Mission Incognito: Flashmob von Rolando Villazón

Hallelujah!  Just as well we have inspiring musicians to lift our spirits.

Predicting the future

The Government report on the rollout (or lack of it) of the national broadband network (NBN) today  has provoked a stream of twitter comment:
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” Lord Kelvin, British mathematician & physicist Royal Society, 1895
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olson of DEC, maker of mainframe computers, arguing against PCs in 1977
“X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” — Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883
“Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan." Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.

Malcolm Turnbull, Australian Communications Minister

Chickens on a bench

Welcome respite from the world's woes ... watching chickens bask in the sunshine.

The state of the world via twitter

We think we are civilised, or have have become civilised but how far have humans really progressed? My twitter feed this morning is full of images that make me wonder. Here's a sample:

Weekend Australian last week

Last week Murdoch's Australian newspaper (hemorrhaging money as we since found out, so only maintained to pedal influence) ran this divisive front page. In response a group of Christian and Jewish leaders have launched a campaign called We'll love Muslims for 100 years

Joseph Stiglitz

Australians, stunned by the realisation that the liberal party has been taken over by its far right wing and become a tea party, are starting to respond. Someone has posted a picture of Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz telling us the the Abbott Government's plan to deregulate education is a crime.

NASA -the earth weeps

NASA Global Climate change talks about the difficulty in reaching out to tell the climate story. You would think NASA had influence but they are up against the Murdoch empire (above). I do wonder what Murdoch's children think of his newspaper's stance - are they so very undereducated?




Then there is this stunning cover of the New Yorker responding to Ferguson. Hands up in surrender to a violent and destructive power.

Quintuplets

Lastly and on a note of hope within disaster, from the UN Refugee Agency comes a picture of five babies born weeks after a Syrian mother fled her country.

Watching Jonas Kaufmann sing

For those Australians who saw Jonas Kaufmann last week and need another little fix, try the link below.
The thing I found most fascinating about his live performance was being able to see (or perhaps feel) how he adjusts his body in preparation for singing. It is as if he adjusts the strings of his internal cello, holds it all in place, inhabits the role, then breaths - and suddenly the air carries vibrations of such beauty you feel like weeping.

Quite extraordinary ... and perhaps ones own body mimics his, because it makes you feel as if you are part of the performance in some odd way.

Artistic talent

Becoming an artist

Teachers have such power, though they may not think so themselves.

So many people have told me that they can't paint because their teacher told them long ago that they weren't any good. Many of these people harbour an unrequited wish to try again and when they do they often find hidden talent they never knew they had.

Others have told me they really couldn't draw at all when they started art classes, but perseverance has led them on a rewarding and fulfilling art journey.

Art is like anything else ... if you practise lots you get better, and if you practise a great deal you get a great deal better. The bonus is that it is such fun practising.

Doodling Tannhäuser

My doodle for today.

Not Italy?

You look at the fresco on the ceiling; and the statues in the courtyard;  you look at the architecture of this two storey building complex and you pinch yourself and ask 'is this Monday and am I in Italy?'

But no, you are not in Italy but in a little bit of Italy on exactly the other side of the world.

Across the road from this ornate Italian edifice which houses a cinema as well as several restaurants and a weekend market, are small fibro and wooden dwellings, the type of dwellings that characterise Ettalong on the NSW Central Coast. Yes, you are in Ettalong, not in Italy. 

This is the most extraordinary building in the most extraordinary place; in a town full of seaside cottages, fifty meters from a lovely swimming beach and quite off the beaten track. How did this building land here?

'Italianate' architecture

Jonas Kaufmann in Sydney

Jonas Kaufmann is billed as the world's hottest tenor and he seems to have been smoldering at me from all my Internet feeds recently -  obviously the internet bots know my viewing preferences. I saw the man sing in the flesh last night and the reality is even better than the promos.

His voice is rich, velvety, extraordinarily flexible and fills even difficult spaces like the Sydney Opera House concert hall. The man is a consummate artist, much nicer than the posed photos.

Sydney Opera House flowers

There were almost audible gasps as Kaufmann started singing ('Recondita armonia' from Tosca) and after this first song my seat neighbour turned to me and said "Well even that one song was worth the (considerable) price of the ticket."

