Cancel your plans for Sunday 15 May!

Pianist Raymond Yong and I are performing Schumann Liederkreis Op. 39, Ravel Don Quichotte à Dulcinée and folk song settings by Benjamin Britten. Raymond will also play Ravel's Sonatine, which I love. St George's College dining hall has a lovely acoustic and their Fazioli piano sounds great, so don't miss this one.

3pm Sunday 15 May
St George's College, across from UWA

This is a FREE RECITAL but you will need to reserve a seat in advance! https://stgeorges.epicevent.com/songcycle

At St Mary's South Perth we are currently housing a gorgeous 1901 Bechstein grand piano, beautifully restored by Patrick Elms. This Sunday we're having a little recital to show off this lovely instrument - tickets only $20/$10 (including refreshments) available at the door.

Featuring pianist Jonathan Bradley, with performances from yours truly and violist Alix Hamilton. Solo piano works by Chopin, Schubert, Ravel, Wagner and Debussy, plus works by Schumann and Dale.

3pm Sunday 1 May
Church of St Mary the Virgin
Corner of Ridge St and Karoo St, South Perth
​https://www.facebook.com/events/261211944220137/

I'll be performing in an evening of songs in English with sopranos Emma Pettemerides, Carly Power and pianist Marilyn Phillips on 12 March at the Church of the Resurrection in Swanbourne. It's great to focus on these wonderful English-language songs for a change, as normally in art song recitals we perform a lot of German, French and Italian. I'll be singing works by Heggie, Damrosch, Britten, Stanford and Australia's very own Radio National "The Music Show" presenter Andrew Ford.

http://www.artsongperth.org.au

From the end of January I'll be Director of Music at the Anglican Church of St Mary the Virgin, South Perth. It is a beautiful church with a good organ, great young musicians and a lovely community (and wonderful stained glass!). I'm having a lot of fun searching through music and programming the next few months up until Holy Week. Come along if you're not otherwise engaged at 9am on a Sunday morning!

http://stmarysouthperth.com

In October I'll be playing Bottom - one of my favourite Shakespearean characters - in the WA Academy of Performing Arts' production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a pleasure to work with the WAAPA students as a guest performer. Great piece, great production - come along!

In their newest production, Lost & Found has partnered with FAC to present Darius Milhaud’s (1892–1974) 1938 opera Médée. Taken from the final sections of the ancient Greek tragedy Medea, Médée explores a woman’s psychological state as it shifts from the contemplation of marital infidelity to exacting revenge and, in a chilling climax to the slowly wrought catharsis, the murder of her two children.

FAC’s history, first as a lunatic asylum and later as a women’s home makes it an apt staging point. Performed in a room that contains one of the asylum’s original cells, with a limited capacity of fifty people, this promises to be an intimate and haunting production.

This is my second production with Lost & Found - we can seat only 50 people per performance so get your tickets soon!

Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess
Musical Director Chris van Tuinen
Set Designer Matthew McVeigh
Costume Designer Holly Boyton

Tickets are strictly limited and are available from: http://www.lostandfoundopera.com

An enormous thank you to the Australia Council for selecting me as an ArtStart recipient this year. London, Geneva and New York here I come! I will be observing and working with some truly exceptional conductors and teachers. I am particularly looking forward to spending a week at the famed Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.

The Australian premiere of Joby Talbot's epic Path of Miracles is fast approaching. I am thrilled to be conducting Western Australia's best a cappella ensemble, the Giovanni Consort at Government House Ballroom on Wednesday 26th November. This truly challenging work has only been performed by five other choirs since its composition in 2005 so don't miss it!

WAAPA's second semester opera this year is Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" in the English translation by David Pountney. It's a colourful family show with plenty for young and old alike, directed by Thomas de Mallet Burgess (of Lost and Found Opera) and conducted by Alexander Ingram, whom I'll be assisting. The music is wonderful, full of folk tunes and Wagnerian influences - I'm looking forward to introducing it to the orchestra in a couple of weeks.

Book your tickets on the WAAPA website.

Without a doubt one of my favourite works by Elgar - full of delightful and poignant quotes from his other famous works (Gerontius, the 2nd Symphony, the Violin Concerto and more). I'm looking forward to conducting this one next week at St Mary's Cathedral with the brilliant young singers and players of the WA Academy of Performing Arts.

More information here and tickets available here.