Culture

Why creativity matters

How many tech CEO’s have been booed at US Uni’s lately? How many people are starting to say Ai can fuck right off? Quite a lot, but with governments desperately pandering to tech companies and corporations jumping on the Ai Bandwagon even before it’s really arrived we need to remember how important real creativity is to humanity.

It’s all well and good to have Ai develop programs and designs for god knows what but humanity need to maintain its soul. The soul of humanity comes via its creativity. Creativity sets us apart from technology and it defines us. It’s why art is so important to society. Art traces the development of man, from Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man to the post impressionists, the street art commentary of Basquiat to the modern day works of Banksy art is soul and cannot be replicated by technology.

Literature, music, sculpture…all now able to be created by technology should be available but really, set aside for their lack of real creativity. A tech leader pointed to the rise of music composition ai apps suggesting music should be just created by ai as who wants to sit and write songs? Compose music? The individual was justifiably criticised but there’s no escaping the fact that tech companies don’t want us mere humans standing in their way of complete control of how we think, work and create things.

There is a country music singer on social media, who’s great. He sings about his homeland, he has roaring choruses that make you want to run against a wall until you realise the songs are created by Ai as is his voice. Does it matter to his followers? Nope, they love it and either don’t care he’s Ai or don’t know, but it’s taking away from what’s real soul. We need real pride, real passion and something to really believe in and Ai ain’t it.

John Farnham is one of the best examples I can give of real soul and creativity. The man loved to perform, to sing and was so proud to be an Aussie and that’s what’s real. Classical music written by men and women who can inspire, that’s what we need not more tech that takes our soul away.

So hey, have a phone, enjoy the scrolling experience, listen to Ai music and use tech for business but never let it take away from real creativity because if that happens we are finished.

Roberto Alagna – 30 years at the Met

There is a video of Roberto Alagna singing Che gelida manina on his first solo tenor aria album. He gets to the top C and basically points at the conductor to hold the orchestra and the top C. It’s tenor dramatics at their finest but the man had a top C worth all of it.

Not long after that recording was made Alagna made his debut at the Met in New York in the same role, Rodolfo in La Boheme. That was in 1996 and now 30 years later he’s celebrating this amazing accomplishment singing Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot. The man is a legend.

Now 62 the French tenor has been treading the boards of the best houses in the world for decades and despite being more selective in his role choices shows no real signs of slowing down. Why would he? Yes the top isn’t as clean as it once was but it’s not wobbling like some tenors in their prime.

Alagna for me, is closer to Di Stefano but with better technique. Both men have a beauty to their sound that cuts right through an orchestra and gives them a light and shade unlike many others. While Di Stefano didn’t handle dramatic repertoire that well, Alagna has now sung Otello to great acclaim.

It’s not all been about the opera for Alagna though, he’s done recordings with his musician brothers of Spanish songs and sung Italian pop music but to be singing Calaf at the Met three decades after your debut is the stuff of legend.

I’ve heard him three times live, at the Met in Werther, at Covent Garden in Romeo and Juliet and in Melbourne for a recital…every time he sang his ass off and on the recital he sang for more than an hour, unheard of for the serious pros. The man loves to sing and while he’s still loving it with that rock solid technique long live the career of one of the greatest tenors of his generation, Roberto Alagna.

Music teacher v Maestro

As I sat formatting my book yesterday I listened to a lot of Mahler and good amount of it conducted by Bernstein and while I am always stunned by the beauty of Mahler it also pissed me off! Why? Because of that bloody movie Maestro!

I think Bernstein had a conducting style that you could tell apart from most others especially when it came to Mahler. The pain, the suffering, the longing, the emotion that Mahler brings to the fore is extended when Bernstein conducts his music. You have a sense of Bernstein’s deep connection and understanding of the music which is who the man was, not what he was portrayed as in the movie.

In the movie Maestro a good portion of the focus was on Bernstein’s sexuality but who cares? There are a million stories of gay people in the arts and while dudes kissing may still be risky business in mainstream Hollywood the real focus of the arts and classical music community is connection to their chosen art. In the case of Bernstein music.

The great shame of Maestro is that film makers and artists have shown they can achieve great things in film with the two greatest examples being; The Music Teacher and Otello.

The Music Teacher follows the last years of a famous Baritone who takes on two students, one male one female. He falls in love with the female because of her voice but dies before he could see her talent come to great acclaim. The movie is visually stunning and understands the connection of music to the film. It starred the great Baritone Jose Van Dam as the teacher and he was incredible. It remains one of the great music films.

The other is the Zefferelli directed Otello, with Domingo in the title role. Despite the Moor having such great singers perform the role over the decades Domingo is arguably the best. Olivier said of his Otello, the bastard can not only sing it he can act it as well!

The movie is the greatest opera performance ever made. It’s a Zeffirelli movie so it’s obviously epic but the grand opera in its grandest form. It like the Music teacher pays deep homage to the music and in this case the music of Verdi. Otello being possibly his greatest work is treated with the respect it needs and deserves.

Both the Music teacher and Otello show why Maestro fails and it’s because it didn’t go to the music and the connection to it, it instead went for cheap clicks and views and failed to understand the musical soul of the man that was Bernstein.

Regardless of the movie you should go and listen to some Mahler conducted by Bernstein.

McCartney new album

By the time Paul McCartneys new album ‘The boys of dungeon lane’ comes out on May 26th it will be about the 70th album he’s had a hand in or personally created AND he will be only a matter of weeks away from his 84th birthday!

When McCartney appeared on the last episode of the Steven Colbert show McCartney may have sounded a bit past his prime but he’s a Beatle and he’s 83! It is staggering! The man is a musical genius and as I say a Beatle!

