Goldberg Variations bonus podcast
Download an extra podcast of Simone Dinnerstein playing part of J.S.Bach's Goldberg Variations in the ABC Ultimo Eugene Goossens studio.
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Simone Dinnerstein
This New York based pianist won huge accolodes for her recording of J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations, which reached No.1 on the Billboard Classical Music Charts in its first week of sales. Simone Dinnerstein's interests are not limited to the classical field: her latest recording Night is with an indie folk singer called Tift Merritt and their new CD together covers songs from Billie Holiday to Leonard Cohen as well as Purcell and Schubert. It's also where she first started improvising. Simone...
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Paul Dresher- composer and instrument inventor
Paul Dresher at work
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Peter Sculthorpe
Composer Peter Sculthorpe has just put the finishing touches to his oratorio The Great South Land for the 2013 Canberra International Music Festival. Based on his early opera Quiros, The Great South Land celebrates the Portuguese explorer Captain Fernando Quiros who failed to find this southern landmass but helped name it and fed Sculthorpe's interest in what he describes as Australia's obsession with failure.
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Rohan de Saram
Former cellist with the legendary Arditti Quartet, Rohan de Saram is one of the few classical performers of new music to explore improvisation, something he says is rooted in his knowledge of Indian music. Rohan is one of the main guests at the 2013 Encounters Festival about to start in Brisbane and which this year explores musical and artistic connections between India and Australia.
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Nixon in China
Victorian Opera mounts a production of John Adams' mighty opera 'Nixon in China' in May 2013. Conductor Fabian Russell discusses the story, the music and the enduring nature of this piece.
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Vladimir Ashkenazy
The great conductor and pianist has been five years at the helm of The Sydney Symphony. He reflects on the significant composers he's conducted during that time: Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, Walton and of course Beethoven who he is conducting at present. He also talks about being in Russia when Rachmaninoff was banned and hearing his Night Vigil vespers for the first time in a packed church in Moscow.
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Ellen Kirkwood Jazz trumpeter
She also won the Janne Rutherford Memorial Award in 2012 and this is part of the booty: an ABC RN recording.
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Kupka's Piano
This young Brisbane based ensemble claims to entice audiences into hearing new sounds in contemporary music. And where does Bohemian painter They give us a snapshot of their latest outing, Giants behind us: German music and its discontents. Kupka's Piano play live on today's show.
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Steve Magnussen: Bell Jazz Award winner
Fine Melbourne guitarist and composer has a string of interesting jazz albums to his name the most recent Magnet which won Best Contemporary Jazz album at the 2013 Bell Awards.
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Vale Bob Brozman
Eclectic and irrepressible- multi-instrumentalist Bob Brozman was a regular and popular visitor to Australia and guest on The Music Show over a period of 15 years. Bob Brozman died this week, and we remember him with his final appearance on The Music Show from 2008.
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Soprano Patricia Rozario
Soprano Patricia Rozario is composer John Tavener’s singer of choice as well as a champion of Western music in her native India and she’s part of the forthcoming ‘Encounters: India' Festival in Brisbane.
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Paavali Jumppanen on Beethoven
Finnish pianist Paavali Jumppanen's interpretations of Beethoven and Boulez are celebrated across continents. He's in Australia playing and teaching, and has new recordings of Beethoven sonatas and a book on the subject to be released/ published soon. Paavali plays Beethoven most famous piano piece live on The Music Show.
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Celebrating Percy- and his museum 75 years on
It's 75 years since the Grainger Museum opened in Melbourne. Australia's most famous composer's musical legacy is still tricky to evaluate but 'his' museum is a good place to start. From the Music Show archives Andrew Ford looks at some of the latest thinking about Percy Grainger against the backdrop of the recently refurbished museum.
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Bryn Terfel
He's one of the most celebrated singers in the world- his repertoire has ranged from Figaro to Wotan and beyond. Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is in Australia to sing in Melbourne and Sydney, and he's on The Music Show talking to Andrew Ford about singing Wotan and Falstaff, how you stay on top of those roles and how much of himself are in them.
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Chrissie Amphlett remembered
She was the voice of the Divinyls and a powerhouse performer who challenged the idea what a woman out front could do. From The Music Show archive, a 2006 interview with Chrissie Amphlett about the Divinyls, about dressing up and about Judy Garland. Chrissie Amphlett died on April 21, 2013.
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The very versatile David Hudson
His career is probably more diverse than any musician you can think of: he's been in films with Marlon Brando, toured with the Greek superstar Yanni, played with that other superstar Sting, opened a World Athletics Games, played in the Taj Mahal and the list goes on. At the heart of it is David Hudson, didjeridoo player and a Yalanji man.
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Pythagoras vs Darwin- is music an acquired taste?
Ancient musical wisdom was that music was pleasing to the ear because of the 'right' frequencies and vibrations. But researchers from the University of Melbourne's School of Psychological Sciences have recently tuned that theory on its head. Prof Neil McLachlan discusses the recent research which says we learn what is ‘pleasing’, and the more we learn, there richer our musical experiences can become.
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Ange Takats plays songs from 'Arva'
She used to be a foreign correspondent and now she's a singer songwriter- Ange Takats is on The Music Show talking about her new album 'Arva' and playing some songs from it.
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Chris Latham and music at Gallipoli
Festival director, violinist and researcher Chris Latham is music director for the Gallipoli Symphony- a ten year, tri-nation commissioning project, which will premiere as part of the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in 2015. On his way to Gallipoli 2013 he talks to Andrew Ford about his research so far. Chris Latham is also artistic director of the Canberra International Music Festival.
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Music of the Faroe Islands
Kristian Blak and Jakup Lutz play piano and violin and live on the Faroe Islands where no such musical instruments existed until the 1800's. The archipelago's musical life is inextricably linked to its geographical and trading history, plonked as it is right in the middle of the Norwegian Sea midway between Denmark and Greenland. These two musicians demo Faroese music and some Shetland Island tunes. The latter have become part of the musical traffic between these Scottish and Danish outposts.
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Thomas Ades
Thomas Ades is a composer, conductor and pianist. He’s one of the major musical figures of our time and when he was only 36 The Barbican in London presented a retrospective festival of his music. Ades is conducting some major pieces of 20th repertoire while in Australia including his own works. He uses beautiful analogies to describe his musical ideas without resorting to slogans. His ideas on Stravinsky in the centenary year of The Rite of Spring make interesting listening.
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Andrea Molino on Verdi
It's the bicentenary of Guiseppe Verdi's birth along with that other great European opera composer Richard Wagner. There are more than musical connections between these composers which Andrea Molini discusses in this long conversation. He also focusses on Verdi's Un Ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) and the political intrigues within and without this opera written in 1859 which covers the turbulent period of Italy's "risorgimento".
