The “First Fleet Piano” is part of a multi-million dollar collection of newly restored instruments gifted to WAAPA.

The fourth in our series of interviews with the jurors for the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia.

In the wake of recent funding cuts, the Sydney venue will stage a benefit for Synergy, Taikoz and Gondwana Choirs.

The Marsyas Trio’s A Triple Portrait presents the haunting chamber music of Russian composer Elena Firsova (b. 1950). Firsova, a student of Aleksandr Pirumov and (unofficially) Edison Denisov, moved from Moscow to London just before the fall of the Soviet Union. This disc is the first dedicated to her introspective, personal chamber music. The Marsyas Trio – named for the musical satyr – consists of Australian flute player Helen Vidovich, Canadian cellist Valerie Welbanks and New Zealand pianist Fei Ren. The album opens with the rich sound of Welbanks’ cello in Homage to Canisy, a work inspired by the French castle, Chateau de Canisy, where the composer visits each year, and where the work had its premiere performance in 2010. The centre-piece of the album, A Triple Portrait Op. 132 – from which the disc takes its name – was commissioned by the trio in 2012. The first movement Andante rubato is purely solo flute, the Adagio a short, eloquent trickle of piano notes and the third movement opens with cello and piano, before the flute rejoins to complete the trio. A plucked, walking bass line from the cello gives the movement a smear of blues. Vidovich and Welbanks are…

Party will reverse cuts and invest extra $270.2 million, doubling investment in small to medium arts organisations. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

One of the most important musical events in Europe’s summer calendar has been unable to secure funding beyond 2016. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

★★★☆☆ Interactive installation blossomed with new music.

The Quartet tour Australia in June for Musica Viva. Limelight caught up with cellist Richard Belcher. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The third in our series of interviews with the jurors for the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia.

With less than a week to go, Vivid Sydney reveals some of the lavish displays set to light up the night.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were just two of the stars in Rome for the Valentino-costumed Verdi.

Italian soprano Fausta Truffa has become a sensation after her performance of La Vergine Deli Angeli went viral.