'Frosty' welcome when Parky dropped in - scanned article from Canberra City News, August 31 issue, 2023 - by Tony Magee

KEEPING UP THE ACT / poking fun at ACT politics

 

First published at Canberra City News online, August 31, 2023

Injured farm dog Ali, becomes TikTok sensation after rounding up sheep from wheelchair

by Warwick Long

Farmer Paul Diamond had a custom-fitted wheelchair made for his beloved kelpie, Ali.(TikTok: @pinnaroopaul)

When Ali, one of Paul Diamond's "best workers" was badly injured in a traumatic farm accident six months ago, the idea of giving up on the working dog was too hard to bear.

But this week, the story of Ali's journey from spinal injury and paralysis to mustering sheep again has become an international sensation after a video of the wheelchair-bound kelpie amassed more than one million views on social media.

"About six months ago she had a traumatic spinal injury where she got backed up against a race by a sheep, and from there it went downhill and she lost the use of her back legs," Victorian farmer Paul Diamond said.

Mr Diamond is first to admit that five-year-old Ali has always been a favourite, and to have her back on the farm this week rounding up sheep has filled him with pride.

"I can't believe it. It's working," he said.

"I was blown away that she could zoom through this paddock and actually get around the sheep and not just do it for the bits and giggles, but actually be quite handy."

The wheelchair allows Ali to round up sheep despite a farm accident six months ago.(Supplied: Paul Diamond)

New wheels for the job

Mr Diamond and his wife, Adelaide, who farm at Mansfield in Victoria's high country, took Ali around to multiple vets in search for a way to improve her quality of life.

When they discovered a business in South Australia that specialised in building custom-fitted wheelchairs for dogs, they knew Ali had a chance at a new lease on life with some semblance to the one she knew.

"She was still keen. Her ears were perking up and she was in the back of the ute and she just wanted to get out and get around them but obviously she couldn't without the use of her back legs so we just converted wheels for legs," Mr Diamond said.

With a few directions like, "way over" and "go behind," Ali was back on the job, wheels and all.

"Next minute she was flying around the farm again," Mr Diamond said.

"These dogs they don't get paid. They get fed and they become part of the family and we are in debt to them.

"They are as good as three working people on a farm every single day, so the least I could do is give her that chance."

A wheely famous dog

Farming life can be isolated and lonely, so Mr Diamond has taken to filming a lot of his day-to-day adventures.

"I just film it for my family," he said.

"My missus isn't there with me every day so I just wanted to show her and say, 'Look at this'."

But over a few beers on a Friday night, Mr Diamond decided to upload Ali's exploits to social media platform, TikTok.

In 24 hours the video attracted more than one million views, with messages pouring in from around the world in awe of the working dog on wheels.

"People were saying, 'Good on you', 'What a new lease on life', 'This is beautiful', 'I'm crying', 'You're a quintessential Australian'," Mr Diamond said.

"It was so positive."

Ali's health is not perfect but Mr Diamond is glad she has a great quality of life and is back to doing what she loves.

"Who knows what's going to happen with this dog in the future but we're going to go as long as we can, as hard as we can," he said.

"And when the time does come, because it is going to come, we will know that we gave her a new life, a new experience and we did our best and that's the best we can do.”

First published at ABC News Rural, August 30, 2023

Cliff’s new album celebrates 65 years in music

Sir Cliff Richard’s new orchestral album will comprise seven decades worth of
his hit songs. (EPA PHOTO)

By Hannah Roberts in London

SIR Cliff Richard has announced the release of an orchestral album which celebrates his 65th year in the music industry and features a song with his friend Olivia Newton-John.

“Cliff With Strings – My Kinda Life” comprises seven decades worth of hits including the songs “Living Doll”, “Summer Holiday”, “We Don’t Talk Anymore” and “Suddenly”, with the late Newton-John.

Discussing the album, Sir Cliff, 82, said: “After 65 years in the business, it is really an emotional journey to listen back to some of my original vocals and hear just how young I was, and how my style changed over the years.

“These tracks mean a lot to me and they are so refreshed with the orchestral arrangements.

“The most emotional track on the album for me is Suddenly with my dear friend Olivia Newton-John.

“We recorded this version together live for my 75th birthday in 2015 and it always strikes me how well our voices sounded together, and the crystal gentility that Olivia always managed to exude.

“I’m glad I was able to highlight this great performance again.”