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Kev Carmody wins Don Banks Award
The Don Banks Award is considered a "gift" for musicians over 50 whose career has contributed a sustained and outstanding contribution to Australian musical life. Kev Carmody is one of Australia's most respected indigenous songwriters and oral historians. He's currently working out of a packing shed in S.E. Queensland making a 4 CD set of previously unrecorded songs all accompanied by the sounds of farm equipment, bird noises and the odd conventional stringed instrument. It'll be released...
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Olivier Latry: Notre Dame Organist
Olivier Latry continues the great French improvising organ tradition started by Couperin during the French Baroque. He is one of 4 of the "titular" organists at Notre Dame in Paris. His repertoire includes music of another great French organist and composer; Olivier Messiaen whos complete organ works Olivier has recorded on CD. He has been playing grand organs around Australia and improvising on tunes thrown at him by his audiences.
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Ben Lee and Ayahuasca
Ben Lee is only 34 and already a 20 year career which includes his huge hits Catch My Disease and Gamble Everything for Love. His latest foray into a South American mind altering tea has resulted in a new album named after this plant: Ayahuasca.
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Pieter Wispelwey
He's one of the leading cellists of his generation playing Baroque, Classical, Romantic and contemporary repertoire. Bach and Britten sit easily together for Pieter in a solo recital and he is as uncompromising about style as he is opinionated about music. Pieter Wispelwey is touring Australia at present playing with the state symphony orchestras and recitals. He's also one of the mentors for AYO students at this weekend's Musica Viva Festival. He plays live and talks on The Music Show.
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Lambert Orkis: accompanist and teacher
One of the leading accompanists still working today who can has played with some of the great musicians of the past 50 years: Rostropovich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Anner Bylsma, Arleen Auger to name a few. Lambert Orkis is one of the leading international guests at this year's Musica Viva Festival
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AYO Trio plays Haydn
One of the most successful components of the Musica Viva Festival is the Masterclass/ Tutorial session when students and mentors get together. Three of these students are an AYO Trio made up of Hannah Buckley, violin, Daniel Smith, cello and Lachlan Dorse, piano.
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Sharon Bezaly: A-Z of flute playing
She's one of the few full-time flautists in the world with close on 20 composers having written concertos for her including a flute trilogy by the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina. She's champions contemporary composers in her ongoing CD series "Solo Flute from A-Z". Sharon Bezaly sites Zubin Mehta, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Sandor Vegh as her greatest influences and is one of the Musica Viva festival's special international guests who will be mentoring young musicians.
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Neal Peres Da Costa: keyboard specialist
Neal Peres Da Costa, early keyboard specialist, pianist, academic and author of "Off the Record - Performing Practices in Romantic Piano Playing", is known to many for his Baroque performances in particular. He's also keenly interested in romantic piano playing and the latest acquisition to his keyboard collection is the harmonium which he demonstrates today by way of showing what Schoenberg did to Mahler's "Songs of a Wayfarer" cycle.
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Takemitsu's 'Rain Spell'
Toru Takemitsu's 'Rain' or 'water' pieces explore an extraordinary range of sounds. This special ensemble performs 'Rain Spell' especially for The Music Show. Performers: Geoffrey Collins, flute, Francesco Celata, clarinet, Alice Giles, harp, Tamara Anna Cislowska, piano, Jess Ciampa, vibraphone
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Benjamin Beilman
Prize-winning young violinist talks about Bach, competitions and commissioning composers.
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Bach Violin Sonatas
One of Bach's lesser known pieces for accompanied violin. Richard Tognetti plays his 1759 Guadagnini violin and Neal Peres Da Costa performs on a comparatively modern chamber organ (2004) based on the style of its 18th century equivalent.
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William Elliott Whitmore from Iowa
Musician/ farmer William Elliott Whitmore sings about the landscape and the characters of his native Iowa with a voice that's as expressive as you'll ever hear. He sings some songs from his latest album Field Songs on The Music Show.
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Tedeschi Trucks Band
Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks come from different musical roots: Susan from a folk, country and classical background; Derek firmly in Southern blues and rock. He played with Eric Clapton, she with bluegrass legend Peter Rowan. Together they've formed The Tedeschi Trucks (blues) Band of 11 deeply experienced musicians from varying backgrounds. The result is searing and powerful blues music. Touring for bluesfest.
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Playing For Change: YouTube sensation
The Playing For Change project began as a YouTube phenomenon. Music producer Mark Johnson recorded buskers singing Stand By Me all around the world. The clip has now had more than 50 million hits. All manner of musicians have got on board to play with buskers from 125 countries: all of it recorded live and outside. Members of the Playing for Change group have raised a lot of money, which is being used to build music schools in various parts of the world. Playing for Change is at bluesfest.
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Operamania- with Anthony Steel
Operamania—a showcase of opera and dance—is about to hit Australian stages, featuring Moscow Novaya Opera soloists and orchestra, and dancers from the Russian Imperial Ballet. Former festival director and arts commentator Anthony Steel talks about what's on offer in Operamania and why a showcase of favourites is a good thing.
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Steve Miller from The Steve Miller Band
They were enormous in the 1970s with a string of hits like 'The Joker', 'Fly Like an Eagle' and 'Quick Silver Girl', many of which had lives outside the stadiums that spawned such bands. The Steve Miller Band hasn't put away its amps yet, though; they're doing more blues than ever with two recent albums Bingo and Let Your Hair Down. Call him The Gangster of Love, Maurice or Space Cowboy, Steve Miller claims he and the band are doing their complete catalogue of songs when they hit bluesfest...
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SANS
SANS is the quartet of multi-instrumentalist Andrew Cronshaw (zither, fujara, ba-wu, marovantele, kantele), Finnish singer Sanna Kurki-Suonio, multi-instrumental reeds player Ian Blake, and Tigran Aleksanyan, Armenian master of his country's astonishingly voice-like reed pipe, the duduk. It's an instrumental combination which draws deeply on each musician's folk tradition. Touring for the National Folk Festival in Canberra.
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Bettye LaVette: American soul singer back at 67
Bettye LaVette started singing at 16 then drifted in the music wilderness for decades until emerging to sing a Pete Towsend song back to him at The Kennedy Centre. Neither musician had heard of each other. Then she sang at Obama’s 2009 inauguration and hasn’t looked back. She's one of the headliners at 2013 bluesfest.
