Wednesday 28 January 2026 Sydney Opera House Playhouse Theatre Aakash Odedra Company Photography by Ken Leanfore Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) The performance began with a voice over explaining the story behind Songs of the Bulbul. In Persian culture, bulbuls (or nightingales) are revered for their songs that are often directed to a rose […]
Tuesday 27 January 2026 Sydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre Opera Australia Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Hansel and Gretel started its creative journey in 1813 when the appropriately named Brothers Grimm published this rather grisly fairy tale of a witch who grooms, cooks and eats children. It’s hard to imagine that a children’s […]
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 […]
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 […]
Thursday 4 September 2025 Sydney Opera House The Australian World Orchestra Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) More words have been written about Gustav Mahler’s 4th and 5th Symphonies than the number of notes in both works combined. Given that they are scored for around 100 musicians and they both last around an hour, that […]
Read More… from Review: Australian World Orchestra – Mahlerfest
AFRICA FILM FEST AUSTRALIA 2025 PROGRAM Africa Film Fest Australia is back in town! A bold, joyful and thought-provoking celebration of African cinema returns to Sydney from the 4th to 7th of September 2025 at iconic venues including the Sydney Opera House and Riverside Theatres, Arts & Cultural Exchange is proud to co-present the return […]
Read More… from Africa Film Fest Australia AFFA from 4th to 7th September 2025
Sydney Symphony Orchestra Friday 1 August, 2025 Sydney Opera House Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) I’ve often thought for an orchestral musician, the absolute honour of opening a symphony concert with an exposed solo must be so exhilarating and at the same time so terrifying. The audiences’ expectations are greeted by you alone (no […]
Read More… from Review: Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Javier Perianes
Sydney Opera House VOX (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs) Fri 27 June 2025 Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) Eric Whitacre is the master of suspension. Not in the horror movie kind of way, but more in his ability to create musical tension through harmony, sustain it until you think it will burst, and then resolve it […]
Read More… from Review: Eric Whitacre & VOX – Eternity in an Hour
Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House Saturday 21 June, 2025. Sydney Symphony Orchestra Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) While the music was exceptionally good (as you would expect), being up close and personal with members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was a unique experience in this latest offering from the Utzon Music Series. And the […]
Wednesday 4 June 2025 Sydney Opera House Bangarra Dance Theatre Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday) For their brand new production, Illume, Bangarra Dance Theatre have been allowed onto the stage of the Joan Sutherland Theatre for the first time, and this huge new space was barely big enough to contain their brilliance. Every aspect […]