So you need to buy a gift? We have the solution, which also does something for our performers and others who keep the arts alive, like musicians, stagehands, costume designers, … and the hundreds of unpaid participants who work for love on the smaller events so you can see them without paying a fortune!
What we love about this idea is that two tickets also buys your (or someone else’s) company for the recipient– a day or night out, which is far more exciting than a toaster or socks! What to take them to? Here’s a grab bag from our current Calendar and In-box, for budgets of all kinds …
Start with your local newspaper or Council for choral concerts or other events close to home. Our Calendar has plenty of events in May – or June, if you want to plan ahead. They include Zelman Orchestra, innovative ensemble Plexus, Selby & Friends and many more. For Scots-lovers, Team of Pianists presents Should Auld Acquaintance – music of Scotland and Australia at gorgeous Rippon Lea.
There are a number of choirs, and even a big choral festival! Opera Australia is in town, but we also love that Melbourne has its own opera companies, like Victorian Opera, which presents Cunning Little Vixen as its next imaginative production. For dance-lovers, The Australian Ballet’s most lavish production, David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty returns for a special encore season in June. Book now! You also need to book ahead for musicals like Cabaret, whose season has just been extended, and of course My Fair Lady which is just starting at the Regent!
Our own Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has an extensive performance program or for stay-at-homes there’s a new CD Migration from guitarist Slava Grigoryan and the Australian String Quartet, which promises plenty of variety along with the high quality you’d expect from this collaboration.
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If you want to know how the future of music is looking, look at the various conservatoriums (or possibly even your local schools) and be amazed at what the elite Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) has to offer all year round, in terms of master classes and very affordable performances, many in the daytime.
Finally, to help guide your choice, Classic Melbourne has perhaps the best available online archive of reviews of current and previous productions in Melbourne. There’s always something of interest from Musica Viva (MVA), The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, The Australian Chamber Orchestra and many more. Have a sneak peek by searching on our reviews page. Your only difficulty will be narrowing your choice to one.
Whatever the occasion, there’ll be a ticket to suit … and at a price you can afford!
Editor’s note: It was Mother’s Day that gave us the idea … a regular wrap of events to interest you, our readers, coupled with the idea of tickets as presents.
if there’s interest we’ll make this a regular feature of our pages, with the opportunity soon to promote particular events. For now, though, rush to catch these ones!