Newton-John, who had an extensive career in music and was known for playing Sandy in the 1978 film Grease, died last year aged 73.

Sir Cliff’s new album is a compilation of his biggest hits and favourite tracks, with orchestral arrangements from composer Chris Walden.

The collection includes the 1999 recording from Richard’s performance of Everything I Do (I Do It For You) at his Countdown Concert celebrating the millennium.

“Cliff With Strings – My Kinda Life” will be available digitally and on CD  from November 3, with the vinyl release set for November 24.

Published at Canberra City News online, via Australian Associated Press, August 29, 2023

Humble recorder brings women together for music and friendship

by Jessica Hinchliffe and Rebecca Levingston for Make Me Feel Good

This group of women is bringing back the love of the recorder. (ABC: Sharon Gordon)

The recorder is often seen as the daggy instrument you first played at primary school.

But a small group of 50-somethings are doing all they can to change the reputation of the well-known instrument.

Each Friday in the middle of Brisbane's CBD, the women come together to play recorders of all shapes and sizes.

Some are more than a metre in length.

These women meet every Friday to play together.(ABC Radio Brisbane: Rebecca Levingston)

"For me it's a group thing," said group leader Kathy Teakle.

"There's lots of solo recorder players and they're fantastic but we aren't aiming for that.

"We're aiming to do something together and it's so much fun to do."

The group was born a couple of years ago after the COVID pandemic.

The women wanted to play as a group and experience the love of playing together.

"We tend to play mainly Renaissance music, but we also get into some of the quirky music that's been composed and arranged just for a recorder," Kathy said.

'Never picked up a recorder till now'

Former primary school teacher Lindy Morrison only began playing the recorder when she retired.

"I never picked up a recorder when I was at school, but I picked up many from the floor of my classroom," Lindy said.

"I thought recorders were simple enough especially since they play them in primary schools.

"Little did I know, it's easy to make a note, it's not easy to play well."

Lindy plays a treble recorder, which sounds lower than the usual, everyday recorder that many of us know from our school days.

She loves the way the instrument feels in her hands and the fact that it's made from natural wood.

"[My recorder] is a little bit lower than the diatonic recorder and it's not plastic," she said.

"It's made of grenadilla [hardwood]; therefore, it has a more resonant sound, and the wood is one of the favoured ones for making good-quality recorders.

Many of the women choose wooden recorders.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves)

"You get a beautiful tone out of the grenadilla ones and despite being a little bit more expensive it's definitely worth every dollar."

Sounds like a cello, plays like a recorder

Size does matter when it comes to recorders, especially for musician Colleen Blumen.

She plays a bass recorder, which is the lowest register of the ensemble.

"These ones are about 2 to 3 metres long, some taller than me," Colleen said.

J.S Bach's cello suites can often be played on the recorder.(Public Domain)

"Many of the Bach cello suites have actually been played on this, and many very good players have actually recorded the cello suites on these recorders."

Her unique recorder has a neck and mouth that resembles a saxophone.

"We have to have the bent neck on our recorders so we can actually reach the keys," she said.

For the love of the recorder

The women feel strongly about their ability to play together as a group.

They believe being part of an ensemble has developed their musical skills more than they ever would have done alone.

"Some of us belong to other groups that perform in various places, but we always come back together to our group here," Kathy said.

"One performance that's stayed with us was playing in a stairwell at City Hall because of the acoustic and it was so, so wonderful.

"That sound has stayed with all of us."

The group hopes people will stop giving the recorder a bad rap — and start to look at it differently.

"There's a wealth of music that is available from all the ages that we haven't played yet – wonderful music," Kathy said.

"It's such a joy to do and we plan to keep doing it."

Listen to the latest episode of Make Me Feel Good to hear more from the recorder ladies and discover other feel good stories.

First published at ABC News, for ABC Radio Brisbane, August 27, 2023

 

Kingston post office provisionally heritage listed

Former Kingston post office

THE ACT Heritage Council have decided to provisionally register the former Kingston post office, for the second time.

On April 7, 2022, the post office was provisionally registered for the first time, but due to the review and subsequent dismissal of the previous Heritage Council, the previous decision lapsed without a final registration decision being made.

As of August 15, the post office has been re-registered, with the ACT Heritage Council saying it is satisfied on reasonable grounds that it is likely to have heritage significance.

In a statement for heritage significance, the former Kingston post office is described as “significant for its strong associations with the post-World War II development of Canberra”.

