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On Tuesday 28 July P and I had the privilege of listening to renowned British cellist Steven Isserlis and Hungarian pianist Denes Varjon playing Schumann at the new, acoustically excellent Melbourne Recital Centre. It was part of Musica Viva’s 2009 concert series.
P and I love listening to classical music live, and try to enjoy as many performances as we can afford (usually about 3 or 4 a year). This concert is definitely my all time favourite; and P’s second favourite after an outstanding ACO performance of The Red Tree with the Gondwana children’s orchestra (I blogged about that here). My mind tends to wander at some point during most concerts, but miraculously their passionate playing held my interest throughout.
Thanks to our excellent seats, we could see the expressions on Steven Isserlis’ face, his curly hair moving and his bow strings breaking (really, I think half the bow was gone by the end of the night). Other highlights were watching Denes Varjon’s hands move across the keys of the Steinway piano, plus a very beautiful encore – I wish I knew which piece of Schumann it was because I would love to hear it again.
Their second concert in Melbourne is on this Saturday 1 Aug at 8pm, and tickets are very very limited! I recommend going if you can – it’s unmissable! If there were cheap seats, I would definitely be attending a second time, but the cheapest I found were $90. Yikes. If you can’t make it (or can’t afford it), get a CD of the performance instead. All that practice is probably why these two musicians sound so good together.
For more Steven Isserlis, get his multi award winning recording of Bach’s Cello Suites (currently on sale at Readings in Melbourne). If that’s not enough, he also writes for The Guardian, and is an author of 2 children’s books on music.
If you are in Melbourne, this is your chance to enjoy excellent classical music with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra without having to pay a cent.
In ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards, the MSO shares the stage with three of Australia’s finest young instrumentalists, all competing for the honour of being named Young Performer of the Year. Under the baton of Arvo Volmer (Chief Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra), this will be an event every music lover will want to attend.
Tickets have been available since July 1, so it might be a good idea to ring the MSO Subscription Box Office 9929 9600 to find out if there are any left. Pick up tickets in person from 3 Driver Lane, City (opposite the GPO).
Good luck, and see you there!
It’s time again for the Melbourne International Film Festival. In the past 26 hours (with a bit of sleep and 8 hours of work in between) I watched 3 films, and I’m loving it. It’s a great buzz to watch cool movies with a bunch of enthusiasts.
My 2 favourites so far:
- California Dreamin’ (Nesfarsit) | An intelligent, entertaining black comedy. My rating = 9/10 | IMDB | MIFF link | next session Tue 5 Aug, 12:20 PM
- Johnny Mad Dog | Intense, confronting and non-judgmental. My rating = 9/10 | IMDB | MIFF link | next session Sun 10 Aug, 3:15 PM
- The animation shorts selection was a dismal 5/10. There were some real gems, but more than half the offerings weren’t entertaining me, thus the low score.
Anyhow, feel free to check out my MIFF calendar. I’m attending many screenings alone, so if you’d like to join me, let me know. You’ll also notice I’m watching 13 movies in 13 days (yikes!). At the very least, I’ll be spending my time queueing up for interesting movies and striking up spontaneous conversations. Just what I enjoy. We’ll see how I survive.
I got persuaded by P and some friends that going up to Mt Buller was a good idea. I don’t know why I said yes because:
- We had to be up at 4.30AM. Yes. In the morning. And I did it. Really. I was very proud of myself. Especially since it was freezing.
- I hate the cold.
So up the mountain we go, with me whingeing all the way..
“No, I didn’t want to go skiing.”
“Yes, I think toboggans are for little kids and I’m not going to be caught dead in one.” etc.
Anyhow I surprised myself by having fun. Thanks to P, Linc & Jay for getting me up to the mountain! You guys are great! I’m even thinking about doing it again!
Here are some photos.
Today afternoon, P and I saw a brilliant performance of The Red Tree by the ACO.
We enjoyed every minute, commencing with an atmospheric Shostakovich String Quartet in the first act, and the special composition by Michael Yezerski featuring the impressive Gondwana Voices children’s choir blew us away. Shaun Tan’s amazing art work was projected on a giant screen in both acts, enhancing and magnifying the magic of the music.
It was encouraging that many children attended, and they came out making positive, happy noises. I couldn’t believe they sat through it without creating a ruckus. But maybe I’m just too cynical.
Saving Money
Thanks to the Entertainment Book, we got 1 for 1 tickets. Which is reasonable at $70+, but would have been expensive if we had to buy 2 tickets. The books are used for fund-raising and are generally released in April-May every year. The current Melbourne issue cost $65, expires on 1 June 2009 and we’ve already made our money back.