McCartney occupies that very rare air of mega stardom and that we can still watch him perform and create music is a genuine blessing. Theo music he has crated over the years is the soundtrack of peoples lives and he knows that. He is confident of his place in music history but knows that he almost has a responsibility to still give people the music he created live.

It’s the same with the Rolling Stones. Richards and Jagger both now in their 80’s while Wood is a spring chicken at 78. The stones like McCartney know how important their music is to people and they also aren’t shy about performing.

The number of rock gods in their 80’s is frightening but we absolutely have to enjoy all of them while we still have the chance and I’ll be waiting for the new McCartney album to download on May 26th

Vince Vaughn and the talk shows

Thank the lord for Vince Vaughn! Vince has been on the Theo Vonn podcast and openly said what we’ve all been thinking, late night US talk shows need to stay away from politics!

The days of the Johnny Carson show in the US, of Bert Newton here in Australia of Parkinson in England are pretty much over. Free to air TV is dying and anything really worth watching is on pay TV now, so the while the last remnants of late TV ply their trade surely they can do it with some dignity? Dignity that reverts to their original idea of comedy and not with a political agenda.

Even one of the Kings of the late night TV show Conan O’Brien has voiced his opinion on the late night talk show, suggesting they’ve lost their way and just aren’t that funny anymore.

Kimmel and Colbert are probably two of the most left leaning and can’t help but to whack Trump at every opportunity but are they funny? Not for me. It’s not a case of being left or right they’re just not that funny and while many more of us are politically aware we also need some respite from the world of politics. We want to laugh which is why someone like Ricky Gervais is so popular. Gervais hammers everyone. Left or right it doesn’t matter, he’s calling out the hypocrisy of life and just shows how stupid it is to use comedy as a political tool.

The Theo Vonn podcast may not be for the intellectual elite, but Vaughn is absolutely spot on, it’s time for to the late night talk shows to put away the politics and just make people laugh again. If they can do that then maybe the end of free to air TV won’t be quite so quick after all.

Legends on Netflix

When I finally caught onto the HBO series Entourage I binge watched it, the same with Succession and after I’d watched Succession for a several weeks I came across a new UK program called ‘Legends’. Needless to say I loved Legends and of course I binge watched it from start to finish.

The UK short series is about how customs officers in the 80’s and 90’s cracked down on the heroin trade across the country but went largely unheralded. This program aims to rectify this and show how unbelievably brave and resourceful they were while in legend. These customs officers were under cover operatives and when they were in place they were referred to being in legend, I think mainly because they actually were legends.

Steve Coogan is the star of the show being a senior officer within the customs department who runs the small team of legends. Tom Burke plays Guy who is the main legend within the team and goes deep under cover to help stop the importation of two tonnes of Heroin.

The short series is only five episodes but IMBD says this is season 1 so maybe there are plans for a season 2, which would be brilliant given the customs program ran for years. There are unquestionably more stories to tell of Legends and while there’s no real suggestion that the series is based on fact it does show bad guys losing the drugs war which is great!

Legends is available now on Netflix and it’s a ripping yarn.

MTC posts a loss

What are the two things that get hammered most economically when governments run out of money and the economy tanks? The arts and the average punters. It’s true go back and have a look at financial crises and see who felt the impact the most. In the US recently the Metropolitan Opera in New York lost millions in funding as a direct result of the Saudis having to deal with the fact that their oil can’t get out of the Strait of Hormuz. Here in Australia the MTC are the latest arts body to feel the global economic impact by posting a loss in its last season.

The MTC has had some of Australia’s greatest actors and creatives pass through its doors, but if these economic pressures continue the worst case scenario will be the doors close. The same for opera companies. Any opera singer in Australia with aspirations to sing professionally is dreaming if they think they can do it here, simply because we don’t have the money invested in arts organisations. Opera companies are almost at the bottom of the funding pile and survive on the generosity of private donors, but that too is running dry.

But while the arts organisations are struggling the real struggle for the average punters who just want to have a job, have somewhere to live, raise a family and have a life. It’s not too much to ask is it? We are still very lucky here in Australia but our luck is running out. The idea of free health care is hours and hours spent waiting to see a doctor, then if you’re not dying waiting months for what is classed as elective surgery.

People can’t be safe in their homes anymore and nowadays walking the streets to and from work can be a dangerous thing to do. Buy an EV we’re told and get a rebate, but how? People don’t have enough money to feed their families and charity food outlets are seeing record numbers come through their doors. How do politicians sleep at night? How does Anika Wells show up to Parliament wearing Gucci holding a $10,000 hand bag and think anyone is buying her fake empathy for the plight of families doing it tough?

There has always been the haves and the have nots but in the past in Australia the have nots got by but now they simply don’t. Migrants are given preferential treatment, housing not addressed, Ai being allowed to run amok and big business allowed to simply rip everyone off. Where does it end for the average punter?

For the arts sadly governments don’t realise people need a soul and for the average punter well they’re not a minority group with an ear in government so they’re stuffed as well…we need a soul, we need some relief but it’s not coming from governments any time soon so it’s time to realise no one is coming to save us.

Who was the greatest Turandot?

Well being a former tenor I obviously think Tenors are the most important voice type but in the 100th anniversary of the debut performance of Puccini’s Turandot we have to ask, who is the greatest Ice Queen, Turandot?

The role of Turandot is a dramatic soprano with a top like a trumpet. Big, loud and with power like not many others. It is not a role that can be sung by an up and coming singer and it is a role that can make or break a career.

Turandot was the last opera Puccini wrote and gives us the last two characters in his collection of strong women. Despite the fact that Puccini wrote some of the greatest music ever composed for the tenor it was women Puccini really wrote for. He was of course in his private a bit of a womaniser but the music he wrote confirmed his great love for his women.