The Heritage Council is inviting written comments – due within the next four weeks – about the registration, and say they have been able to consider submissions received during the public consultation of the 2022 decision.

First published at Canberra City News online, August 25, 2023

Ed Sheeran's new album comes 4 months after his last: What we know about 'Autumn Variations'

by Melissa Ruggieri

Ed Sheeran still has feelings to share.

On Sept. 29, the prolific singer/songwriter will release “Autumn Variations,” a 14-track collection of new songs that explore the shared emotions of love, heartbreak, depression and loneliness among Sheeran and his friends.

“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded," Sheeran said in a statement announcing the album.

“When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time.”

Ed Sheeran's new album "Autumn Variations" arrives September 29, 2023

Sheeran teamed with The National’s Aaron Dessner for “Autumn Variations.” The pair “clicked immediately” after working together on Sheeran’s new album “Subtract”, released in May.

Sheeran also was inspired by the British composer Edward Elgar, who wrote the orchestral works “Pomp and Circumstance Marches” and “Enigma Variations.” The latter – individual compositions about 14 of Elgar’s friends – piqued Sheeran’s interest when he learned about Elgar from his father and brother.

“Autumn Variations” follows Elgar’s blueprint with 14 songs featuring titles including “England,” “Punchline,” “Midnight” and “The Day I Was Born.”

Sheeran’s new album comes as he approaches the end of his worldwide “Mathematics” tour, which broke attendance records in nearly every stadium it played in North America since its launch May 6. The tour wraps Sept. 23 in Los Angeles.

Sheeran also endeared himself to locals while on tour, using his between-shows time to surprise music students with instruments, sling cheesesteaks at a restaurant in Philadelphia and play his early hit “Lego House” in front of a Lego store in Minneapolis.

Photo: Annie Leibovitz

The "Autumn Variations" track list

1. “Magical”

2. “England”

3. “Amazing”

4. “Plastic Bag”

5. “Blue”

6. “American Town”

7. “That’s On Me”

8. “Page”

9. “Midnight”

10. “Spring”

11. “Punchline”

12. “When Will I Be Alright”

13. “The Day I Was Born”

14. “Head > Heels”

First published at USA Today, August 24, updated August 25, 2023

Tragic and Triumphal Les Troyens at the Berlioz Festival, conducted by Dinis Sousa (replacing John Eliot Gardiner)

Soloists, orchestra and choir. Photo: Bruno Moussier

by José Pons

The recent stormy departure of John Eliot Gardiner at the end of La Prize de Troie (The Capture of Troy) has had the effect of bringing the young conductor Dinis Sousa to the international spotlight, who has taken up the neglected baton to brilliantly conduct Les Troyens à Carthage, by Hector Berlioz.

Twenty years ago, marking the Bicentenary of Berlioz, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, as head of his Orchester Révolutionnaire et Romantique and of the Monteverdi Choir, conducted at the Théâtre du Châtelet a complete version of Les Troyens which caused a sensation.

Directed by Yannis Kokkos the headliners were Susan Graham, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Gregory Kunde and the young Ludovic Tézier.

20 years later, the conductor wanted to repeat the feat, at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André (in concert version). He is alas the craftsman of his personal mess, by a gesture that the certainly exceptionally high temperature and the intensity of such a project can in no way excuse. 

To compensate for this defection at the end of La Prize de Troie (the opera being represented here in two evenings), the Director of the Festival, Bruno Messina called on the young conductor Dinis Sousa, assistant to Gardiner throughout the rehearsals of this work and also principal conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and associate conductor of the Monteverdi Choir.

Dinis Sousa (© Sim Canetty-Clarke)

Until his heartbreaking epilogue [Ed: departure] , the first evening had nevertheless allowed John Eliot Gardiner to recall his perfect knowledge of the score, which he approaches in all its clarity and, as in the shadow of Gluck for example, with rapid, lively tempos, without dwelling too much on the situations: advancing with delight to reach an artistic horizon and its emotional shore.

Dinis Sousa for his part energises the whole and lets his youth and his enthusiasm express themselves. His vigorous, but also eloquent and natural direction, always precise for both musicians and singers, lets Berlioz's music flourish and live. 

The various entries, the Royal Hunt, and even more the ballet music (where Anna, sung by mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, dances an astonishing lascivious oriental choreography greatly appreciated by the public), demonstrate under her direction a renewed magnitude. 

