Reviews

Opera Queensland’s latest presentation proves that opera doesn’t always have to come with velvet curtains and serious faces. Supported by government funding and private donors, the company has also taken its music on the road — swapping the grand stage for a more relaxed setting where audiences are encouraged to sing along, laugh, and maybe even forget that opera is meant to be 'formal' in the first place.

To mark its 30th anniversary, the SXS Chamber Ensemble presented a thoughtful program centred on the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann and their close friend Johannes Brahms - a fitting choice, given their enduring influence on the Romantic chamber repertoire. This was no ordinary concert: excerpts from their works were interwoven with spoken verse, some drawn from the composers’ letters and with choreographic interpretations by two dancers, Georgia Lorange and Jai Fauchon, from Queensland Ballet’s Jette Parker Young Artist Program.

The intimate space at Fourth Wall Arts was the perfect venue to appreciate the musical and collaboration skills of Brisbane-based international performer and percussionist, Rebecca Lloyd Jones, and Brisbane-based pianist, Alex Raineri, who has been touring internationally and around Australia of late. These two musical explorers created a one-hour performance of four pieces for piano and percussion. The programme started with Alex’s own composition, ‘Labyrinth’, inspired by the film of the same name.

Despite her own experience and extensive research into the industry, writer/director Gabrielle Scawthorn still loves reality TV. Yet in her play The Edit she systematically picks away at the silky flesh of its participants and producers gradually revealing skeletons scarred with the fractures of ambition, mistrust and abuse, lies, control and manipulation.