Throughout his career Puccini gave us women like Mimi in Boheme. A woman who fell in love with a poor poet only to lose him but ultimately return in death to confess devotion. Minnie in Fanciulla, the strong willed woman who stands up to everything the Wild West has to offer falls in love with a bandit showing that despite her rough exterior has the ability to love and be loved. Tosca the woman who kills for love only to take her own life rather than live without it. Butterfly who gives up her child so he can have a better life but must die having lost her honour. And then after all of Puccini’s women come Liu and Turandot.

Liu who when Puccini wrote her death scene in Turandot said, I have just watched my child die and Turandot the almost unresolved heroine who does find love but did she? We ask did she because Puccini died before he finished writing the opera Turandot so we will never know what the maestro was planning for her but it is without question the biggest and most dramatic role Puccini wrote for the soprano.

So who sang the Ice Queen the best? For me there are three…the greatest of all is Brigit Nilsen, she recorded it, sang it live and was Turandot. In the studio it was Joan Sutherland. The great Australian never sang the role live but was the leading voice on the epic Mehta, Pavarotti, Caballe Turandot and finally the great Bulgarian soprano Ghena Dimitrova was the best live singer of the mighty role. Her performance of Turandot at Verona remains one of the greatest live performances in music history.

There are countless other mighty performances of Turandot and everyone has their favourites but no matter who anyone likes it remains Puccini’s greatest soprano roles and gives us another Puccini woman who finds love and resolution.

Nessun Dorma

With the 100th anniversary of the debut performance of Puccini’s opera Turandot I think it was a good time to look at the top five greatest performances of the famed aria, Nessun Dorma.

Nessun Dorma has been sung by everyone from Bocelli to Micheal Bolton. It’s an aria made famous by the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti and it is a rousing piece of music that basically I will win at any and all costs. Nessun Dorma literally means none shall sleep and it says that because Prince Calaf has the night to find out the name of the woman he’s fallen in love with. If he doesn’t find out her name he’ll be executed, love does work in mysterious ways! So given that Calaf has a couple of vested interests in winning the game, including his own survival he’s pretty pumped up for the challenge ahead! Vincero!

The aria isn’t that long and makes a hero or a loser out of anyone that sings it. It doesn’t matter how well you sing the rest of the aria, fuck up the top note at the end, a Top B in the original score, and you’ll be booed off the stage. But nail it and you’ll be the hero of the night no matter how good the Turandot actually is.

So who are the top five?

Luciano Pavarotti is of course the best. Despite the fact that the great man only sang the role of Calaf a few times live on stage he was part of the greatest ever recording of the opera and he was the one that made it famous in the first place. Arguably the greatest tenor in history stands at the top of the Nessun Dorma list.

Franco Corelli is Calaf. The tall good looking movie star type is what Corelli was on stage and in life and he had the voice to match. A voice that had ringing top notes and a beauty unlike many others he was the tenors tenor and sang Nessun Dorma like his life depended on it…which it did in the opera. Famous for his pairing with Brigit Nilsson Corelli may not have had the global fame of Pavarotti but he was Calaf.

Jose Cura…the man who could’ve been king. Cura had a voice from god. I know because I sang with him and head it first hand. The beauty he had was unrivalled but he went too hard too soon and paid the price. But before he went too hard he recorded with Placido Domingo conducting one of the greatest performances of the aria in history. Singing on an album full of Puccini arias Cura gave one of the mighty aria versions that also said follow me we’re going to win at all costs! Cura also sang Calaf live not quite Corelli but it was pretty dam good.

Dario Volonte was an Argentinian tenor who ended up with serious throat issues not related to singing but was on course to be one of the greats. Volonte had a voice like a steam train and a top to match that of Corelli. Sadly the only version of him singing the mighty aria is on You Tube at the Berlin opera house but even from that poor quality video you can hear what the man could do.

Bruno Prevedi had for a good portion of his singing career been a baritone, but with some more vocal training he became a tenor. Prevedi was at one point the DECCA tenor and was due to make several recordings with the legendary record company until a young man by the name of Pavarotti came along. But before Pavarotti became the star he was meant to be Prevedi gave us a recording of the aria unlike many others. His voice was steely and the top note a ringing triumph of victory. The album of tenor arias made by Prevedi is one of the best ever and more than worth seeking out.

Turandot turns 100

On April 25th 1926 Puccini’s opera Turandot had its world Premiere at the famed opera house, La Scala. Puccini himself had died in 1924 and never finished the opera leaving the work to be completed by one of his students, Franco Alfano. But on opening night when Toscanini came to the end of Puccini’s composition he turned the to audience and said this is where the Maestro died. At the next performance the opera was completed using the Alfano ending and Turandot took its place in the modern operatic repertoire.

Turandot is famous for Nessun Dorma sung famously by Luciano Pavarotti for the 1990 World Cup but the opera itself even though Puccini didn’t finish it himself is probably his greatest achievement. Puccini was the king of opera as populist drama. His works were about humanity, about feelings and about stories that were not unrecognisable in people’s own lives. Yes Turandot is a bit out there when it comes to story lines but the emotions are all easily relatable.

Puccini was one of the first composers to use musical influences from other countries. He did it in Fanciulla where he almost became the father of the modern western movie score, he did it in Madam Butterfly where he used Asian influences and he did it again with Turandot. The musical harmony and composition itself gave way to composers like Menotti and Stravinsky who consciously or not had elements of the Italian master in their post Puccini works.

