In Conversation

(Originally aired in June 2021) Shane Placentino has made the move from ballet dancer, to choreographer, and now opera director. He began his career with the Australian Ballet in 1991, dancing the entire classical and contemporary repertoire. He went on to be with the Sydney Dance Company from 2002, but more recently he’s hung up his dance shoes and moved into direction with Opera Australia - curr...

Sam Allchurch is at the forefront of the next generation of choral music. In 2019 he became artistic director of the Sydney Chamber Choir at just  29, following in the footsteps of the late, great Richard Gill. He’s also Associate Artistic Director of Gondwana Choirs, and Director of Music at Christ Church St Lawrence which has a musical tradition going all the way back to 1845. He’s been praised...

Natalie Aroyan is an Armenian-Australian soprano whose voice has graced the stages of Opera Australia as a principal artist since 2013. She has performed leading roles in Aida, La Boheme, Ernani, and Carmen to name just a few.  In 2019 she was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Female Performer in a Supporting Role, and later this month, she will be hitting the stage once again as Odabella in...

Neal Peres Da Costa is Australia’s authority in historically informed performance on the keyboard. Whether it’s the harpsichord, fortepiano or  organ, Neal has performed with all of this country’s leading ensembles, including the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Australian Haydn  Ensemble, the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, and several of the top orchestras in this area internat...

It’s 35 years since The Phantom of the Opera opened on London’s West End, making it one of the most successful musicals of all time. It was still  playing there until COVID hit early last year, where Australian Josh Piterman was performing in the title role. Josh Piterman will be donning that famous mask once again in September, this time at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. K...

Alexander Briger is a conductor who has worked with more orchestras than can be easily listed – pick an orchestra in Australia or Europe, and you can be pretty certain he has conducted them, and that’s before you start adding his work in opera. He counts luminaries like Charles Mackerras and Pierre Boulez among his mentors. Alexander is back in Australia to once again conduct his brain child, the...

Amy Campbell is one of Australia’s most accomplished dance talents, with a career spanning all areas of the entertainment industry. Her  choreographic credits include 'Once', which is returning to the Darlinghurst Theatre from 3 June, 'In The Heights', 'Violet', 'Hair', 'An Act Of God', 'Spring Awakening', 'Oklahoma', and 'Carmen'.  L...

Noel Cislowski has a long and rich career as a teacher, lecturer, actor, producer, conductor and director. He has performed lead roles in musical  comedy, and has appeared as narrator/singer in works such as Peter And The Wolf and Tubby the Tuba with the Sydney Symphony and Willoughby  Symphony Orchestras. His passion for education is perhaps best expressed by the fact he is Chair of the Sydney Ei...

Violinist Belinda McFarlane is a stalwart with the London Symphony Orchestra. She’s come back to Australia to play with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and in June will be appearing with the Australian World Orchestra.  She spoke to Simon with great passion about her role with the LSO’s Discover Team, which includes outreach into disadvantaged communities, helping to ensure that everyone can shar...

(Originally aired in April 2021) Van-Anh Nguyen is a passionate and versatile pianist, producer, composer – and fashionista! She’s performed around the world and released 8 albums, topped the classical iTunes chart in both the US and Australia, and spends most of her time between her home town of Sydney and her adopted second home of Los Angeles. Van-Anh chatted to Simon ahead of her Australia-wid...

Richard Carroll is a Sydney based director, writer and producer.  One of the co-founders of the Hayes Theatre, his 2017 production of Calamity Jane  won him a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production of an Independent Musical, and a nomination as Best Director.  His directing and producing credits also include Monty Python’s Spamalot, Oklahoma!, Gypsy, Sweet Charity, Mame, and Meet Me in St Louis....

Derek Parker has been a presenter at Fine Music Sydney for over 15 years, but his career in radio is far longer than that. He’s been a figure in broadcasting on radio and television for a staggering 70 years, but as if that’s not enough he’s also written over 50 books - covering topics as diverse as the golden years of radio and erotic fiction. But sadly for us here at Fine Music Sydney, he and hi...

