Sandra Bowdler was born and educated in Sydney, and has pursued a career as an archaeologist since graduating from the University of Sydney in 1970. She is now Emeritus Professor of Archaeology and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in the School of Social Sciences and the School of Music. Since attending a production of Handel’s opera Alcina at the Sydney Opera House in 1982, she has become a devotee of the works of GF Handel, and Baroque music generally. In 1996 she began writing opera reviews for online outlets, graduating to more professional sources by 2000. In 2007, she inaugurated Festival Baroque Australia in Perth, Western Australia, Australia’s first Baroque music festival. Under that banner, she curated two festivals and several concerts in Perth.
Melbourne Opera has produced a critically and popularly successful Das Rheingold, which bodes well for the planned development of a full Ring cycle over the next four years.
The Australian String Quartet joins the West Australian Symphony Orchestra under Ludovic Morlot for an enjoyable and timely round of Beethoven interleaved with John Adams' homage to the 250-year old composer.
Vivaldi's Farnace is reconstructed by Pinchgut Opera in ways which might not do the composer full dramatic justice, but the production and high musical values provide an excellent night of operatic drama.
Nina Stemme returns to Hobart and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Marko Letonja, with an all-Wagner concert, ably assisted by Swedish bassJohn Lundgren
West Australian Opera's production of Sweeney Todd was an excellent, crackling performance, with everyone involved in top form, with some unexpected players showing great talent in this not-very-operatic work.
Handel's oratorio Susanna is often considered to be less than consistently dramatic and this performance in the Halle Handel Festival did little to dispel that view.
A performance of Handel's short masterpiece Apollo e Dafne at the Halle Handel Festival was somewhat disappointing but Fulvio Bettini impressed in the bass role.
Countertenor Christophe Dumaux completely dazzles with a recital of a well-chosen range of Handel arias in Göttingen's Gala concert in the 2019 Handel festival
A mix of arias from Handel's first opera with music from Renaissance and Baroque Spain with an accomplished group of performers provides a rich and satisfying experience.
Laurence Cummings conducting the FestspielOrchester Göttingen and the NDR Chor, with an exemplary suite of vocal soloists, but a slightly problematic venue, sweep all before them in the Handel Festival of 2020.
Soprano Alexandra Oomens confirmed her star potential, but all soloists and players shone in this jubilant concert featuring Telemann's Thunder Ode and Bach's Easter Oratorio
Vivica Genaux enjoys huge success in a Melbourne concert of Baroque delights, the first venture of Sydney's Pinchgut Opera Company outside its home turf.
Perhaps Pinchgut Opera's finest production to date, a brave presentation of a classic Baroque opera, little heard in Australia apart from Handel, benefits from the star presence of Vivca Genaux in splendid form.