Turandot sits a top of the soprano and tenor repertoire. For the soprano the role of Turandot is a dramatic singer who has glorious top notes and an edge to their voice unlike all others. Some of the great Turandots have been Wagnerians, like Brigit Nilsson and others such as Joan Sutherland who only ever recorded it the cut. If it weren’t for Nessun Dorma sung by the tenor Calaf Turandot would be the star of the show. Calaf is the tenors tenor. Despite the fact that it was Pavarotti who made the aria famous he barely sang the role live on stage saying it was too much for him. The recording he made with Sutherland, Mehta and Caballe remains the greatest version of the opera ever made but still it wasn’t a role the great man revelled in.

The King of the Calafs was Franco Corelli. Corelli was the movie star of opera, tall good looking and had a voice to match all of it and to this day is unrivalled in his delivery of the Prince. For Turandots it’s Nilsson and if you could have the dream cast for one night you’d have Caballe as Liu.

Turandot was Puccini’s crowning musical achievement and despite the fact that he didn’t finish it himself it remains his greatest opera. It’s probably the last of the great operas ever written and today stands the test of time in the grand history of opera as an inspiring art form. Happy birthday Turandot.

The Met loses its Saudi funding

Private funding for opera companies has always been how they survive. Yes they all get government funding but big corporate and private donors are how they stay open. Sadly though the corporate donors are beginning to falter and the private money isn’t what it once was.

The oil rich Middle East has in recent times become the great hope for the arts world. Middle eastern governments and families like the Chinese did want their people to experience western culture so the opera became something they wanted to invest in. That was until Donald Duck, sorry Trump decided to go to war with Iran.

The Saudi royal family has been a key supporter of the Metropolitan Opera in New York for several years and had promised $200 million for the opera company but no more. Thanks to the war in Iran the Saudis have said we can’t get you the money and all bets are off.

The Met has already been slashing jobs and productions. Several years ago the famed opera house had 25 different operas in their season but then 2026/27 season will have 17. Yes it’s only 8 but think about the ramifications for designers, singers, directors and artists in general and it’s a huge drop in programming.

The unfortunate reality for the Met is the reality for the arts industry worldwide. Despite the fact that in times of hardship we unquestionably need to remember what having a soul is all about the first thing to go when economic hardship arrives is arts funding. Not for the first time the arts now needs to get its thinking cap back on and start working smarter not harder because we need it more than ever it’s just sad not many people realise it.

The Icons live on…

As Coachella packs up for another year and as I have told my wife that we are going next year it’s a good time to remember that music Icons can still pull a crowd and blow people away! Such was the case with Madonna who made an appearance on the final weekend at Coachella with Sabrina Carpenter.

Madonna was preceded by Moby on the weekend before and in between them the great Fat Boy Slim pumped up the volume with another epic set some 27 years since he first appeared at the festival. The legends of music can still pull a crowd but it’s not just at Coachella the icons of music can raise the roof they’re still pumping tunes out at their own shows right across the world.

Paul McCartney is 83 and Ringo Starr 85 and were both still playing live late last year to huge applause. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Gilmour, Roger Waters, the Stones, Brian May, Placido Domingo all legends all in their late 70’s or 80’s still playing and entertaining crowds across the world.

Coachella has been very lucky like Glastonbury to have the icons of music perform at their festivals but my question is that while we are in awe of these legends, they’re all getting old! Very old some of them and so who’s going to replace them? Bieber? The weekend? Taylor Swift? Some of the epic bands might, Metallica, U2, Creed, Foo Fighters but it’s a short list.

The reality is that once these legends of music are gone we are unlikely to see their kind ever again and that’s a tragedy but while they are here we have to enjoy them and give them the utmost respect! In the meantime 2027 Hoodies rocks Coachella and we want to see some legends!

Music as a unifying force

At the start of Coachella I was all pfft as if I’d seen dead there! What a bunch of wankers! Now while some of the wankers may remain I’m thinking right now we’re going to Coachella in 2027! Not because of the wank factor but because the music this year has been extraordinary and the experience of live music on such a scale shouldn’t be missed!

Moby and Jacob Lusk was astounding but then Sabrina Carpenter brings in Madonna? These two plus the countless other artists have all showed that no matter what’s happening in the world music is an all unifying force!

Music is so many different things to people. If you watch Rocky you’ll be air punching and feeling a million dollars. Listen to the music from Schindler’s List and you’ll be crying for days. In Puccini’s Madam Butterfly you know how devastated Butterfly is about Pinkerton not coming back to see her for so long and then for it to end so badly. We know when Darth Vader is about to enter and we know what memories music of the past can conjure up for us…music makes us feel everything.

While we all have our individual musical memories and favourites shared musical experiences are something to cherish. Festivals, concerts, live gigs anything in person rather than online is the way a good portion of music needs to be enjoyed. The band in a pub, the DJ in a club, the rock band in a stadium or a solo performer in a small room…all of it appealing to different people of different tastes and passions. Music is the great leveller of all sorts of issues and we can only hope that music gets the opportunity to see us through the hard times we are all having to deal with.

See you in 2027 Coachella!

The great performances

With the performance of Moby and Jacob Lusk at Coachella being one of the highlights of this year’s festival it got me thinking what are the greatest live performances of all time? Well here are the top five from all genres of music.