Francesco Ventriglia is a dancer, choreographer and artistic director. Making his premiere at La Scala, he’s performed with the Bolshoi Theatre, the  Mariinsky Ballet, Grand Theatre du Geneve, the Venice Biennale. He became Europe’s youngest artistic director in 2010 when he was appointed by the Florence Opera House, and was the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet during the middle o...

Geoffrey Chard AM is a doyen of the opera world. He was part of the inaugural production of the Australian Elizabethan Trust Opera Company – the forerunner to Opera Australia – back in 1956. He never looked back, performing regularly with the Royal Opera Company at Covent Garden, the English National Opera as well as Opera Australia. In 1988 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for...

Madeleine Easton is a violinist internationally recognised for her versatility and expertise.  She’s appeared as a soloist, concertmaster and director of some of the world’s most respected ensembles and orchestras. Her mentor John Eliot Gardiner described her as having “fire in her belly and a spirit of enterprise” – which probably helps to explain why she is now the founder and artistic director...

Brian Castles-Onion is one of Australia’s most exciting and well-known opera conductors. His career expands internationally, having worked at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Julliard School of Music. His love of opera began when he was just 4 years old, at which point his weekly  accumulation of new LPs began, creating what is now one of the largest private collections of vocal recordings in...

(Originally aired in March 2021) Paul Stanhope is an Australian composer whose compositions have been heard all around the world. The winner of 4 APRA Australian Music Centre awards in instrumental, orchestral, choral and vocal categories, his 2014 work "Jandamarra: Sing for the Country" has been recognised as a milestone in Australian composition.  Paul joined Simon Moore ahead of the premiere of...

Susie Park is a violinist hailed by the Washington Post as "prodigiously talented", and praised for her freedom and mastery. She's been a soloist with countless orchestras around the world, from the Vienna Symphony to the orchestra Wellington, working with some of the world's best conductors. She's also spread her wings widely in the chamber music genre, being a former violin...

Emma Dunch made her name in the arts sector in New York, and returned to Australia in 2018 to become CEO of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Emma joined Simon Moore to talk about the challenges of having to temporarily vacate their home at the Sydney Opera House – as well as the current pandemic – but also the exciting new era for the orchestra as they welcome Simon Young as chief conductor and thei...

Clarinettist Nicole van Bruggen is co-artistic director of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. She is a leader in the art of historically informed performance, and has performed extensively with some of Europe and Australia’s finest period instrument ensembles, including Concerto Copenhagen, the Netherlands Bach Society and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. This episode is an ex...

Alexander Berlage is an award-winning theatre director and lighting designer. His production of American Psycho won 9 Sydney Theatre Awards,  including Best Direction of a Musical, an award he had also won the previous year.  Alexander joined Simon Moore to talk about his creative process and his work, including his upcoming production of Young Frankenstein at the Hayes Theatre in Sydney.

(Originally aired in February 2021) Guy Noble is one of Australia’s most versatile conductors and musical entertainers; not only has he worked with all the major Australian orchestras, but also with artists as diverse as Yvonne Kenny and the Beach Boys.  He’s also a broadcaster on the ABC, BBC, and the QANTAS in-flight classical channel. Guy joined Simon Moore to kick off the 2021 season of In Con...

Brett Weymark is one of the foremost choral conductors in Australia. Since becoming music director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in 2003, he’s conducted the Choirs in performances around Australia and all around the world. He’s led all of Australia's state orchestras, as well as the Orchestra of the Antipodes, Sydney Youth Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Brett joined Simon Moore...

(Originally aired in August 2019) Mike Nock is an internationally acclaimed jazz pianist, composer, and music educator.  After spending some 25 years in the USA, he returned to Australia in the  1980s and has made an enormous contribution to the Australian music scene ever since.  In July 2018 he was struck by a car and spent many weeks in hospital before returning to performing.  Mike joined Chri...

Louise Herron has been at the helm of the Sydney Opera House since 2012, having previously been a lawyer and corporate adviser. She was chair of Sydney’s Belvoir Street Theatre for 10 years and has led  the development of the Opera House’s renewal program including major upgrades to the venues and facilities of one of the world’s most iconic  buildings.  Louise joined Christopher Waterhouse to sha...