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Rodriguez- a musical survivor
Detroit musician Rodriguez released two albums in the 1970s and they were embraced in South Africa and Australia, but not in the USA; and by the early 80s, Rodriguez disappeared from the recording scene. But the albums- especially 'Cold Fact' survived. It took a documentary-maker to 'find out' what happened to Rodriguez [amid rumours of his death], and the results have been stunning- sold out concerts in South Africa and now Australia, and the documentary 'Searching for Sugar Man' was a 2013...
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Lisa Hannigan
She’s sung with Herbie Hancock and The Chieftains, but for her current tour of Australia Lisa Hannigan is on her own- with ukulele, mandolin and guitar, and she's playing and singing on The Music Show.
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Himmerland from Denmark
5 piece Danish band Himmerland start with Danish roots, and take them lots of places. They play a live set in The Music Show studios. Himmerland is: Eskil Romme, Saxophone Morten Alfred Hoirup, Guitar + vocal Kirstine Sand, violin Andrzej Krejniuk, Electric Bass Ayi Solomon, percussion
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Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas: Gaelic "fiddling"
Alasdair Fraser is the greatest Scottish fiddler of his generation. He's also not a purist and likes to let Gaelic tunes escape from the folk tune gospel and be allowed to "roam widely and wildly" as they might have done hundreds of years ago. Alasdair is touring with an unlikely collaborator in cellist Natalie Haas; but it's a match made in musical heaven.
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Chris Smither: synthesising folk and blues
Master picker, writer and singer of blues-tinged songs, Chris Smither is touring after an absence of three years with a new album, Hundred Dollar Valentine.
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Ruthie Foster- Let it Burn
Ruthie Foster's latest album is one of the most imaginative exploration of extant songs in recent years. In this live set Ruthie takes time out from her current Australian tour to play some of those songs just for us.
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Dr Michael Hooper: National Cultural Policy
Michael Hooper is a research fellow in music at the University of NSW. He specialises in Australian music from the mid-half of the 20th Century.
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Spanish viol player Jordi Savall
The great and prolific Jordi Savall is one of early music's most revered performers and researchers. His recent exploration of 'the Celtic viol' has brought him together with harpist Andrew Lawrence-King and bodhran player Frank McGuire.
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Yakut trio Ayarkhaan
Ayarkhaan are from the Yakutia in Siberia. Founded in 2002 by Albina Degtyareva, this female trio plays the khomus [jews harp] and sings- though that description hardly does them justice! Their music simulates the sounds of animals, birds and the elements of their homeland in a unique musical experience.
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Mari Boine: Sami singer
Norwegian by birth Mari Boine sings the traditional yoiks of her Sami homeland and more recently has added elements of rack and jazz to the mix. He most recent CD Sterna Paradisea was recorded in South Africa. Mari talks about singing the Devil's work as a 'Lappish' Norwegian and performs live from Stage 7 at WOMADelaide. Mari is accompanied onstage by bodhran and finger piano player Gunner Augland and guitarist Roer Ludvigsen. Exclusive to WOMADelaide 2013.
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Manjiri Kelkar and Sudha Ragunathan: Northern and...
Vocalists Manjiri Kelkar and Sudha Ragunathan - a jugalbundi [improvised duet] combining Carnatic and Hindustani music. Accompanied by harmonium violin, tabla and mridingam Manjirigi describes her classical vocal techniques from northern India while Sudhaji demonstrates her devotional singing style from the south.
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Ross McHenry Future Ensemble
Find out what happens when afro-jazz meets LA beats and NZ soul and hip-hop. Ross McHenry's Future Ensemble shows us in a live set. He's gathered key musicians working in these genres including Mark De Clive Lowe from LA and Myele Manzanza from NZ's Electric Wire Hustle. The focus is on improvisation and beats with music production.
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Kane, Francey, Kane- a live set
Kane father and son join with Canadian friend David Francey on a new album and an Australian tour.
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Tom Ellard: Severed Heads
'Nostalgia is death' has long been Tom Ellard's catchcry since his band, formed in the late '70s, disbanded in 2008. But he's back doing classic Severed Heads music alongside German musician Atom at the Adelaide Festival, as well as an online game called Hauntology House. He tells us why—and why music is the heart of all art, and all art must be about risk.
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Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier- Stories of Ghosts
DeborahConwayand WillyZygier'snewalbum exploresoldstoriesthrough moderneyes—andnotjust anyoldstorieseither; they are from the biggest-selling book of all time.Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier comeinforalive studiosetaheadoftheir nationaltour.
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Benny Chong: Hawaiian Ukulele
Benny Chong combines the essence of being Hawaiian in his own background and his musical influences from his early days playing with Don Ho's famous Aliis Band. He's also the master of 4 and 5 chords whilst playing a melody on this humble 4 stringed baritone ukulele. He demo's it all live on The Music Show.
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Martenitsa's Italian Journey
This outstanding 17 piece choir has been linked to Bulgarian vocal music for over 2 decades. Led by Mara Kiek they've sung folk music from Africa, the Balkans, Ireland and most recently Italy. Their new outing in CD and performance is called Tra Parole e Silenzio. Along with the band Mara! they perform a setting of Italian poetry written by the late human rights lawyer Edoardo Di Giovanni. Mara perform live ahead of concerts in Sydney and at Womadelaide.
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Adnaan Baraky- Syrian Oud
Syrian-born oud [lute] player and composer Adnaan Baraky now lives in Australia. He's exploring new ways forward for this ancient instrument and the east-west musical history it brings with it- and he plays some of it on The Music Show.
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Alister Spence: looping pianos for Todd Sampson
One our finest jazz pianists creates part of the score to a new theatre piece called I Love Todd Sampson opening in Sydney next week. But Alister Spence does much more besides with a constantly performing trio and swag of CD's to his name. He's investigating the loop as piano accompaniment on his latest CD Far Flung.
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Sally Whitwell at the piano
Pianist and composer Sally Whitwell talks about her latest album The Good, the Bad and the Awkward and about playing Philip Glass, including world premiere Glass. And for us she plays Nyman and Glass.
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Father John Misty
Former drummer in The Fleet Foxes, then singing simply as Josh Tillman, Father John Misty recounts the latest part of his musical journey from a seemingly unfashionable start growing up singing church music and listening to folk musicians.
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Steve Newcomb's Toy Piano world
Steve Newcomb is part of The Perth Festival's Soft Soft Loud concert, directed by Matthew Hoy.
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Undoing Prudencia in a ballad
The National Theatre of Scotland's The Undoing of Prudencia Hart uses the ballad form to explore the balled form, and some of the stories that ballads tell- especially the edgy ones! Alasdair McCrae is the music director of the performing and playing ensemble that is bringing Prudencia Hart's story to audiences at the Perth Festival- and he talks to Andrew Ford.