Anyway, we’ve got an MSO voucher to use, and we’re probably going to beg/ borrow another ACO voucher. If you’re not using yours, let me know! 
The La Mirada film festival opened this week. I missed out last year, and as a fluent Spanish speaker, I like watching Spanish films and keeping up my langauge skills as much as possible. This year, I emailed C & M so we could go watch a movie or two together.
We passed on Thieves, as it was opening night and tickets were a horrifying $45 each! We ended up choosing Death of a Cyclist and I bought our tickets the same day. Funny enough, I ended up winning tickets to Thieves and the opening night gala the next day!
I’d never been to a premiere before. It was quite exciting, with paparazzi and beautiful people working the room. Other than waiting 1 hour for invited VIPs to show up, and the cost, it was quite enjoyable. Best of all was the jamon iberico.. yum!!
The next day, we met C & M for Death of a Cyclist. The film has been hailed as a masterpiece:
photo via The Criterion CollectionSpanish cinema under Franco was a stifled and sterile industry, kept under strict government control. Bardem, the film’s director, was one of the few brave filmmakers to question the psychological and political oppression of the day and deal with the realities of contemporary life.
When watching a “foreign language” film, I’m always fascinated at what amuses the native speakers vs. the non-native speakers. I remember laughing inanely to The World’s Fastest Indian in Mexico City while the Mexicans were silent. Something is always lost in translation. This film was the same, and it was a privilege sitting with C & M and getting a unique perspective from them, even though we were sushed very loudly by the person sitting in front of us! C’s stories of his family during in Franco’s era deepened my understanding of the film, which I’d found merely good (rather than great) at first glimpse. Unlike many others, I didn’t mind the ending too much.
After a very yummy dinner with C & M’s friends at Chocolate Buddha, we walked 30mins back to the car. The irony is that the car was parked further away than home, thanks to the bloody footy and rugby games nearby. Thankfully it was a beautiful night, and a very pleasant walk back.
Sometimes I love living in Melbourne!
Go to google and type: find chuck norris
Then click “I’m feeling lucky”
Enjoy!
(don’t tell me I don’t look after you)
I came across this Wired article when I was trying to find P a cool name for his Guild Wars character. (yes yes, I know, I’m a nerd).
It’s a hilarious read. Better yet, is the writer’s bio at the end.
Enjoy!
Here I am, blogging at 1AM because it too hot to sleep (sigh). Apparently the heat this summer will last till late April. Since I was born in the tropics, I thought I could handle heat!? ARRRGGHHhhhh. Can’t stand this any more. . . H E L P . . .
Anyway…
We saw Atonement last Thursday, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Read the Rolling Stone review (which has a very detailed plot breakdown) if you think it won’t spoil your enjoyment of the movie. One of my obsessive-compulsive bad habits is that I check out the IMDB movie page after (or during) every movie I watch. And I was very excited to find out that Saoirse Ronan, the actress who plays young Briony to perfection, will also appear as Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones (scheduled for release in 2009), an adaptation of an excellent book by Alice Sebold. It is directed by Peter Jackson (of LOTR fame) and also stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon. I’m really looking forward to watching it.
Another book adaptation that is receiving rave reviews is this French film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) based on one of my favourite books about the then French editor of Elle magazine Jean-Dominique Bauby. I bought a very beautiful hardcover edition when it was first released in English, and loved reading his inspiring account of life after a stroke that left him with all his mental faculties yet paralysed everything except his left eye. He died 2 days after the French publication of the book in March 1997, which he had dictated blink by blink. The movie hasn’t hit Australian shores yet, and I probably prefer watching it on DVD anyway, but it’s another one that’s very high on my watch list. I also highly recommend reading the book.
We also rented The Road to Perdition (I know, sometimes I can be so late with movies) recently, which I enjoyed more than Atonement. Tom Hanks is currently in another movie, Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)/Metacritic review, also starring Julia Roberts. We saw the preview while watching Atonement, and it looks funny.
Now I suppose my next assignment is to read the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan. Enjoy your summer (or winter) movie watching. Oh, and if anyone wants to watch Enchantment with me on the big screen, I’ll be eternally grateful! And so will P, if you spare him the agony of accompanying me to watch a Disney chick flick… just drop me a line.
Talk about a wonderful Christmas present!
We discovered that SBS was going a Miyazaki special, and we’ve seen 2 of his wonderful animated movies so far. We caught the tail end of Howl’s Moving Castle yesterday (thank goodness we’ve seen it about 5 times!!) and tomorrow Laputa: Castle in the Sky, is on. (Carlos, I can tell what you’re thinking, please don’t laugh…)
Anyway, if you’ve been living under a rock, read my post about Miyazaki (and other yummy things to watch). And check out the preview videos on SBS.
If not, stay tuned! I know I will!
