Thursday 15 January 2026 Sydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre Opera Australia Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Puccini wrote Madama Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1924) at the height of Western fascination with the Orient. Artists and musicians were creating works that portrayed a stereotypical western view of the exotic cultures of the Orient, in […]
Saturday 10 January 2026 Sydney Opera House CIRCA Photos by Daniel Boud Circa is one of the world’s leading touring circus ensembles based in Brisbane. They generally tour three shows internationally at one time and the current show Duck Pond has been travelling the globe since 2023. Lead by Yaron Lifschitz, they stay true to […]
Thursday 8 January 2026 Sydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre Opera Australia Photography: Keith Saunders Revival and Movement Director, Matthew Barclay, brought together an incredibly talented team of creatives to reproduce Moffat Oxenbould’s 1997 award winning production of Madama Butterfly for Opera Australia’s 2026 season. The casting of Guanqun Yu as the impressionable and innocent […]
A mafia-esque summer romance On the 19th of December 2025, I experienced Don West at Liberty Hall — the last of two nights he performed there. Founded by Jake Smythe and Kenny Graham in the heart of the Entertainment Quarter, this venue has played a key role in reviving Sydney’s live music scene post-Covid. Ever […]
16 December 2025 KXT Theatre on Broadway FooFrame Productions with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Photography by Robert Miniter A Chinese Christmas started life in the mind of Trent Foo as a love letter to his grandma. He wrote and stars in the play that is a delightful tale of family, […]
Mercury Prize winning Liam Shortall is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer and performer, professionally known as corto.alto. Mr. Shortall recently blessed Sydney with his first-ever Australian tour and what a treat it was. The energy at the show was palpable. The composer’s music is an eclectic blend of soul, funk, electronica and hip-hop, all filtered […]
Read More… from Review: corto.alto – Live at Oxford Art Factory
20 November 2025 Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Photos by Brett Boardman Written over 400 years ago, Romeo and Juliet has permeated our culture in ballet, pop music, art, film and literature. And this is due to Shakespeare’s genius in portraying the human condition with timeless acuity in a […]
Glacier. S. H. Ervin Gallery. I8 November – 14 December. Then & Now. King Street Gallery on William. 18 November – 13 December Review by Anthony Frater. Arts Wednesday. There are two exhibitions on now at different galleries featuring the work of one this country’s most gifted painters in the Romantic style; actually he isn’t […]
Saturday 15 November, 2025 Bach Akademie Australia The Neilson, ACO on the Pier Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Photos by Keith Saunders It would have to be one of the most famous, most creative and ultimately unsuccessful job applications in history. In 1719, not long after the death of his first wife, JS Bach, […]
Read More… from Review: Bach Akademie Australia plays all 6 Brandenburg Concertos
Monday 10 November, 2025 Musica Viva Australia City Recital Hall Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Photos by Claudia Raschella Polish pianist, Piotr Anderszewski returns to our shores for Musica Viva Australia in a series of recitals featuring music by three German greats – Brahms, Bach and Beethoven – representing music from the Romantic, Baroque […]
Saturday 8 November, 2025 City Recital Hall Australian Chamber Orchestra Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) The Australian Chamber Orchestra are famous for their innovation and risk-taking programming, but in their theatrical production of Cocteau’s Circle they ventured beyond their comfort zone, and for the first night of the national tour there were a few […]
Review by Leo Metzker If you happen to be leaving the Sydney Eye Hospital on a Wednesday night after an annual retinoscopy, cross to the other side of Macquarie Street, take a blurred right, an unfocused left, forward eight paces, a right and then a sharp left into St. Stephen’s Uniting Church. The sound of […]