But Dinis Sousa also perfectly knows how to surround the great love duet of Dido/Aeneas - this famous “Night of intoxication and infinite ecstasy” with all the essential musical sensuality. 

The immense enthusiasm which hailed his entry on the stage both from the public and from the Orchester Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir, both totally committed to his cause, was fully returned at the outcome of the performance.

Dinis Sousa (replacement conductor) - The Trojans in Carthage (© Bruno Moussier)

The voice cast gathered here is first-rate and reveals an exemplary work of the French language (nothing is left to chance). 

Aeneas, sung by Michael Spyres, already well appreciated in the past, takes on an even stronger authority at La Côte-Saint-André, a stage presence that further supports this character torn between his emotions and his duties. His voice rises full and radiant over its entire range, free of any constraint. Some highs are however less easy than usual, and notes are a little shortened, but the solar voice visibly continues to dazzle.

Michael Spyres, Paula Murrihy - The Trojans in Carthage (© Bruno Moussier)

Alice Coote embodies an imperious Cassandre, traversing the stage in all directions, warrior, tragedian in the suicide scene, leaving the public paralysed. Mastering her part, apart from a slightly difficult high note or two, she reveals an unusual enthusiasm that her sharp metal voice easily delivers.

Lionel Lhote portrays the companion Chorèbe with his calm baritone voice, but also aflame with passion. Their duet immediately installs their cohesion and expressive articulation, Lionel Lhote even daring high notes like a tenor.

Paula Murrihy appears sovereign on stage, slender and elegant in a dress that fully highlights her. 

Her Dido, Queen of Carthage, does not forget the woman who slumbers in her and that through her magnificent duet with Anna, the arrival of Aeneas will awaken. Vocally, the mezzo-soprano gives a lot of character to this role, which is one of the most absolute in the repertoire. Without copying the tragic colours of other interpreters or even their vocal breadth, she traces a vocal line of great pace, combined with nuance and the meaning of words and situations (even if her interpretation of her grand air "Adieu, fire quoted” could be more enthusiastic).

Dinis Sousa, Paula Murrihy & Beth Taylor - The Trojans in Carthage (© Bruno Moussier)

Anna, sung by the mezzo-soprano or even contralto Beth Taylor, surprises by the opulence of the means, the voluptuousness and the depth of the low register, but also by the ease which she shows on stage: she openly makes fun of the very pessimistic Narbal with his shady stories and does not hesitate to dance. 

Narbal perfectly portrayed by William Thomas, also Priam in the Prize of Troy, presents a class interpreter, his beautiful and harmonious bass voice flourishing without reserve in these two roles.

Bass-baritone Ashley Riches interprets Panthée in a solid way, while Adèle Charvet with her fleshy mezzo-soprano voice and warm grain makes short work of the young Ascagne. 

Soprano Rebecca Evans fails to bring out the delicate role of Hecuba, and remains covered in the sets.

Michael Spyres, Paula Murrihy, Beth Taylor & Adèle Charvet - Les Troyens à Carthage
(© Bruno Moussier)

Radiating his singular, wide and powerful bass voice with imperious lows, Alex Rosen caused a sensation as Hector. 

The young English tenor Laurence Kilsby, a member of the Académie de l'Opéra National de Paris since last September, deploys in Lopas and Hylas peaks of elegance and vocal distinction, in a voice with aerial high notes, both delicate and well seated. A rare poetry emerges from his singing.

Far from sticking to a totally concert version of Les Troyens, the organisers asked director Tess Gibbs, assisted by Rick Fisher for the lights, to animate the entire set. The result offers memorable images, such as the feverish arrival of the Trojan population on stage at the start of the Capture of Troy, rediscovering the light and the pure air of the countryside, then seizing the cursed horse. 

Soloists and choristers are thus set in motion during the work, while leaving full room for singing and music. 

The Orchester Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir thus offer the alliance of this dynamism and their admirable bearing of will (and vice versa): unshakeable despite the storms.

Monteverdi Choir - The Taking of Troy (Les Troyens) (© Bruno Moussier)

Berlioz emerges once again triumphant from the adventure, having overcome so many difficulties and hostilities during his career.

The theme of this year's Berlioz Festival is “Mythical! ". It is certainly not usurped.

First published at Olyrix, August 25, 2023

Translated from the original French text by Google Translate, with English revisions by Tony Magee.