Queen Live Aid – Live Aid wasn’t really meant to have a stand out band or artist, but it did and that band was Queen. 20 minutes that changed the course of music and made Queen the best live act in the world. Prior to the appearance it was thought that Queen were done, but by the time Freddie and the boys walked off stage they had stolen the show and rekindled their reputation. Epic and legendary.
The three tenors at Caracalla – Pavarotti Domingo and Carreras had been massively successful as individuals but when they were put on stage together in Rome one balmy night they became the biggest selling artists in classical music history. But it wasn’t just a publicity stunt all three men brought their A game and it was just a brilliant piece of theatre.
Hendrix at Woodstock – Hendrix in the short time he was alive placed himself amongst the greatest axe men that have ever lived. But his version of the US National Anthem at Woodstock was legendary and came at a time when racism and war were massive issues. Hendrix like so many black artists before and after him let his talent do the talking and gave the world a perspective and performance that not many others could.
Whitney Houston US national anthem at Superbowl 25 – In 1991 the US was at war with Iraq and it was left to the legendary Whitney to sing the national anthem and my god did she sing! Whitney sang live with a military band and she gave what is arguably the greatest live version of the US anthem ever. It must be said that whoever conducted the whole thing needs their credit as well but Houston was a the star and to this day it is just so dam sad what happened to that woman. RIP Whitney but my god what a performance she gave that day.
Domingo Otello Covent Garden 1989 – Despite the fact that Domingo had already been singing Otello since the 1970’s his Covent Garden performances in ‘89 as the moor put a line under his interpretation as arguably the greatest ever. This was a man whose voice wasn’t as fresh and as youthful but now had lived experience and a version of the moor that really gave insight into who Otello was. When Olivier saw Domingo as Otello the great Shakespearean actor, said…”Not only can the bastard sing it, he can act it as well!” Del Monaco may have sounded like the Moor, but only Domingo was the great warrior Otello.

Puccini & Music theatre

Without Puccini modern music theatre would not exist. Yes that’s a big statement but it’s true. Puccini in his day was the populist composer. His operas were about emotions and things that people could relate to. Ok people themselves don’t often jump off towers after killing their nemesis nor do they run around trying to finding out the name of a Prince so they can chop his head off, but it’s the idea of love, of rage, of jealousy and of lust that engages people with Puccini’s music.

Puccini was part of a group of composers called the Verismo composers. Verismo means real life and that the operas are indeed about real world experiences and emotions. Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Cilea, Giordano and of course Puccini were all part of the genre and all had a hand in the future development of Music theatre.

When Puccini died in 1924 opera as a popular drama died with him. The advent of jazz, of blues gave people new styles of music to enjoy which then lead to rock n roll, to the Beatles and to pop music as it is today. Classical music after 1924 divided into the likes Minotti and also into film score type music. Lush orchestrations and crooners but also into a new style of theatrical music. The likes of Rogers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe established themselves as the new popular operas or music theatre.

By the 1960’s Steven Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein were well known composers and giving the ground work for possibly the greatest music theatre composer in music history, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Music theatre by Lloyd Webber’s era had become big business generating billions of dollars and presenting shows that became legendary.

Modern music theatre is alive today because of Puccini and his Verismo colleagues and while Puccini is a very different thing to the likes of Lloyd Webber western music is better off thanks to all of them.

Writing

The 4am wake up people will tell you it’s important to journal. That writing down your thoughts, ideas and goals are all important in your personal and professional development. As much as it pains me to say it, they’re right, but they’re still wankers!

Humans write. From the moment we can say our ABC’s we are writing all sorts of things, stories, reports, emails, reviews, notes to friends, fact based projects…the list is endless but what we can’t do is allow Ai in particular take away or opportunity to write and express who we are.

There is a report floating around that some journalists at Fairfax have been told to use Ai more. It’s not clear if that means they should be just giving an Ai platform the basics and allowing it to write their copy or that they’re to use it for ideas etc…but in a business based on journalistic skill and the ability to write surely a major news out let isn’t going to allow Ai to write the news is it?

Ai is an amazing thing, here I went into ChatGPT and asked it to give me a 50 word summary of Trump in Iran; Donald Trump has taken a hardline approach toward Iran—using military strikes, economic pressure, and threats to stop its nuclear program and weaken its military. His strategy mixes aggressive force with sudden negotiations, leading to a fragile ceasefire and ongoing uncertainty about long-term stability in the region.

It’s pretty clear and concise but not much on the humanity of the whole situation and while news services want that shirt sharp easily produced content we can’t allow the human element of writing to be taken away. My 50 words? Trump has come in to his second presidency promising to end all wars but has instead started several. The invasion of Iran has destroyed global economies, increased the cost of living and been a key reason as to why petrol prices are through the roof!

I think anyone that read Hoodies content regularly would pick up if we were using Ai to write our stuff, which we won’t do, but it looks like some will. It is a sad state of affairs when journalists are being told they have to use Ai to produce their content and it make you wonder when the likes of Fairfax will just say we don’t actually need the journalists anymore. Then what? Who’s doing the news then?

Writing is a key part of who we are as humans and we must fight for our right to preserve our opportunity to express who we are, what’s important, what is right and wrong and who we are. If we let Ai take that over and become the voice of humanity we are indeed finished.

The Wagner Tenor

In my life I have stood next to several Wagner tenors and it is an experience that is akin to standing next to an amplifier at a concert. These are men usually the size of house and can produce sound that is so loud you wonder how they can do what they do, but oh my they do and they are the kings of the tenor voice!

Now yes I know the Spinto tenor gets all the good arias, gets the girl and has all the top notes but the Wagnerian tenor stands at the top of the pile because they have voices that are not only huge in size but they have this ability to keep going. what I mean by that is that Wagner for the tenor is relentless. It’s lyric tenor music on crack! It’s high, it’s set against massive orchestras and it goes on and on.

To give you an idea of the lyricism required for a Wagner tenors, the great Wagnerian tenor Wolfgang Windgassen used Mozarts Magic flute to bring back line to his voice. When I say line I mean he sang Taminos aria that has much less orchestration to it to work on the nuances of his singing, he listened more intently to his voice and leaned in and out where necessary. He used Tamino, the tenor in Magic Flute, as his base line for lyricism that he then took back to things like Tristan, Siegfried and Walther.