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Gesualdo - Darkness and Light
The late sixteenth-century Italian composer Gesualdo's lurid personal life is matched by his daringly original musical style. As a wealthy nobleman, he composed what he pleased—principally madrigals—but in later life he turned his attention to the Easter devotions known as the Tenebrae Responses, and some of these have now been transformed into a show called Tenebrae et Lux [Darkness and Light] for the Perth Festival. It's a collaboration: lighting, movement and the singing of the St...
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Jess Green's Bright Sparks band
It's a nonet but not as Miles Davis would know it. Electric guitarist Jess Green leads a fine band of jazz trained musicians but the music is described as "mash-up". Bright Sparks play live and preview their new CD Tinkly Tinkly before the album launch @ Sydney's Sound Lounge
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Vika Bull tells the Etta James Story
There's a lot more to Etta James than her most famous hit 'At Last'. Vika Bull is telling all in her upcoming show 'At Last, The Etta James Story' and we get a preview on this week's show.
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June Nixon - Organist and Choral Director
Retiring organist and choral director at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne, Dr June Nixon has held the position for a record-breaking 40 years. She is remembered fondly by many of her young charges, and here reflects on her career and achievements.
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Amy Dickson- 21st century saxophone
Sydney born saxophonist Amy Dickson has an international career, but she is 'home' at the moment for the release of her latest album 'Catch me if you Can'.
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Joseph Tawadros: new album Chameleons of the White Shadow
He's back with a bunch of luminaries on this album including players like Bela Fleck, Jean Louis Matinier and Roy Ayers. Recorded in New York last year.
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Baby et Lulu: French chanson
Abby Dobson, former lead singer of Leonardo's Bride & Lara Goodridge (Foreplay) are also Baby et Lulu and play live in the studio. Their songs include classic chanson once sung by Piaf and Serge Gainsbourg.
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Robert Ellis- A live set from his new album
Texan singer songwriter Robert Ellis is touring Australia for the first time. He does a live set on The Music Show- songs from his new album 'Photographs'.
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Max Richter re-composes Vivaldi
Part of Deutche Grammophon's re-composing series, English composer Max Richter has taken on one of the most famous pieces of all time: Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
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Richard Rodney Bennett remembered
British composer and pianist Richard Rodney Bennett died on Xmas Eve 2012. He was a prolific composer of concert and film music, and a jazz pianist and singer. He was a guest on The Music Show in 1999.
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Electric Preludes for Tognetti and Dean
Richard Tognetti picks up a six-string Violectra violin for Brett Dean's new piece 'Electric Preludes' and the Australian Chamber Orchestra's February tour. Soloist, composer and sound designer Bob Scott join Andrew Ford on this week's Music Show.
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Sunnyboys: Peter Oxley
Hugely popular Sydney band in the early 80's reunite to play A Day on the Green with Elvis Costello, Stephen Cummings and Tex Perkins.
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John Scofield: guitar legend
Guitarist and composer John Scofield's career is a story of skill, versatility and a fearlessly inclusive musical outlook -- and all with a favourite guitar.
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Simone Young
Australia's loss was Germany's gain when conductor Simone Young became head of the Hamburg State Opera and Philharmonic orchestra.
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Alex and Nilusha
Percussionist Alex Pertout and vocalist Nilusha Dassenaike are long time musical collaborators, but they released their first album Moments in Time in 2012.
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Jack White Interview: upholsterer turned rock luminary
The former member of The White Stripes, record producer and studio owner has gone solo with his latest CD Blunderbuss
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Christine Brewer
American soprano Christine Brewer is most famous for her Strauss, Wagner and Britten opera roles, but she is a distinguished recital performer and a teacher as well, and known for her generosity and down to earth dealings with musicians, students and people alike. Christine Brewer talked to Andrew Ford ahead of her Great Performers recital in Melbourne and Sydney in 2012.
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The Beez- live on The Music Show
The German cabaret and house concert band The Beez came into our studios to play for us last year.
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Tim Hart- Live studio set
He's the drummer in Boy and Bear but he plays a mean guitar and banjo too, and he released a new solo album called 'Milling the Wind' in 2012. Tim Hart plays us songs from the new album and talks to Andrew Ford about sounds, influences and sharing.
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Lil' Band o' Gold does Fats Domino
This Louisiana swamp-pop-blues band was touring in 2012, playing classic songs from the great New Orleans piano player's timeless catalogue. Lil band o Gold played live on The Music Show.
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Steve Poltz, storyteller in song
His preferred venue is your lounge room and his songs have a directness that is often confronting. Steve Poltz is a frequent visitor to Australia, but a first timer on The Music Show in 2012. He talks about his new album: Noineen Noiny Noin, dedicated to his first visit to our shores way back in 1999!
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Mike Gibbs and a life with big bands
Jazz composer and orchestrator Mike Gibbs talks about absorbing influences as diverse as Messiaen, Charles Ives,Gil Evans and rock music, and forging them into his own big band sound. He's in Australia forKinetic Jazz 2012.
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Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch
When Abigail Washburn was looking for 'something from home' to take on an overseas trip, she chose a banjo. Since then she's been on a musical journey that's taken her far and wide, and on her first Australian tour. Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch perform songs from their latest album live on The Music Show and talk to Andrew Ford.
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Bukhchuluun Ganburged: Mongolian fiddler and overtone...
'Bukhu' has lived and performed widely in Australia over the past few years. His 2-stringed horsehead fiddle is played like a cello and sometimes sounds like one, but his harmonic overtone singing is like nothing else... Bukhu demonstrates this complex vocal technique while accompanying himself on the Morin Khuur. The video below is from a Music Deli performance done in 2010, where he plays his now famous version of Waltzing Matilda.
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Steve Reich: father of Minimalism
Steve Reich turned his back on Serialism in the late 60s. He'd heard John Coltrane's free jazz and following a trip to Ghana in the early 70s he decided rhythm was more important than melody. Reich was in Australia last March talking to loads of fans and listening to his seminal works Drumming, Clapping Music, Different Trains and Vermont Counterpoint which were performed in Sydney & Melbourne.
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Chris Hillman: former Byrd and Flying Burrito Brother.
He talks about those golden days with Gram Parsons and Roger McGuinn. He's touring with Herb Pederson playing and singing sweet harmonies from their new CD @ Edwards Barn.
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Cedric Tiberghien: French piano music specialist
This fine pianist toured Australia last July playing early 20th Century French piano works as well as Schumann for an artist to paint by. He spoke to Amanda Smith.
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Rajaton: Finnish vocalists do Abba live
From traditional Finnish poetry settings to ABBA in 6 parts, Rajaton display extraordinary technique and lush harmonies while being astonishingly versatile in the style of the Swingle Singers.