As Kaufmann sang I noticed a tenor sitting in front of me mouthing the words with an ecstatic look on his face. He obviously knew just how much  hard work and dedication goes into delivering such a result. I had met this tenor earlier in the year and he told me he had bought an opera subscription just so he could get a good seat to hear Kaufmann sing. I am sure he was not the only one. 

Kaufmann inhabits each role he sings (he was singing arias from French and Italian operas and his characters inevitably die tragic deaths) but he was also refreshingly joyous as well.  Violinist and concert master Laura Hamilton played us a lovely 'Meditiation' from Jules Massenet's Thaïs and on his way to the stage afterwards Kaufmann plucked a rose from the huge vase to the side of the stage and presented it to her. [The displays of white flowers along stage front and in two big vases were so opulent I thought they must be fake ... but no, they were real.]

The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra was conducted by fellow German Jochen Rieder and I think this was the master stroke.  Rieder feels the songs just as Kaufmann does; he knows his singer and it showed.

Kaufmann sang three encores to a wildly clapping and stomping crowd at the opera house last night, two of them German popular songs.  I would love to hear him singing Wagner.  I might just have to follow him to wherever he sings Siegmund or German Lieder.

Addendum: excellent ABC interview with Jonas Kaufmann here .

And I paint roses

Syria,Gaza, Irak, Ukraine
Watercolour/ink on paper

Syria, Gaza, Irak, Ukraine,
Climate change denial,
Australian detention centers
torturing children.
And I drink coffee.
And I paint roses.

More here

Speicherstadt Tango

Speicherstadt Tango card by elizabethgw

Speicherstadt Warehouse (image from Wikipedia)

I will be in Hamburg in September and I am looking through my sketches to find some to hang in the coffee shop to replace the ones that have hung there for two years. I found this etching of the Speicherstadt.  The Hamburg Speicherstadt is the area encompassing the old warehouses on the harbour. I spent time bicycling around the Speicherstadt in 2009 when I spent 9 months in Germany at Hamburg Art School.

While I was there, the high school where a friend taught had a teacher's gathering and they all danced Tango. They inspired this etching of tango dancers at the Speicherstadt. 

Photos from times past

Picnic in New Zealand, about 1940. My grandmother is bottom right and mother standing by the tree.

Late last year I took lots of photos of the photos in my late mother's old albums. My aim was to create some printed albums for family members. It is taking a lot of work and a long time as each photo needs work. I keep thinking I have finished, then I discover a photo I have overlooked and need to reorganise the album.

The photos show that people in the early to mid 20th century made their own fun. There are lots of photos of picnics and other gatherings. The photo above looks like a picnic, but where is the food?

Explaining the Tristan Chord

The Tristan Chord, the beginning of modernist atonal music. Here the wonderful Stefan Mickisch explains the Tristan Chord to Stephen Fry.

It is Bayreuth opera time again and if you are one of the fortunate ones going and Mickisch is presenting his 'play and tell' shows, be sure to go along. I have heard lots of people explaining Wagner, some with great musical abilities, but Mickisch outshines them all. He is competent, amusing and humble. A true musician. In 2006 I drew Mickisch as he talked - portrait below the video.

Stefan Mickisch plays and explains

Portrait of Stefan Mickisch In 2006 I attended a seminar given by Stefan Mickisch in Bayreuth. I drew several small portraits as he spoke and showed him afterwards. He asked me if he should sign one and, after a little hesitation (remembering the Helen Clark portrait) I said 'Well yes, why not'. I value this little picture, painted as Mickisch played. It reminds me what a nice (and very erudite) person I had the honour of listening to.

Otello in Sydney with Simon O'Neill

Simon O'Neill as Otello  with Lianna Haroutounian as Desdemona.

Photograph: Branco Gaica/Opera Australia

On Wednesday I saw Otello at the Sydney Opera house with Simon O'Neill in the title role, Lianna Haroutounian as his Desdemona and Claudio Sgura as the dreadful Iago.

The singers were all in fine voice - their singing was just glorious and you would never have guessed that Lianna Haroutounian was a last minute stand in.

