John Pollak did Arts and Law at Sydney uni. He practiced Law for a short while and went into business. He made too much money for his own good and today is not so much retired as having little to do. He plays tennis and carries the bags for his wife when she goes overseas. When prompted and badgered he does the occasional review.
He goes to Ethiopia every now and then and where, with Professor McGuigan of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he is bringing the Sodis Program for safer water to the Tigray region.
When seen in public he is often hunched over a cup of coffee and a foccacio whilst immersed in a diabolical suduko. Or he is driving his wife to bridge.
The Opera House Concert Hall lends itself quite well to a transformation into a vast cavern. The opening of this performance found the audience in an enormous cathedral cave bathed in an eerie light ..the massive organ pipes were stalactites …
The Sydney Con International Jazz Festival is awesome. A superb smorgasbord of jazz talent. Geoff Bull and the Finer Cuts. The Judy Bailey Trio. The Darren Heinrich Trio. You get the picture. As the promo says “…90+ artists 24 Concerts. …
The Nexus Quartet is a miniature “Big Band”. It is a big sound and often evocative when in the jazz mode of the mood of the 30’s, the era of the Speakeasy, of smoke filled rooms, money, danger and illegality. …
FIVE ELEMENTS concert . (Enigma Quartet and Riley Lee)
The Shakuhachi is a Japanese flute whose sound embodies ancient Japan . The world then was thought to comprise of five elements ( earth fire water air and ether …
Andrew Chubb gave this Recital to celebrate Glass and his oeuvre last Sunday afternoon, 17th September, at the Independent theatre, Miller Street, North Sydney.
It was a masterful performance by him. Chubb is an Australian pianist composer and educator, the …
Prior to the performance there was a pre-concert talk by Mark Grandison. His exposition of the works by Borodin and Brahms was by itself worth attending…highly illuminating without lapsing into a dirge of technicalities.
The Omega Ensemble is another …
“All the jolly chase is here
With hawk and horse and hunting-spear,
Hounds are in their couples yelling,
Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling…”
Hunting Song by Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832)
The Australian Haydn Ensemble is garnering an …
This performance, like so that of so many by student bodies, is full of verve, gusto and raw excitement.
Sondheim’s story revolves around Robert or Bobby, as he is affectionately known, played convincingly by Nic Savage. Bobby is in …
It really was a dark and windy night, and we were lashed by squalls of wind and dense, sleeting rain as we made our way by train from the Land of the East (Edgecliff station) to the Riverside Theatre at …