ABC Classic

15/08/2025

Listen to this fantastically haunting and elusive performance by singer Simone Riksman and pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska.

15/08/2025

Delve into the natural world with Sydney Philharmonia, find a new appreciation for Elevator Music with the Omega Ensemble, and experience Rhapsody in Adelaide as Alice Keath checks out this week’s most exciting classical music concerts. Hear it now on the free ABC listen app: https://ab.co/ABCListenApp

A guide to Australia’s best classical concerts and live performances.

15/08/2025

"At the age of two and a half, my grandmother and my mother thought it was very interesting that I could actually identify. It was a sort of party trick. They'd say, "Play, Chu Chin Chow." and I could pick the record. I couldn't read, but I knew which record it was."

In 2008 Margaret Throsby interviewed the author, presenter, and film critic David Stratton who died this week, aged 85. Stratton shared his favourite film, early memories of going to the movies with his grandmother and some of his favourite music including a record of Sibelius's Finlandia. Hear it now on the free ABC listen app: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/special-features/margaret-throsby-david-stratton/105655034

14/08/2025

You know what they say about sad songs saying so much… Add in two Australian jazz legends, Paul Grabowsky and Michelle Nicolle, and this might be the perfect album! What do you think?
Discover the album:

Award-winning jazz singer Michelle Nicolle and acclaimed composer and pianist Paul Grabowsky unveil the hidden poetry within beloved ballads of longing, heartbreak, and the bittersweet beauty of unrequited love.

14/08/2025

Film critic, writer and educator David Stratton, who appeared on Australian screens alongside Margaret Pomeranz for decades on various movie review shows, has died aged 85.

His family announced his death on Thursday afternoon, saying he died peacefully in hospital near his home in the Blue Mountains.

"David's passion for film, commitment to Australian cinema, and generous spirit touched countless lives," his family said.

"He was adored as a husband, father, grand and great grand father and admired friend.

"David's family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support from friends, colleagues, and the public recently and across his lifetime."

Stratton's family has asked for privacy in the wake of his death, but issued a special request to the movie-going public:

"[We] invite everyone to celebrate David's remarkable life and legacy by watching their favourite movie, or David's favourite movie of all time — Singin' In the Rain."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-14/david-stratton-english-australian-film-critic-obituary/105654394

(via ABC News)

13/08/2025

Late Victorian London wasn't an easy place to achieve musical success if you were mixed-race and born outside of marriage, like composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Coleridge-Taylor's music was inspired by his African heritage, and he became one of Britain's foremost black composers.

"He was a composer who was really tapping into this idea of an African diaspora, which was pretty revolutionary for his time," says US-based harpist and music advocate Ashley Jackson.

A prolific composer and early champion of the equal rights movement, Coleridge-Taylor's lifetime coincided with the heyday of the British empire and a golden age for British composers. He was a contemporary of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, and for a time Edward Elgar was his mentor.

For decades, Coleridge-Taylor was consigned to history. But thanks to the work and advocacy of diverse musicians, Coleridge-Taylor's music is now being shared with new audiences.

Read the full story:

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-14/samuel-coleridge-taylor-a-black-composer-almost-lost-to-history/105637344

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an accomplished musician who lived among the pantheon of British composers, but he was defined by his black ancestry and almost forgotten.

13/08/2025

Sir Roger Norrington, the trail-blazing pioneer of the early music movement, had one of the biggest impacts on classical music of any conductor of his generation. Discover the life of Roger Norrington on Legends with Mairi Nicolson Tuesdays, 6pm or Hear it now on the free ABC listen app: https://ab.co/ABCListenApp

Conductor and pioneer of historically informed performance Roger Norrington has left behind a rich legacy of thousands of concerts world-wide and more than 150 recordings.

12/08/2025

Mindy Meng Wang Music performs Gong Yi's Fisherman Singing in the Sunset, an evocative piece inspired by a busy fishing village, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Classic 100 in Concert in 2023.

12/08/2025

Formed in 2021, AVÉ are passionate about bringing Australian voices to the fore, and in this Drive Live with Vanessa Hughes they delight us with a world premier performance of Just for dreaming by Jessica Wells, with words by Trent Dalton. Hear it now on the free ABC listen app: https://ab.co/ABCListenApp

In today's Drive Live, Vanessa Hughes talkes to AVÉ (Australian Vocal Ensemble) ahead of their concert on Sunday at ACO on the Pier.

11/08/2025

This traditional tune is often thought to have been written for Anne Boleyn by King Henry VIII, although the true origins remain lost in time. Jenny Eriksson joins Tamara-Anna Cislowska.

10/08/2025

Australian jazz pioneer Judy Bailey, accomplished pianist, composer and educator, dies aged 89. The New Zealand-born pianist was one of the most prominent forces on the Australian music scene, ever since she arrived in Australia in the early 1960s.

In 1974, Bailey formed one of her most well-known combos called the Judy Bailey Quartet, featuring Ron Philpott on bass, John Pochee on drums and Ken James on sax.

In the 1980s Bailey started exploring classical and folkloric music, which — in turn — informed her jazz playing.

"I thought, 'You've heard jazz until it's pouring out of your ears. Try to cut the apron strings. Try to find your own direction'," she said.

"And that's the way it still is."

A brilliant musician and composer, Bailey was also a keen educator, with a passion for building up generations of young Australian jazz musicians. Her legacy as a trailblazing pianist and composer in Australia will be long remembered.

Discover the life of Judy Bailey https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-11/judy-bailey-australian-jazz-pioneer-dies/105635268