I am too much of a softie to really enjoy Otello because I just hate watching Otello being so deviously deceived by Iago. I winced and squirmed in my seat, which is a credit to the singers as they performed so compellingly I had no escape!

Apart from the excruciating story, the set in this production also bothered me. The whole performance took place on a steep staircase. As they sang and argued, made love and killed each other I was willing them not to trip and tumble right to the bottom of the stairs. None of them did, although it looked as if O'Neill had done himself damage in his final dying lunge. However he stood up and took his bows with a smile.

More:
Guardian Review
crikey.com review (have a listen to the great clips in this article .... they'll lead you on to an evening of watching more and more.)
Portrait of Simon as Siegmund

Whales frolic nearby

Whale with baby (image from Wikipedia)

I have just seen a live whale. It is swimming with a mate off my local beach in NSW as I write. Word gets around quickly (my neighbour told me) and when I drove up the hill a lot of cars were stopping at good vantage points for a look. You could see the whales from the beach as well, but perhaps not as easily.

The enormous bodies looked more like floating sand bars than animals. Watching the slow rise and fall of an concessional tail or fin made me think how talented photographers are to get pictures of wales above the water.They must wait a long time for the right shot.

As I watched I remembered seeing a whale off Nambucca Heads about 30 years ago. Or perhaps I dreamed that. I do know that we stood on a lookout waiting for the whale to surface but I no longer remember if I saw it surface or if my memory has been mixed with photos I  have seen. Memory is like that, not always infallible.

ACO and Paavali Jumppanen

Last week I saw Piano Quintets performed by Paavali Jumppanen and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Here is a video to show you how good they are. They are performing around Australia through July - see them if you can!

Maribor Music Festival in September

Maribor Festival website

Wooo hooo ... the Maribor Music Festival is on again in September and I am going.
I can't wait.  It is a festival you get hooked on  because not only are the concerts wonderful the town of Maribor in Slovenia (just south of Graz in Austria) is charming as well.This will be my fifth festival!

It is a rather sudden decision and I have been spending lots of time perusing relevant websites, mulling over possible side trips.

www.bahn.de

My favourite website of all time is www.bahn.de which is the German Railways website (in German and English).At a click of a button you can find out where and when European trains/ buses leave, how long they take, how much trips cost (prices vary depending on the route and time of day) and all the special offers. You can also find out which hotels are near the station or the airport or the centre of town and book them, often without having to pay until you arrive. What's not to like?

Thank you Miele

Old seal from the Miele oven

I had to replace a rubber seal on a Miele oven this week. I rang the company to order a new one but I didn't know the model. Miele had it on file though, knew exactly what and when (2003) it had been purchased.

I asked if the part was easy to replace and was told the seal had hooks and I should be able to do it myself and avoid the $150 call out fee. They were right. When I took the old seal out I realised how simple the design was - simple and effective. The little wire hooks slotted in and the new seal was installed in about 10 seconds flat.

That's why I like German designed products. They might cost a little more, but it is worth it in the end.

Extended stay in the music room

View from the bed

A one night stay in the music room was what I planned when I arrived in Sydney last Thursday, but I hadn't reckoned with the winter flu bug that is doing the rounds in Sydney. One night turned into five and I was sick enough not to get bored with my unvarying view.

Tonight Warwick Fyfe is singing Wagner songs in Sydney. Warwick stole the show at the Melbourne Ring Cycle last year when he .jumped in at almost the last minute and sang a very memorable Alberich. My reminder alarm just beeped for the show but unfortunately I wont be there. I am out of the music room, but not fit enough for trains and buses.

Surfing at Freshwater Beach

Freshwater beach
Watercolour on Arches paper

On Saturday I was at Freshwater Beach on Sydney's north shore where the water was dotted with black clad figures waiting for waves.

The sky was blue, the weather balmy and the water was calm and clear with waves breaking just offshore and rolling in with boarders aloft.  Walkers basked in the sun as they strolled along watching the surfers. It was a perfect Sydney winters day.

Perfect?

Kids with surfboards making for the beach

It is the warmest June I can remember, another record no doubt.

The kids in this photo will have cause to blame us if we don't take urgent action on our warming climate. Tony Abbott, are you listening?