Skip to main content

Classical

Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa dies aged 88

The world-renowned Japanese orchestra conductor led the Boston Symphony Orchestra for nearly three decades, the longest tenure in its history.
An old man in a grey shirt with his mouth open raising his hands to conduct an orchestra

Want to go to Sydney Festival but don't know where to start? Here's a bunch of acts we loved

Sydney is chock-full of art and culture right now, with festival shows being staged everywhere from the beach to basements to the best theatres. But how do you choose which to see? We've got some tips for you.
Updated
A group of femmes in colourful outfits and wigs, dance together in a burlesque-style onstage.

Yasmin is choosing to sing about her OCD so more people understand what it's really like

Many Australians experience obsessive-compulsive disorder and Yasmin Arkinstall is one of them. She's telling her story through a one-person opera.
A young woman in a blue dress holds a microphone to their face as they sing behind a blue backdrop

Sleigh bells are not ringing: Making music to celebrate the season from an Australian perspective

Sharing a feed, being outdoors, and spending time with loved ones: Australians are singing together about the unique experience of Christmas Down Under in the ABC Classic Choir. 
Updated
Singers stand in raked auditorium seating with their arms outstretched. Katherine Feeney demonstrates out the front.

Indigenous musician performs song in Barkindji language at Sydney Youth Orchestra birthday gala

Malyanapa and Barkindji man Leroy Johnson realised a dream recently when he was invited to perform with the Sydney Youth Orchestra for its 50th Birthday Gala at the Opera House.
Updated
Leroy Johnson Performing

How a wannabe rock star found another string to his bow as a virtuoso luthier

Malcolm Lowe wanted to be a rock star. So he gave up furniture making and started making guitars. 
A man with short grey hair wears a dark tshirt, holds a wooden violin frame in a tin shed

How two Brisbane violinists became global disruptors of classical music

Brisbane violinists Brett Yang and Eddy Chen left coveted orchestra jobs to pursue YouTube stardom. This is how the duo built a social media audience of 7.5 million.
Brett and Eddy wearing suits, looking serious, smoke behind them, holding violins.

How a 30-year-old musical theatre show is still capturing the world — including Australia

"Chosen family" is the overarching theme of the acclaimed musical Rent, set to make its way around Australia next year. Stars Thndo and Nick Afoa shed light on how they will bring this iconic story to life.
Updated
thndo

How this Western Sydney public school turned students' academic performance around with music

This music program for kids as young as six is proven to boost literacy, numeracy and attitude to schooling - and it may be coming to a public school near you.
A primary school aged white girl in a green and yellow uniform smiles excitedly while seated holding a cello.

Australia imports 5,000 pianos a year, but it's running out of people to tune them

Piano tuning is an artisan trade that's dying — but pianos aren't. The shortage of tuners has one music teacher so concerned, she has teamed up with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to come up with a solution.
Updated
two girls, one in a pink dress and one in a blue dress, are smiling at the camera sitting at a piano

Meet the conductor making room for women on the podiums of the world's great orchestras

There weren't any female conductors to look up to when Jessica Gethin started her musical career. Now she's inspiring the next generation.
Updated
A woman in a vest and white shirt, blonde, looks at the camera and smiles with arms folded.

The ABC Classic 100 reminds us that anyone and everyone can pick up an instrument

This weekend's Classic 100 concert reminds us to celebrate the magic of instruments and the stories they tell to us, for us and about us, writes Zan Rowe.
Updated
A man playing the didgeridoo. A woman playing the flute. And a man playing the cello.

The five books our critics couldn’t put down in May

A beautiful grifter, a defiant prodigy and a political prisoner star in this month’s best books, which our critics describe variously as "utterly engaging", "beguiling" and "profound".
Updated
A woman reading on a large shelf, surrounded by other shelves of books, a globe, and a steaming teapot

Soprano's emotional comeback after car crash

Classical singer Jacqueline Ward returns to the stage three years after a life-altering car crash.
A woman in evening gown and hair ready for the stage sits in the theatre seating, stage behind.

Aboriginal Australian soprano Deborah Cheetham Fraillon is on a mission to prove opera's for everyone

Yorta Yorta by birth, soprano by diligence — this is how Deborah Cheetham Fraillon is breathing new life into opera.
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon stands behind a piano in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Verbrugghen Hall

20 years ago Simone was kicked out of Opera Australia – now she's a global superstar

The story of Australia's greatest living conductor rivals the drama of Tár, but its real-life protagonist is relatively unknown. A new documentary for ABC TV wants to change that.
White middle-aged woman with long brown hair wears all black and stands on a podium wielding a conductor's baton.

Hindustani classical music festival to kick off in Melbourne

The festival aims to raise the profile of the ancient genre of Hindustani classical music. 
Updated
ABC News Current
Duration: 2 minutes 57 seconds

'I just wanted to be a conductor. I didn't realise having breasts would make that much more difficult'

The Australian conductor says sexism is still an issue within the classical music scene.
Updated
A woman in a brown coat stands on a

Cate Blanchett may win her third Oscar for this film — but what in tárnations is it about?

Tár just picked up six Academy Award nominations, yet hardly anyone has seen it. Luckily, we have; here's everything you need to know about this Oscar contender.
Updated
A brown-haired, 50-something woman leans forward, hand in a fist, with a look of concentration, in front of a group of musicians

Meet this year's Australian of the Year nominees

Their passions and work vary greatly from performing on stage, improving healthcare, standing up for people's rights to teaching children to love their own bodies.
Updated
A composite image of eight people who are nominated for the Australian of the Year award.

Could you be a professional page turner? You'll need nerves of steel

Behind the spotlight, a huge range of music professionals are doing the secret jobs of the industry.
A man in an opera prompter box on stage, with a threatre behind.

Opera Australia's Carmen swaps frills for motorbikes

One of the world's most popular operas, Georges Bizet's Carmen, is being brought into the 21st century against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour.
ABC News Current
Duration: 3 minutes 36 seconds

Oscar-buzz for Cate Blanchett in new drama Tár

The film is already gathering accolades worldwide — after receiving a six-minute standing ovation following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
ABC News Current
Duration: 1 minute 47 seconds

How this choir learned to sing together again

When choirs shut down during COVID-19 lockdowns many singers were unable to connect with their friends.
Updated
ABC News Current
Duration: 1 minute 44 seconds

Interstate choirs to sing in face masks, but at least they can reunite for first time since COVID closed borders

They've been kept apart for years due to COVID but, at last, the West Australian and Tasmanian symphony orchestra choruses are coming together to perform Benjamin Britten's monumental peace anthem, a work considered as relevant now as it was when it debuted in the early 1960s.
Updated
An orchestra, chorus and soprano soloist on stage during a performance.