Dumbing Down Terracini
Sydney Opera House (photo by Diliff)
Every artist has occasion to groan about critics. Often it can amount to, in Verdi’s phrase, ‘stupid criticism, even stupider praise’, or argumentum ad hominem. As Peter Craven observed in last weekend’s The Australian, much online content falls into these categories but in the current context, the artistic director of Opera Australia has taken the bait and been hooked like a bullfrog. Diana Simmonds reports on her site Stage Noise that she was informed: “In response to some of your recent writing about the company, Lyndon [Terracini] asked that you be removed from the media list.” So what was Simmonds’…
Continue Reading →Roman Guide – Pierfrancesco Vecchio
If you are new to Rome and can’t stay for more than several months, you would do well to see the Vatican chambers and the Forum Romanum (at least). Best to do that with a learned guide. TVC was lucky enough to have Pierfrancesco Vecchio, art historian and archaeologist, from Imago Artis. Francesco, who wears his deep learning lightly and with his trusty tablet at hand, knows just what to cover, what to pass by and he made our experience easy and fun as well as instructive. Our concierge had recommended him to us and we thank him for that…
Continue Reading →Aida
(Opera Australia, Melbourne, December 2009) (DVD, San Francisco Opera, 1981) You can’t miss with this one, although it does play a little like a Pharaoh’s Royal Command Performance; numerous parades, for example. This production touched all the staging bases, which it must, and then some, which you’d expect from Graeme Murphy. Well performed by all, particularly Warwick Fyfe as Amonasro. Jennifer Wilson looked the part more than Margaret Price (who, while singing well, played Aida like a worried little thing in a cafe from ‘Neighbours’ in the 1981 San Francisco filmed production) and the gentleman playing Radames managed to avoid…
Continue Reading →2015 : The Year of Teacosies?
Wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year. ♥♥♥AN UPDATE – INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS TEAPOT CAN BE FOUND HERE AND HERE♥♥♥ I have made a floral teacosy for my friend L – it was to be a Christmas present. But…..so now it will be a birthday present for February. The basic pattern for the teacosy came from Crochet by Raymond, a fabbie site (Raymond is a cat, BTW). I found patterns for the flowers and leaves from all over the place. For more SENSATIONAL teacosies, do have a look at my Pinterest board, “Crochet and Knitted Teacosies” (Should that be “crocheted”? …
Continue Reading →Larousse Gastronomique
Image courtesy of Booktopia
TVC embraces cuisine as a necessary element of culture but has hitherto been rather an ignoramus in the field. Not any more. This Christmas treasure, a gift from good (culinary) friends, was originally devised by Prosper Montagnè, with the first edition in 1938, as a comprehensive guide to matters gastronomic, a serious counterweight to Alexandre Dumas’ Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine. A skim of the contributors to this (2009 English edition, based on the French, 2007) and earlier versions reveals a pantheon of cordon bleu chefs, restauranteurs, academics, scientists, critics, writers, oenologists, sommeliers, confectioners, etc, etc. From recipes to history to…
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