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Georges Lentz meets Zane Banks with Ingwe
Composer Georges Lentz talks about his 'awakening' to the electric guitar; and guitarist Zane Banks shows us what it can do. This segment contains demonstrations on electric guitar by Zane Banks; and short excerpts from the following: Monh: viola concerto, comp. Georges Lentz Ingwe, comp. Georges Lentz, Perf. Zane Banks, electric guitar
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The Punch Brothers revisited with video
These 5 virtuosos play Bach and Radiohead as well as original tunes. They combine blistering technique, stylistic integrity and extraordinary energy, keeping bluegrass alive and well. And that's how The Punch Brothers perform on RN's The Music Show.
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Ben Sollee
Kentucky cellist and singer songwriter Ben Sollee has absorbed many musical styles and used them to expand his cello playing and his song writing. And he did some on The Music Show.
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Galileo and Music of the Spheres
Canadian Baroque Orchestra Tafelmusik have created an AV concert program which explores music from the time of astronomy pioneer Galileo Galelei.
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Krystle Warren, a talent to watch
She moves seamlessly between country lament, smoky jazz and growling blues, bringing to mind the virtuosity Nina Simone might display
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eighth blackbird: live studio performance
Chicago-based ensemble 'eighth blackbird' were back in Australia to curate the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's 2012 Metropolis Series,
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Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams: occasionally controversial, often prickly but a prolific and fine songwriter who swings from hip-hop to metal via country
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Neil Finn+ Pajama Club
Neil Finn keeps it all in the family in his recent incarnation 'Pajama Club' where he sits behind a drum kit and lets wife Sharon Finn do bass guitar.
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Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp under southern skies
Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp perform a song from their latest album Songs of the Southern Skies live on The Music Show.
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Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini
One of the musical headlines of the Perth Festival 2012 was Robert Hollingworth's I Fagiolini. They joined with local singers to perform two 16th century pieces written in 40 parts: Mass in 40 parts by Striggio and Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis.
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London Klezmer Quartet
The LKQ are a dynamic all-female group of performers, teachers and researchers of all things 'klezmer' and they did their first tour of Australia in 2012.
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Vintage Trouble
LA band talks about where soul meets RnB, and about their album The Bomb Shelter Sessions. Vintage Trouble is Ty Taylor, Nalle Colt, Rick Barrio Dill and Richard Danielson.
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Mia Dyson: a live set from 'The Moment'
Mia Dyson released a new album in 2012. This is one of the two songs she played on one of her beloved electric guitars [made by her dad] in The Music Show studio.
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Elliott Carter (1908-2012)
He died this month aged 103. Carter was born in New York. He was a composer of neo-classical music in the 1930s then followed an Americana style like his friend Aaron Copland until finally he really discovered his own 'voice' from the 70s onwards. The older Carter got the more productive he became, and after turning 90 he composed 50 pieces! Andrew Ford interviewed Elliott Carter in his Greenwich Village apartment in 2006. He was 97 years old.
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Michael Hooper and Christopher Mark on Lumsdaine and...
Authors Michael Hooper and Christopher Mark have written new books on two very important Australian composers: David Lumsdaine and Roger Smalley. One was born in England and now lives in Australia; the other was born here and now lives in the UK. Yet they are friends and oddly musically connected. The authors look at 20th century modernism through the prism of these composers' works.
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Bernie McGann: alto saxophonist turns 75
...and still blowing strong. Bernie McGann is one of the biggest and most respected names in Australian jazz. In a long overdue conversation Andrew and Bernie start with the 1950s jazz scene which started for Bernie following his drummer father around the clubs of western Sydney. Bernie McGann CDs can be found mainly on the Rufus label.
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Pretty Things: part of the British Blues Invasion
They're an English blues rock band whose take on the blues was considered by musicians like Bowie and The Ramones to be much more authentic than anything done by The Stones. But while Pretty Things never made it in the US the band of Bo Diddley inspired musicians made a splash in New Zealand with mentions in parliament. They're touring Australian and New Zealand over the next few weeks.
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Simon Tedeschi - Gerswhin and Me
Australian pianist Simon Tedeschi speaks about Gershwin and Me
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CD Track in the Key of Sea
Refugee artists with their Australian mentors.
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Tenor Ian Bostridge
English tenor Ian Bostridge is equally at home on the opera and the recital stage, and he also writes about music. He's performing in Australia for the first time and he's talking to Andrew Ford this week about magic, the music of Britten, Schubert, Henze and Ades, the voices of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Peter Pears, and about an inclusive approach to art and life.
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Gary Giddins on the late Dave Brubeck
The pianist, composer and bandleader died this week aged 92. Gary Giddins, American jazz critic, author, and director, best known for his longtime work with The Village Voice sums up the life and music of this great jazz man of "cool".
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Milos Karadaglic- Guitarist with a mission
Guitarist Milos Karadaglic has moved swiftly from a child prodigy in his native Montenegro to a Gramophone Award winning artist for his debut album. He wants to bring the guitar out of its classical 'niche'. Milos is currently touring Australia- he talks to Andrew Ford on The Music Show, and plays too.
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The Ellington Century with David Schiff
What's new to say about the Duke? In David Schiff's The Ellington Century he places this bandleader at the centre of musical modernism claiming he is as vital as Stravinsky, more influential than Schoenberg, and has had a lasting impact on jazz and pop that reaches from Gershwin to contemporary R&B
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McGann does Ellington
Alto player Bernie McGann's new CD Wending combines new material and standards like this one from The Duke.
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Nat Grant - Momentum
Nat Grant speaks to us about her innovative new project, Momentum.
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Shellie Morris and the Borroloola Songwomen
Shellie Morris talks about her work with the Borroloola Songwomen and winning the 2012 Music in Communities Award.
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Kimbra: she's 22 and just one her first ARIA for best...
Kimbra Johnson is signed to an international record label on the strength of her first album, and already going by a single moniker. She's a highly focussed performer and talker and Vows is slick and beautifully produced pop. Here's a grab from her original interview broadcast in September 2011.
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Lyn Williams: The Gondwana Voices story.
Lyn is Artistic Director and Founder of Gondwana Voices, the umbrella group for more than a dozen choirs across the country . They include the seriously good treble choirs Sydney Children's Choir (founded in 1991) and Gondwana Voices (1997), the choir which 'sang' that extremely popular Qantas ad some years back. Since then Lyn has added her most recent choir to this choral empire; the Gondwana National Indigenous Children’s Choir and it’s going so well she’s bought a house in Cairns where...
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Yasmin Levy: embracing Ladino songs (also available as...