I remember standing need to the Finnish tenor Heiki Sukola, who was probably 6’7” and build like the proverbial, the sound he made was astonishing and he was a regular Wagner singer but it isn’t always about the size of the man, it can also be simply about how these kings of the tenor produce their sound. See while the size can be a contributing factor it’s also the cut the voice has that can send it over the massive orchestras these men sing with. The idea of big men singing big repertoire is that their bodies act as resonance for their voices but if you have someone like Peter Hofmann who wasn’t a big man you can still hear him because he has a cut on his voice. Big helps but it’s not the only way to become a true Wagnerian.

For a long time I was a Spinto fan and still am but nowadays I have come to realise that it’s not all about top notes and being the hero, it’s about who can stand there the longest and produce their mightiest sounds that can be heard over the loudest orchestras on the planet. The Wagnerian tenor is the king of the tenor.

Bayreuth

I have been lucky enough to see opera at the Met in New York, Covent Garden in London, the Bastille in Paris, La Scala in Milan, Staastoper in Vienna, La Fenice in Venice and the Sydney Opera House but even though I haven’t been there nor seen an opera in the theatre I think the best opera house in the world is the Bayreuth Festspeilhaus in Bayreuth Germany. Why? Because it is the only theatre of all the great opera houses built specifically for one composer, and that composer was Wagner.

Not only was Bayreuth built for Wagners operas the man built it himself! He oversaw every design concept and made sure it was built to his exact specifications. The orchestra stuck right up under the stage to give that real sense of music in the distance when required. A stage big enough to accommodate elaborate stagings and seats in an auditorium designed to carry sound the way he wanted. No other theatre in the world can lay credit to any of that and certainly no other composer.

Each year the Bayreuth festival comes to town with the best Wagnerian singers and the best conductors and it is sold out years in advance. Getting a ticket for Bayreuth is as hard as getting a ticket to the Super Bowl! But if you do get one then it is an experience like no other.

Opener in 1876 the theatre has seen the greatest Wagnerians tread its boards and still does today. Closed after the Second World War the festival was started again in 1951 and has not stopped since. Wagner was of course a composer but he wasn’t a masterful musician like Verdi or Mozart, rather he was a composer that understood every detail of the theatrical process and experience. He wanted to give life to his operas by writing the music and the librettos himself but took things a whole new level by building a theatre in which he could stage his own works.

In 1871 Verdi had the premier of his latest opera Aida staged in Egypt so he could include elephants and cater for the large chorus and extras required, but the opera didn’t have a purpose built theatre for it so today is often staged without many of the things Verdi had included at Cairo. This was of course unlike Wagner who by 1876 had his own theatre and could easily accommodate the destruction of the gods at the end of Gotterdammerung.

The rivalry of Verdi and Wagner is the stuff of legend and of better men than me to discuss but one story of the pair saw them standing only feet away from each other separated by I think a hedge. They could knew each other was there but both refused to turn to acknowledge the other and thus never met, a coming together of the two greatest opera composers in the history of western music was never to be.

Bayreuth stands as a homage to the great composer and to the determination of one man to produce operas in the way he wanted and I shall get there one day!

Why music matters at school

With so much of life being dictated by technology and Ai being thought of as the way of the future music in schools is now more important than ever.

When I was at school I couldn’t stand music theory and dreaded it. I wish now I’d lie attention because it is the rudiments of sight reading and being a better musician but what I did like about music was being able to play instruments and sing. Singing obviously became a major passion of mine and still is but the creation of sound by actual people in this case kids is perhaps one of the last remaining opportunities kids have to be themselves.

No one likes hearing the creaking of an out of tune violin, or the muffled sounds of a trumpet being tortured, or drums being played out of time, but while we have all endured kids concerts that do all of the above right now more than ever we have to say we love it! Right now our kids are playing violins, trumpets and drums amongst other things as one their last chances to create something of their own. They’re creating sounds they made, they learned how to make, they’re creating feelings and they’re creating something that they’re proud of.

Yes kids still get to kick a ball and run at sporting lessons but creating sound and music is something that’s not only important for their overall education but it’s vital in their development for the future of creativity. If we believe that Ai will take over our lives then we need to start defending the things that give us soul, that seperate us from technology, that give us feelings and that give us the chance to be human.

Music makes us feel things that we don’t get from other sources. How do you feel when you hear a certain piece of music? What memories does it conjure up? What does it mean to you? That music no matter what it is was created by a person that knew how important it was to make and create something that could conjure up feelings and our kids need to now understand the same ideas more than ever.

Music is not everyone’s thing but right now no matter what our kids love or loathe music must be at the core of their education because the soul of humanity depends on it.

The Solti Ring

In 1958 the greatest opera recording of all time began. It was Wagner’s Ring Cycle, to be conducted by legendary conductor Georg Solti with the orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic and to include the greatest Wagnerian Singers ever assembled for such a recording. In the control booth was legendary producer John Culshaw and the whole thing recorded in Vienna’s Sofiensaal.

It took seven years to record the quartet of operas that if played or performed back to back makes up more than seventeen hours of music. Music that stirs the soul and takes the listener on a journey into the mystical world of the Rhinemaidens and Wagner himself.

Never before has such a cast of singers been brought together, Nielsen, Hotter, Wingassen, Frick, Sutherland, Fischer-Dieskau, King all brought to the Sofiensaal over the course of Eight years to record the epic masterpiece.

