Arts and Entertainment Archive

Orfeo is the story of Peter Els, a septuagenarian composer, musicologist, DIY microbiologist, and now America’s most wanted bioterrorist. Written by American Richard Powers, the story of Els’ 70 years of life unfolds before the reader along interweaving strands of narrative: in …

The history of boybands is littered with scandal and heartbreak. Robbie Williams famously destroyed Take That with his departure (though Gary Barlow and the rest eventually proved their worth a decade later). Justin Timberlake happily left his bandmates in the dust as …

After a long struggle with cancer poet, playwright, actor and author Luke Icarus Simon has added to his body of work with the releases of Lost in the Last Divided Capital and The Transit of Cancer. With a reputation of producing poignant …

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to experience the precise but full-blooded playing of Australia’s Slava Grigoryan in trio with US guitar magus Ralph Towner and German jazzman Wolfgang Muthspiel. At the time I was reminded of a particular beauty inherent …

Imagine if your favourite bar band – the one you see swaggering and rocking at your local most Saturday nights – won some fabulous lottery. And with that money they could mount the most amazingly huge and perfectly produced show they could conceive. The venue …

The debut album by Sydney’s electronic duo Flight Facilities, Down to Earth, dropped on October 24 and I gave it a spin this week. Known to me mainly for their groovy remix of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”, my ears were going in with no other preconceptions. …

  In today’s Sicily the Mafia might seem like ancient history but I discovered that it is alive and well in the heartland of the fictional Italian detective series about the life and investigations of Inspector Salvo Montalbano. First of all, a confession. I am a …

In my early twenties, I lived in a flat with my (much hipper) cousin David. The music that wafted from his room was an education in itself. To my Glam-rock gilded ears the exotic and alien sounds of jazz and Prog were …

Sydney’s favourite prehistoric party, Jurassic Lounge, will return from extinction at the Australian Museum to celebrate the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead on November 1. Programming consultant Lupita Feint explains that the festival traditionally gathers family and friends to remember those …

Whirling dervishes may not commonly be associated with the baroque chamber repertoire, but the versatile Brandenburg Orchestra invited a troupe from Southern Turkey to tour Australia as part of its project to explore the musical traditions of other cultures across the 16th, …