On her latest CD Libertad, Yasmin Levy performs more of her fado-like Spanish ballads and adds songs from the ancient Ladino language and she discusses the music's provenance. Yasmin's own background encompasses Sephardic and Turkish roots which have revealed a rich starting point for musical material. Yasmin Levy is currently touring Australia with her "multi-national" band of British, Armenian, Turkish, Israeli and Iranian musicians.
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Jennifer Condon brings Sappho to life
It was a dream commission: the comeback of Maria Callas and a libretto from Lawrence Durrell. But Peggy Glanville-Hicks' opera 'Sappho' was never performed- until a young Australian conductor rescued the score and gathered an outstanding group of musicians and singers into a studio Lisbon, Portugal. Jennifer Condon talks to Andrew Ford about the Glanville-Hicks/ Durrell opera 'Sappho'- a fitting gift to Peggy for her approaching 100th birthday.
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Missy Higgins: Giving 'em The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Missy Higgins speaks about her new album and her hiatus from the music industry
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Nigel Butterley: a very personal composer
Nigel Butterley wanted to be a composer from the age of 15. His music somehow avoided the style wars of 1960's Australian composition and he went on to find his own voice in significant works like In the Head the Fire, Laudes and From Sorrowing Earth digging deep into his love of poetry and biblical texts. Nigel also premiered John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes and Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire in Australia
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Arcko founder Timothy Phillips
The Melbourne-based contemporary music ensemble Arcko Symphonic Project plays new and rarely performed music, especially if it's Australian and hasn't been heard since it's premiere. Founder and conductor Timothy Phillips talks about the challenges and rewards, and the under-appreciated rich heritage of Australian music waiting to be heard again.
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Australian Music Month: Urthboy
Urthboy's Ausmusic moment is 'For The Kings' by Adelaide MC, Delta.
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Andy Morgan: the war on music in Mali
Andy Morgan writes for The Guardian and knows the desert music of Mali very well. He's helped organise the famous Festival of the Desert and is writing a book on the Grammy winning Touareg band Tinariwen. He talks to us from the UK about how extremist religious groups are moving into the desert areas of Mali, terrorising musicians and banning music in a country where it's akin to "mineral wealth".
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Elliott Carter and Hans Werner Henze remembered
Singer and now Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, and violinist Graeme Jennings have personal memories of two recently deceased composers: German Hans Werner Henze and American Elliott Carter, who were enormously important figures in music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Sandy Evans: saxophonist, composer, band leader and...
For Australian Music Month we celebrate the work of this great jazz musician. Sandy Evans was once a novelty: a non-singing woman in jazz. She's now a revered reeds player, composer, mentor and band leader with a string of eclectic collaborations -- and awards -- to her name. For Australian Music Month Sandy Evans OAM talks to Andrew Ford about her long career.
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Alex Stuart: an Australian in Paris
Australian guitarist Alex Stuart lives and works in Paris but his music draws on the world. His concerts and recordings call on the rhythms and harmonies of Africa, India and South America. Alex Stuart is currently in Australia with his quartet and they play a live set on The Music Show. Tunes played live:
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Ani Choying Drolma
This Buddhist nun shares her chants and ritual songs from the Tantric tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism.
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Vanessa Downing
Vanessa, a soprano with the Sydney Philharmonia Choir, recalls an extraordinary moment during a performance of Mozart’s Requiem at the Sydney Opera House.
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Eddie Perfect. singer, composer, actor and satirist
A feature interview with singer, writer, actor and satirist Eddie Perfect. He's one of the most versatile performers in Australia, whether in his own creations like ‘Warne The Musical’ or in ‘South Pacific’ for Opera Australia, Eddie Perfect talks about how singing meant rejecting a ‘beautiful’ sound, how it led him to writing, and what he does it all for, and what's next.
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Dave Graney
Dave celebrates the Melbourne music scene over three decades and, in particular, contemporary symphonic popsters Jane Dust and the Giant Hoopoes.
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Lighthouse Trio- Live studio set
The much applauded Lighthouse Trio- Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock and Asaf Sirkis- are touring Australia, and they have a new self-titled album. They pay us a live set in The Music Show studios:
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Kelly Joe Phelps: blues picker does gospel songs.
Kelly Joe's taken the Old Testament Book of Jonah as lyric inspiration for a delightful and virtuosic set of gospel songs on his new CD Brother, Sinner and The Whale. He uses bottle neck slide and standard guitar and throws in a couple instrumental numbers for good measure. Touring Australia at present.
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Frank J Oteri from NYC post Sandy
Frank J Oteri from NYC post Sandy- the Music Show's New York correspondent calls in from post-Sandy Manhattan, and a performance of The Tempest.
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Australian Music Track: Mojo Juju
Live gigs for Mojo Juju: Nov 3- Castlemaine Bridge Hotel, VIC Nov 6- Canberra Phoenix Bar Nov 9- Sydney Red Rattler, NSW Nov 10- Newcastle, NSW The Lass O'Gowrie
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Tim Fain: virtuoso violinist in a digital
He might be best known for the score of the film 'Black Swan' but when violinist Tim Fain worked with Leonard Cohen and Phillip Glass on 'The Book of Longing', his part inspired him to commission Glass for a major solo work. The result was 'Partita' for solo violin and it has also become the centrepiece for Fain's own multimedia work 'Portals', one of the musical highlights of the 2012 Melbourne Festival. Tim Fain chats to Andrew Ford, and plays some of the Glass 'Partita'.
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Conlon Nancarrow centenary
Composer Conlon Nancarrow was born in the USA 100 years ago today. His music owes something the music and ideas of Henry Cowell and John Cage- and also in many ways to JS Bach- but his undeniable originality, especially when it came to rhythm, has made his music much admired and studied in recent years. He spent most of his creative life in ‘isolation’ in Mexico, and his innovative musical mind loved the player piano. His biographer, composer Kyle Gann, talks about the life and the music of...
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Crooner Gregory Page
English-born singer songwriter Gregory Page now living in the USA draws on several styles for his happy/ sad songs, especially the legacies of Al Bowlly and Cole Porter. Live performances by Gregory Page and Liz Frencham in The Music Show studios:
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Romeo & Juliet hip-hop style
Composer Cathy Milliken puts an experienced eye over Massive's settings of Shakespeare's famous play in The Romeo and Juliet Project, which will be accompanied by Melbourne's Footscray City College and Huntingtower School and musicians from the MSO.
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James Crabb:virtuoso accordionist
James Crabb is renowned both for his versatility as a musician and for the diversity of repertoire he plays, most of it very current. Composers like Sofia Gubaidulina, Luciano Berio, Magnus Lindberg, Toshio Hosokawa and very recently Australian Peter McNamara have co have written specially for his instrument. So what does this say about charms and challenges of classical music and this original oom-pah folk instrument. Some of it will be revealed in James Crabb's solo concert at the...