It was a recording that included the use of stereo for the first time and set the benchmark for all future recordings, it is still the benchmark today! The use of 18 anvils in the orchestra, the purpose made steer horns, the double tracking used by the Decca engineers and the time to produce a recording that was ahead of its time is staggering. Despite the obvious advancements in musical recording since the first of the ring cycle operas was done the Culshaw/Solti ring remains the best. Karajan, Bohm and countless others have also made recordings of the astonishing cycle but none have surpassed the standard of the Solti ring.

There is a 90 minute documentary on You Tube about the recording of the Solti ring and when you think about how long ago it was made and how it sounds it is testament to the vision and skill of everyone involved in making it a reality.

I always find it funny to think that as Brigit Nielsen and Georg Solti were busy recording one of the greatest opera cycles in the history of western music in 1965 and the Beatles were playing across the world. Obviously the Beatles never made it to Vienna’s Sofiensaal to hear or be part of the recording but in a golden era of opera four lads from Liverpool were also redefining music and recording with another English in the booth, George Martin. Both Culshaw and Martin were perhaps unaware that they were designed studio crafted art. Art via Wagner and art via Lennon and McCartney.

If you get the chance watch the You Tube documentary it is staggering how long ago it was made and what the results are to this day. It was an era we will never see again but we are so lucky to have it with us now and into the future.

Jean Michel Basquiat at Sotheby’s

Get ready, art lovers, because Sotheby’s is about to shake the walls with the upcoming Jean-Michel Basquiat sale. Basquiat, the late Brooklyn-born wunderkind who fused street grit with high-art bravado, is back in the spotlight, reminding us why his canvas scribbles feel more alive than most museum walls ever will. His scrawled crowns, jagged figures, and cryptic words? Still as provocative, still as urgent, still devastatingly real and brutal.

The sale isn’t just about numbers—though, let’s be real, the numbers are stratospheric. Collectors are expected to throw down tens of millions for these pieces. But there’s a thrill here that money can’t fully capture: owning a fragment of that lightning-strike genius, a piece that screams 1980s downtown New York while somehow feeling timeless. Sotheby’s has curated a selection that spans the feverish energy of his early work through to the more meditative later canvases, showing the evolution of a painter who was never content to sit still.

And here’s the kicker—Basquiat’s market isn’t just hot; it’s volcanic. Every new sale reinforces his status not only as a cultural icon but as an artist whose work refuses to be commodified quietly. It’s a spectacle, a bidding war, a reminder that the street and the gallery can collide explosively.

So strap in. Whether you’re a collector, a casual fan, or just someone who likes to say, “I saw it before it blew up,” this Sotheby’s sale is shaping up to be another legendary chapter in the Basquiat story. It must be said that it’s highly likely Samo as he was known via the street art scene would shake his head at the money his paintings sell at. The issue I have with a painting like this selling for as much as it does, JMB wanted it for the people and not some soulless asshole who’ll buy it and stick it away in a private collection. I think JMB would be embarrassed, but no matter his attitude we are sadly missing the man who brought street art and honesty to Sotheby’s.

Puccini and Wagner

Puccini was for me the last populist opera composer and while Verdi was a genius Wagner is the king of opera. Now I know there are those that will disagree given Verdi wrote operas comparable with Shakespeare but it was Wagner that gave us the complete operatic experience.

Puccini was of course influenced by Verdi but at the core of what Puccini wrote was Wagner. The music from Manon Lescaut in particular isn’t Verdi rather it’s Wagner as are the through composition style. The mighty tenor aria Nessun Dorma has the top note but it doesn’t end on a big chord progression rather it resolves the melody but quickly moves on with no break between scenes. This is exactly how Wagner wrote his main arias, magnificent melodies with highs and lows but through composed. Theo aria Wintersturmme from Walkure is case in point. A rolling melody that has the tenor singing at the height of their powers but no self indulgent ending.

Wagner was all about the entire operatic experience. The man went so far as to design his own instruments to get the sound he wanted. The Wagner tuba can be seen in use in the documentary of the Solti Ring. A recording that still astonishes in its complexity and quality is testament to the fact that Wagner was the opera master.

Wagner didn’t just create instruments, push singers to their limits and write through compositions he also built a theatre! Bayreuth is the home of Wagner, a purpose built arena dedicated to all things Wagner! An orchestra pit to hold the massive bands he demanded, a theatre that naturally amplifies the singers and space that can cope with the extraordinary demands of staging a Wagner performance.

Puccini was the populist influenced by Wagner, Verdi was the genius but Wagner was and still is the King of opera.

Who was the best?

So who was the best? Pavarotti or Domingo? What a question! I ask it because I saw the same question come up on a social media post yesterday. The video had the final scene of Pagliacci where Canio kills Nedda and Tonio delivering his famous line, La commedia e finita…Pavarotti is all his vocal brilliance realises what a mistake he’s made and instantly shows regret, while Domingo is the violent lunatic that is regretful but sorry?

Pavarotti was a tenor that crossed the lines of the fach system. He said Mozart in concerts and Otello at others, whereas Domingo was at the other end of the scale, he was a dramatic tenor that sang Heldentenor repertoire.

Pavarotti had the perfect career. He started off as lyric tenor and slowly moved through the lyric repertoire to heavier Puccini and Verdi singing the Moor only three times in concert. Despite singing Nessun Dorma the great man only sang Calaf live a few times but recorded it with Mehta and Sutherland. Domingo was also a lyric tenor but moved into dramatic repertoire almost straight away. His voice had a darker edge with a cut of steel and his acting was beyond compare. When Olivier saw his Otello he said, not only can he sing it the bastard can act it as well.

The two men were life long friends and had an undying respect for one another. Their duets from Boheme at the Met was the stuff of legend as were their concerts with Carreras but who was the best? From a natural talent it was Pavarotti from a technical complete tenor package it was Domingo but it’s actually not about who was better, it’s about the fact that we got to experience arguably the two greatest tenors in history in our lifetime.

