Classical Music & Opera
A selection of classical music, opera and traditional music from the Sydney Opera House archive.
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SHIFT New Classical Music - Molly Joyce performed by Ria Andriani
US Composer and performer Molly Joyce writes work with disability as a creative source. Her work ‘Form’ is performed by singer and writer Ria Andriani who is blind, with accompaniment by small ensemble of flute, clarinet and percussion.
SHIFT is a series that creates a platform for artists with ...
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SHIFT New Classical Music - Nat Bartsch
Nat Bartsch is a twice ARIA-nominated, multi-award-winning Australian pianist and composer who is proudly neuro-divergent.
SHIFT is a series that creates a platform for artists with disability, to share their stories and lived-experience, celebrate their art and SHIFT the focus to their uniqu...
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SHIFT New Classical Music - Kristin Rule
Kristin Rule is an Australian cellist, composer and technologist whose multi-media work explores her life as impacted by a recent catastrophic accident.
SHIFT is a series that creates a platform for artists with disability, to share their stories and lived-experience, celebrate their art and SHI...
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SHIFT New Classical Music - Rebecca Bracewell
Rebecca Bracewell is a composer and sound artist exploring the possibilities of hearing aids in performance, and the politics of listening, deafness, and sound reproduction technology.
SHIFT is a series that creates a platform for artists with disability, to share their stories and lived-experi...
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SHIFT New Classical Music - Georgia Scott
Georgia is a composer who aims to use music to explore topics that may be divisive or difficult to approach using language.
SHIFT is a series that creates a platform for artists with disability, to share their stories and lived-experience, celebrate their art and SHIFT the focus to their unique ...
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Australian String Quartet performs Jack Symonds String Quartet No.2
Jack Symonds’ String Quartet No.2 whispers into existence, interrupting the intangible build-up of concert expectancy with an ascending violin line that is the very genesis of this spectacular work. Over its unique two-part structure, Symonds skilfully unravels the DNA of that opening statement, ...
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Ngaiire and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra - Live at Sydney Opera House
In a rare one-off performance, neo-soul R&B artist Ngaiire joins forces with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a transcendent night of music, art and power on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt, conducted by Nicholas Buc.
Blending ARIA-nominated First Nations star Ngaiire’s dazzling, futuristic R&...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Simone Young conducts Mahler 2
To celebrate the reopening of the Concert Hall, and a season of new beginnings, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra turn to Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony with new Chief Conductor, Simone Young. Mahler worked on this symphony in Hamburg as musical director for the Hamburg State Opera – the same compan...
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A Night To Shine! - Behind The Scenes
Go backstage at the Sydney Opera House as students from the Australian World Orchestra education programme prepare to take the recently re-opened Concert Hall stage for A Night To Shine!
Students also share their experiences of the Australian World Orchestra’s programme for young regional and m...
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Piano Day | Andrea Lam, Amanda Palmer, Ian Munro, Vatche Jambazian & Zubin Kanga
Piano Day 2022 features an exclusive broadcast of new performances by classical, experimental and contemporary musicians including Andrea Lam, Amanda Palmer, Ian Munro, Vatche Jambazian and Zubin Kanga.
Founded by Nils Frahm in 2015, the 88th day of the year was declared Piano Day - a nod to th...
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Ensemble Offspring | Composing Songlines
Celebrating the unique music which has been created by First Nations Australian composers in the past 5 years as part of Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers program, this special concert featuring the compact chamber force of Ensemble Offspring places these ancient musical voices reflecting la...
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Ensemble Offspring | Composing Songlines Q&A
A special Q&A session with 'Composing Songlines' composers and artists, led by Sydney Opera House Head of First Nations Programming, Beau James
Yuwaalaraay composer Nardi Simpson
Biripi composer Troy Russell -
Side By Side - Ensemble Offspring
Acclaimed percussionist and Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring, Claire Edwardes sits down with flautist Lamorna Nightingale to discuss their careers and musical collaborations.
Describing themselves as 'Sydney's musical mavericks', Ensemble Offspring is a small chamber ensemble of innovati...
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Opera Australia: Staging an Opera
Ever wondered just how much work goes into an opera production? How does it all begin? Who does it involve? 'Staging an Opera' delves into how resident company Opera Australia brings their productions to life. Enter the world of Bizet's iconic opera 'The Pearlfishers' and find out what it takes f...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Chamber Sounds - Paque’s Souvenir De Curis
Join Sydney Symphony for Guillame Paque’s Souvenir de Curis, performed in memory of Peter Weiss AO, lifetime friend and beloved benefactor of the Orchestra.
Programmed by Principal Cello Umberto Clerici, Paque’s cello quartet is melancholic and elegant, sad yet playful.
“Peter wanted everyone t...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Justin Williams’ Movement for String Quartet
Watch the world premiere of Movement for String Quartet, composed by Sydney Symphony Viola Justin Williams.
Written by Justin Williams
In just a single movement, composer Justin Williams captures the full expressive range of the string quartet, with wild and dramatic playing battling against mo...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Chamber Sounds - Bottesini’s Passione Amorosa
"A miniature Italian opera, with two faintly unlikely impersonators of the soprano and tenor – a pair of double basses."
‘How he bewildered us’, wrote a listener. Giovanni Bottesini played ‘as though he had a hundred nightingales caged in his double-bass!’
Double bass soloists were rare then as...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Chamber Sounds with Ben Folds
Watch Ben Folds and musicians from the Sydney Symphony in this inspiring and spontaneous collaboration.
Using lyrics submitted by poetry competition winner Matthew Galer as their inspiration, Ben Folds and the musicians worked together for 25 minutes to create and perform the final result.
As ...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Chamber Sounds - Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet
Considered one of the pieces that brought Brahms back out of retirement, the Clarinet Quintet is a lush masterpiece filled with colour.
In 1891, while attending a festival in the small town of Meiningen, Brahms heard the Principal Clarinettist of the local orchestra performing and was so awestru...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Chamber Sounds - Dvořák’s Terzetto in C
Dvořák’s passion for folk music can be traced back to its popularity in his childhood. Fragments of folk music can be heard in most of his pieces, especially Terzetto in C.
Dvořák would have been delighted to see Sophie Cole, Georges Lentz, and Sandro Costantino getting together back in June 202...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Tchaikovsky & Elgar
Impassioned and soulful. Led by our Concertmaster Andrew Haveron and featuring Sydney Symphony’s former Principal Harp Louise Johnson, this performance includes gorgeous music by Elgar, Debussy and Tchaikovsky.
In Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro a string quartet of soloists are supported by a s...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Baroque Delights
Uplifting and jubilant. These masterpieces of German Baroque music explore the popular stylised dances of the era, brimming with energy and character.
J.S. Bach was a master of musical invention, and in his First Orchestral Suite his creativity is on full display. Each movement invokes the chara...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Dvořák and Bartók
Colourful and surprising. This music by Dvořák and Bartók showcases the immense diversity of sound and expression that the instruments of the Orchestra have to offer.
Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds creates a rich and full sound with only a small ensemble of musicians. This loving tribute to the Cze...
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Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Mozart & Beethoven
Lively and energetic. Uplifting music by Mozart and Beethoven.
Graceful, vivacious, energetic.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19 combines all the qualities that makes his music such a joy to listen to, and our soloist Simon Tedeschi brings a delicate touch and crystal clarity to this performance. B...