Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - Page 49
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Radio Confidential: Digital radio promo ....... Page 50 Veritas: TV, radio, theatre gossip ...................... Page 51 The Spoiler: Next week’s ‘soaps’ plotlines ............ Page 51 Jim and Aaron: Best DVD-film selections ................. Page 52 Cheryl Threadgold: Community Theatre - it’s a wrap ...... Page 53 PLUS THE LOVATT”S MEGA CROSSWORD
BALLET BACK TO ITS ROOTS Julie Houghton says Melbourne ballet lovers are in for a treat when the triple bill of short ballets takes over the State Theatre from August 30
Performance Enhancers ● Steve Kilbey ■ Some of Australia’s best independent music artists including Clare Bowditch, Steve Kilbey, Vika and Linda, and Henry Wagons will be in the Performance Enhancers series being staged at Hamer Hall. The events will be hosted by music journalists Lisa Palermo and Kate Welsman (aka Systa bb), where the artist will discuss their artistic influences The events start at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall Stalls Foyer and Playhouse Foyer across four dates from September 8 to December 8. Each event will also include displays of visual references of the artist’s influences, which range from mythology to visual art and literature. In the intimate setting of Hamer Hall Stalls Foyer and the Playhouse Theatre, each artist will each bring a unique story and vision to their one-hour set. Showman and storyteller Henry Wagons, best known as frontman of neo-country Americana group Wagons, will sing and discuss the words, pictures and performances that have inspired him, from writers, performers and philosophers including Elvis Presley, Edgar Allan Poe, Plato and Lee Hazlewood at 5pm on Saturday, September 8. Regarded as one of Australia's greatest Renaissance men, rocker and frontman of The Church, Steve Kilbey will discuss the profound effect great mythologies have had on his songwriting. With influences ranging from Greek goddesses and Roman heroes to Hindu identities and Biblical stories, Kilbey will sing and also de-mystify the myths at 5pm Saturday, October 13. For the past 25 years, sister singers Vika and Linda Bull have fused the island music of their Tongan ancestry with everything from soul to country. The duo will talk about how French post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin and cultural artifacts from their mother’s home in Tonga have influenced their work. The pair will perform on a stage decorated with weavings, accompanied by the Tongan Choir, at 5pm Saturday, November 10. Heartfelt singer songwriter Clare Bowditch will perform and talk about how an accidental discovery of a Ballet Russes photography book heavily influenced her debut album Autumn Bone and also influenced costume on her critically acclaimed second album What Was Left. The combination of design, movement, costume and Stravinsky's music and myth made a strong impression on Bowditch which she will share with audiences at 5 pm Saturday, December 8. The Performance Enhancers series is part of ongoing programming of Hamer Hall’s public spaces, which aims to illuminate the creative process and increase cultural debate and dialogue about the arts in the community. Tickets: $20. Note: For the Vika and Linda performance, children 15 years and under accompanied by an adult are free For more information visit artscentremelbourne. com.au or phone 1300 182 183. - Marion Joseph
■ Entitled Icons, the program aims to pay tribute to the long and proud history of our homegrown international-standard ballet, with works from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. All three ballets will be accompanied by Orchestra Victoria and conducted by Australian Ballet Chief Conductor and Music Director, Nicolette Fraillon. From the 1960s is ballet legend Robert Helpmann's The Display, which impressed audiences at its first performance at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1964. Representing the 1970s is Glen Tetley's Gemini, which audiences of the time found a little confronting. And from 1980 is famous Australian dancer and choreographer Graeme Murphy's ballet Beyond Twelve. Helpmann's ballet was a commission from founding artistic director Peggy van Praagh, and had a rather interesting genesis, when Helpmann visited Sherbrooke Forest with his friend Hollywood actress Katherine Hepburn. Helpmann was inspired by a dream in which he saw a naked Hepburn on a dais surrounded by lyrebirds, so he combined what he saw as national character traits with lush Australian landscapes. With his sly sense of humour, in The Display, Helpmann compared the native bird's mating rituals to the behaviour of men fighting over a woman at a classic Aussie picnic. What Katherine Hepburn thought of her friend's ideas must be left to the imagination! Tetley's Gemini from the 1970s used four dancers with a minimalist set wearing gold leotards and bathed in blue light through a smoky haze. The dancers paired like Gemini twins for some confronting pas de deux moves. The final ballet, representing the 80s, Murphy's Beyond Twelve looks at a dancer's life from a classically Australian footballmade boyhood to young love and the sometimes lonely progression to maturity. Partly autobiographical, Murphy enjoyed applying quirky touches like transforming footy goal posts into ballet barres, with a bit of self-parody to keep the mood light and the pace up. On a serious note, Murphy has dedicated the 2012 performance to the man for whom he created the central character, the great Kelvin Coe, who died 20 years ago this year. The phrase 'something for everyone' seems an apt one to describe the Australian ballet's season of Icons, which runs from August 30 to September 8 at the State Theatre with Orchestra Victoria, before moving to the Sydney Opera House in November. Bookings at www.australianballet.com.au or 1-300 369 741
Melb. Youth Music struts its stuff
● Tom Woods ■ When you go to a fine Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert, or perhaps hear the wonderful Orhcestra Victoria in a concert on its own or accompanying musicals, opera or ballet, do you ever wonder how these musicans got to where they are now? Quite a few of them scored their start as enthusiastic pre-teen and teenage musicians with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, the top performing group of Melbourne Youth Music, which has been a training ground for top musicians for many years. Melbourne Youth Orchestra is about to present its third concert in its 2012 series on Sunday (Sept. 2) at 2 30 pm at the Iwaki Auditorium at the ABC's Southbank Centre in Southbank Boulevard. For this concert, MYO has secured the services of dynamic young conductor Tom Woods, who studied conducting in Western Australia with Richard Gill, before heading to Moscow to continue his studies, and then becoming a conductor with Opera Austarlia on his return to his homeland. The program's centrepiece is Rachmaninov's Symphony no 2 in E Minor, Opus 67, complemented by some shorter works, all designed to showcase the talents of Melbourne's best young classical musicians. Helping Melbourne Youth Music stage the concert is Freemasons Victoria, and applications for the prestigious and fun filled Melbourne Youth Music Summer School are now open. For information and bookings for both the concert and the MYM Summer School 2013, Melbourne Youth Music email mym@mym.org.au or phone 9376 8988. - Julie Houghton
Observer Media Briefs
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The Castlereagh Line serial has been moved to 11.50pm within the 3AW Nightline program. The 910episode series has been previously heard at 3.45am/ 4.30am in the Australia Overnight program hosted by Andrew McLaren and Mark Petkovic. The midnight-dawn program hasstarted a new serial, Without Shame. McLaren says Fairfax Media did not have rights to play the Castlereagh Line nationally. Irony Dept. As Derryn Hinch was being sacked by 3AW, his replacement Tom Elliott was spotted at The Expendables 3. Sounds like a staff training film.
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● Nicolette Fraillon