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Billy Bragg
Billy Braggcametoattentionasananti-Thatcher,folk-punkagitatorand then retraced folk music's steps and embraced the poetry and songs of Woody Guthrie. He's touring, talking, singing, mentoring and tweeting during this visit to Australia. One of his latest preoccupations is what will replace the quick agit prop folk song. Is it hip hop or social media and will it make you cry like like Levi Stubbs Tears?
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Maria Grenfell: composer
Much of this Tasmanian based composer's work takes its influence from poetic, literary and visual sources and from non-Western music and literature. Maria Grenfell discusses her newest piece Ten Suns Ablaze based on a Chinese legend. It's being premiered this weekend by The Australia Ensemble.
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Michael Kieran Harvey and Speak Percussion
Pianist Michael Kieran Harvey is about to give the annual Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address about the creation and performance of Australian music. He's also part of the Quasi una Fantasia concert in the Melbourne Festival with the members of Speak Percussion; and he's playing in the upcoming Synaethesia: Music of Colour and Mind series of concerts in Tasmania. Michael Kieran Harvey discusses all these topics and is joined by composer Adam Simmons and members of Speak Percussion for a premiere...
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Kalascima:Italian folk band from Apulia
The band has revived and modernised Italian folk tunes and dances like the Tarentella from Southern Italy. They're in Australia for the first time with goatskin bagpipes, reed flutes, accordions and frame drums. Check Kalascima's dates here.
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La soiree- Le Gateau Chocolat & Ursula Martinez
La Soiree, featuring the stars of La Clique, is an enduring part of the Melbourne Festival.
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Paul Kelly on lists and songs from the interior
Paul Kelly plays a couple of his favourite songs from Australia's hidden hit parade, part of an accumulated this list from decades of touring through inland Australia. His personal collection is called Beyond the Pale, his own classic radio hit parade from a lost age. Paul also has a new album out called Spring and Fall
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Australian Chamber Choir- live performance
The Australian Chamber Choir perform Samuel Barber's 'Twelfth Night'. Conductor Douglas Lawrence.
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Tim Draxl : actor and singer who channels Chet Baker
Tim Draxl's tribute to the trumpeter, singer and cool jazz's pin-up boy whose tragic heroin addiction played havoc with his playing and cut short a promising career . Tim's been touring his tribute to Chet Baker in Freeway: The Chet Baker Journey, about to start at the Melbourne Festival.
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Afterlife- Opera from film
If you could choose a single memory to take with you into eternity, what would it be? That's the subject of Dutch composer Michel van der Aa's opera 'Afterlife' and it's part of the 2012 Melbourne Festival.
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Conversations with Ghosts
A collaboration involving Paul Kelly, composer James Ledger, recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey and the Australian National Academy of Music has resulted in a stunning new song cycle called 'Conversations with Ghosts'.
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Urthboy: live poetry performance
aka Tim Levinson, MC and manager of the Australian hip hop label Elefant Traks talks hip hop history and explains why this music form is both democratic, conservative and progressive all at the same time. We hear from Urthboy's new CD Smokey's Haunt.
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Dig: live studio performance
Directions In Groove has been around 20 years from the early days of acid jazz. The band's signature laid back looping and jazz inflections is now complemented by Laura Stitt's funky singing.
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Richard Egarr- from the keyboard
The great early music historian, conductor and all round raconteur Richard Egarr links challenging music-making with educating audiences. Richard Egarr is currently touring Australia leading the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
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Alister Spence Trio: new CD
Far Flung is the fifth release from the Alister Spence Trio and another landmark recording with 19 tracks which interweaving of jazz compositions, open improvisations, and re-composed post-production pieces.
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Salome: sex, religion, obsession and that dance of seven...
Director Gale Edwards reveals her take on this erotic, biblically inspired opera by Richard Strauss, based on Oscar Wilde's play. About to be staged by Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne.
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Henry Cowell (1897-1965) :wildman of American modernist...
Biographer Joel Sachs discusses the life and music of American composer, pianist and theorist Henry Cowell. His book 'Henry Cowell: a Man Made of Music' is published by Oxford University Press
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William Lane: Artistic Director of the Hong Kong New...
Ex-pat musician William Lane talks about making music in Asia. The violist left Tasmania as the recipient of a number of scholarships aimed at furthering his advocacy of new music with the HKNME. Since 2008, the HKNME has been active in commissioning over thirty new works for the ensemble.
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An opera about Daisy Bates
Journalist, welfare worker and early champion of Aboriginal rights Daisy Bates is now an opera by composer Anne Boyd and librettist Bob Reece.
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Robert Lepage and The Ring
Stage and film director Robert Lepage’s magical production of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung has been seen not only at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, but in cinemas around the world. Now it’s out on DVD. He talks Wagner and The Ring on this week's show.
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Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp under southern skies
Standards -- we tend to think of them as tunes from the distant past and, usually, from somewhere else. Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp sing old and new ones on their latest album Songs of the Southern Skies and live on The Music Show this week.
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Thomas Martin and the double bass
It's a rare musician who makes instruments and plays them, but Thomas Martin does. He's also a renowned exponent of the music of Bottesini, 19th century composer and virtuoso who was know as the Paganini of the double bass.
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Ashley Smith: Freedman Winner
The Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music is a serious gong which requires a significant project to win. Ashley Smith is a virtuoso clarinettist studying at Yale and is an impressive ambassador for new music. Ashley's only 27 and tackling some of the most difficult contemporary works for his instruments. He discusses his ambitious new music projects on The Music Show from his base at Yale University.
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Mnozil Brass: more than Austrian oompah music.
Mnozil Brass's onstage antics are surpassed only by their extraordinary technique on almost every instrument of the brass family. The septet met at University, found Mnozil Tavern across the road and formed a band in which all music is up for their brass treatment.
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Ingrid Michaelson: MySpace music sensation
Ingrid Michaelson made a splash singing commercials and having her songs on TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs and One Tree Hill. 5 albums later the indie unplugged sound has made way for highly arranged lush arrangements on the album Human Again.
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Clare Bowditch and choosing happiness
Clare Bowditch's new album is called 'The Winter I Chose Happiness'. Clare and husband Martin Brown come into The Music Show studios to play some songs from the new album and to talk about how it was created, how exploration feeds creativity, and how choosing a career in music can be happily done.
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Rajaton: Finnish vocalists
From traditional Finnish poetry settings to ABBA in 6 parts, Rajaton display extraordinary technique and lush harmonies whilst being astonishingly versatile in the style of The Swingle Singers.
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Rufus Wainwright talks melody, opera and life
Rufus Wainwright—theatrical, versatile and with a new pop album that displays his distinctive tenor vocals and his song writing craft—is touring Australia. He visits the Music Show to chat to Andrew Ford.
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Mia Dyson- a live set from 'The Moment'
Mia Dyson is back with a new album and a tour. She plays two songs on one of her beloved electric guitars [made by her dad] in The Music Show studio. Songs:
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Elena Kats-Chernin and a new setting of 'My Country'
Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin has been working in Berlin with Barrie Kosky re-inventing Monteverdi. She has also set a famous Australian poem to music for the Vienna Boys Choir who are singing it for Australian audiences. Elena Kats-Chernin talks to The Music Show from Berlin.
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The sarangi- the Mishra family players
The father and son duo Santosh and Sangeet Mishra come from the Benares school (Gharana) of sarangi playing which dates back hundreds of years and has developed this extraordinary Rajasthani folk instrument into a highly prized solo voice in classical Indian music.
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Tim Hart- Live studio set
He's the drummer in Boy and Bear but he plays a mean guitar and banjo too, and he's released a new solo album called 'Milling the Wind'. He plays us songs from the new album and talks to Andrew Ford about sounds, influences and sharing.
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Kristina Olsen- a life
Kristina Olsen has just released an autobiographical e-book- an unexpurgated romp through her colourful life and music, and it's complete with music- new songs, and revisited old songs. The book is called 'They Paid us in Tub Time' and Kristina Olsen talks about it and plays some songs from it on The Music Show.
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An hour of Cage with biographer David Nicholls, prepared...
David Nicholls wrote John Cage as part of his American Composers series. He discusses the extraodinary life of this composer, writer and artist.
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Debussy's life and music- with Roy Howat
Pianist and author Roy Howat discusses the life of Claude Debussy, born 150 years ago, and some reflections of that life in his radical, beautiful music.
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Nitin Sawhney
Musician, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney is back in Australia for concerts in Melbourne and Sydney. He talks about his latest projects: an album narrated by John Hurt, and music for a silent Hitchcock film.
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Genevieve Lacey
Virtuoso Genevieve Lacey has carved out a career never dreamed of when she first picked up the humble recorder as a child. But her skill, generosity and musically inclusive way of thinking have made her part of the musical fabric in Australia across a formidable range of styles and genres. Also a festival director and frequent collaborator with all kinds of artists, she talks to Andrew Ford about how it all happened- and what's next.
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Tasmin Little: passionate about Delius
She's an acclaimed concerto soloist and her recent recordings of Delius concertos have gone someway to raising the profile of this underrated English composer born 150 years ago. Tasmin Little races between Hobart and the London Proms to play Delius and Vaughan Williams in both countries and managed to spruik the former during her time with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
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Simone Young
Australia's loss was Germany's gain when conductor Simone Young became head of the Hamburg State Opera and Philharmonic orchestra. She's an acknowledged interpreter of Wagner and Strauss operas and more recently Bruckner. For this visit to Australia she has brought her opera company to perform in Brisbane. Simone Young has a take-no-prisoners approach to repertoire and workload but sees the funny side of being a Wagner opera tragic.
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Composer Carl Vine
Carl Vine is one of Australia's most eminent composers. He's also been artistic director of Musica Viva Australia since 2000. Andrew Ford discusses some of Carl Vine's most recent music, including a new piano concerto which is about to be premiered in Sydney. And having set some of Patrick White's Tree of Man, is Carl Vine now ready for an opera?
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Taryn Fiebig
She's versatile and busy -- soprano Taryn Fiebig sings Mozart and Brett Dean, musicals and Richard Mills. She talks to Andrew Ford about opera, musicals and songs and how it all began.
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The Punch Brothers live performance.
This band of 'brothers' combine blistering technique, stylistic integrity and extraordinary energy, keeping bluegrass alive and well. And that's how The Punch Brothers perform on RN' The Music Show. Here's a sneak preview of next Saturday's delights in sound and video with Rye Whiskey.
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Synergy- from Monteverdi to Radiohead
Sydney percussion ensemble Synergy's latest project has them re-imagining a raft of works spanning 400 years- from Monteverdi to Radiohead via Bach and Cage. They perform some of it live in the studio.
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Elliott Carter
The world's oldest composer talks about his opera What Next? written when Carter was 90. It's being premiered in Melbourne this week by Victorian Opera. Elliott Carter is 103 and
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DJ Zeke
This Perth DJ is premiering Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for Turntable with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra Zeke Ugle learnt his DJ skills in a WA country high school music department. From there he's played all over Australia and Europe and on Friday 10th was a finalist in the Redbull National Finals in Sydney. He demo's some scratches for The Music Show and previews the Concerto for Turntable.
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Oscar Hammerstein III
Oscar Hammerstein III is the grandson of Oscar Hammerstein of ‘Rodgers and Hammerstein’ fame, and a distinguished author and Adjunct Professor at New York's Columbia University. He is in Australia to see Opera Australia's new production of 'South Pacific' in Sydney, and to give the Keynote address at a Rogers and Hammerstein Music Theatre Symposium in Melbourne.
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Song Company and Claire Edwards
The Song Company and percussionist Claire Edwards explore watery theme and sounds in their latest series of concerts, with music that links Australian Peter Sculthorpe and New Zealander Jack Body to the unique voice of Claude Debussy. The Song Company gives a performance in The Music Show studio, and Claire Edwards plays some of her liquid percussion. Live performances in this segment:
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Sakari Oramo: Finnish conductor
Oramo is not one to shy away from a challenge, conducting Elgar, Vaughan Williams and a good amount of contemporary English music for the British audiences.
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Koko Loriko
Live performance by Timor Leste choir Koro Loriko, conducted by choir master Paolo Pereria- thanks to Radio Australia!
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The Field: Live studio set from new CD
Merle Takes a Holiday from The Field name-checks Floyd Cramer and Merle Travis but isn't quite country and not quite western.
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Jessica Cottis
Sydney Symphony's latest young and talented addition.
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Christine Brewer
American soprano Christine Brewer is most famous for her Strauss, Wagner and Britten opera roles, but she is a distinguished recital performer and a teacher as well, and known for her generosity and down to earth dealings with musicians, students and people alike. Christine Brewer talks to Andrew Ford ahead of her Great Performers recital in Melbourne on August 1, 2012, and performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on August 9, 10 & 11.
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David Braid: Juno Award winning pianist.
Canadian David Braid plays 'prepared' piano live on The Music Show with his take on a traditional Chinese song and his twisted version of classic Jerome Kern. He's touring the country giving solo concerts and master classes, and showcases his new CD Verge on today's show.
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