The Tenor

I would’ve liked to be a Verdi baritone but I was a tenor and despite wanting to sing Iago in particular I’m very glad I was a tenor. See tenors get all the best male roles, ok they don’t get to be villains very often but they get the best tunes. Plus if you sucked at musicianship like I did you had an easier time because your line in an ensemble was invariably the tune so it was easy to sing. But no matter what kind of musician you are being a tenor gives you access to some of the greatest music ever written.

The tenor though can’t sing everything. Now in the traditional list of types of tenor one is missing, the pop tenor. These are the singers who can sort of sing high notes but bash out Nessun Dorma at an event no matter how badly. The famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli is a pop tenor and I’m sorry I’ve never understood the phenomenon around him. I met him once in London and he was very nice but as an operatic tenor he’s not in the same league. For me his best album was Romanza, an album in which he sang Italian songs and it was great, the later opera recordings especially of Otello were dreadful!

Regardless of the crappy pop tenor giving the world the wrong idea of tenors there are arguably four types of tenor; the lyric, the spinto, the dramatic and the heldentenor. In Germany, one of the great homes of opera there is a thing called the Fach list. A list of all vocal types that has operatic roles each voice type needs to be able to sing. For a lyric tenor it’s lots of Mozart, Bellini and Donizetti. The lyric tenor has an easy top and is a light sounding voice with good cut. The spinto is a tenor that’s got some weight to their voice, they’re singing Verdi and Puccini and has a ringing top B flat that can cut through a big orchestra. The dramatic tenor is also singing Puccini and Verdi but the bigger roles of Fanciualla, Turandot, Trovatore, Samson etc…the Heldentenor is the Daddy of tenors. They’re usually big dudes with barrel chests and voices that are so loud you wonder how a human can make that much noise. Their speciality is Wagner and they sing it in big houses with big orchestras. The funny thing about Heldentenors is that they will often sing roles from the lyric repertoire, like Tamino in Magic flute to maintain the lyricism in their voices.

Tenors are also the ones who get the girl both in performance and real life, so if you’re an aspiring singer, be a tenor! Best tunes, best roles and always gets the girl in the end!

Shakespeare

In an age obsessed with speed, convenience, and the relentless churn of technology, Shakespeare remains not just relevant, but essential. His work cuts through the noise of notifications and algorithms by addressing something far more enduring than any app update: the human condition. While modern life encourages quick fixes and surface-level engagement, Shakespeare forces us to slow down and confront complexity—of emotion, morality, and identity.

His characters are not relics of the past; they are mirrors of ourselves. Ambition, jealousy, love, betrayal—these are not outdated ideas, but daily realities, now playing out on digital stages as much as physical ones. The difference is that Shakespeare gives these impulses depth and consequence. In a world of tweets and headlines, he offers nuance.

Moreover, his language, though centuries old, sharpens the mind. Engaging with Shakespeare is like resistance training for thought: it demands focus, interpretation, and patience. These are precisely the skills at risk of erosion in a culture dominated by instant gratification.

Technology may shape how we live, but Shakespeare reminds us why we live. He anchors us in shared humanity at a time when screens often divide more than they connect. His works endure not because they are old, but because they are timeless—an antidote to the fleeting nature of the modern world, and a quiet rebellion against the idea that everything must be fast to matter.

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi stands as the most important and influential opera composer in the history of Western music not simply because of his enduring popularity but because he reshaped what opera could be. Writing in nineteenth-century Italy, Verdi transformed opera from a decorative aristocratic entertainment into a powerful vehicle for human drama and political expression. His works such as Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Aida brought real emotional depth to characters who felt recognisably human, rather than mythic archetypes.

Verdi also revolutionised musical storytelling. He tightened the structure of opera, ensuring that music and drama served each other seamlessly. His melodies were direct and unforgettable, yet always rooted in the emotional truth of the scene. In later masterpieces like Otello and Falstaff, he achieved a level of dramatic integration that influenced generations of composers, from Giacomo Puccini to Richard Wagner.

Crucially, Verdi became a cultural and political symbol during the Italian Risorgimento, with his music echoing the aspirations of a unified Italy. His name itself became a rallying cry.

Ultimately, Verdi endures because he fused musical brilliance with profound humanity. He did not just write operas; he redefined the art form, setting the standard by which all others are judged. Even today, his operas dominate stages worldwide, proving that his understanding of voice drama and audience connection remains unmatched in the operatic canon and beyond comparison.

JS Bach

The Bach Cello suites are, for me, the most beautiful and breathtaking pieces of music ever written for a solo cello. Yes I know there are people who will disagree but here’s something else controversial, the Pierre Fournier recording of them is the best bar none. The only other recording that comes close is Yo Yo Ma’s first recording of them. Controversial yes but for me the Fournier tempos are perfect, the music has time to breathe, Fournier gives them light and shade and shape.

There are five recordings in my life I have listened to from start to finish when I first bought them and they are very different…

Chinese Democracy – Guns n Roses
Freedom of Choice – Devo
Viva La vida – Coldplay
Turandot (Puccini) – Mehta, Pavarotti, Sutherland
The Bach Cello suites – Pierre Fournier

There are of course many other favourite pieces of music from Wagner, Beethoven, Yes, Cold Chisel but the Bach Cello suites are pieces of music that to me can be interpreted in so many ways. They give the listener the opportunity to craft their own story, you sit and listen and take your own journey to where they take you. Are they sad? Are they joyful, melancholic? They are to each of us different and that’s why they are so special. But no matter how they are interpreted they are and will always be a musical window into the soul of one the greatest composers in the history of western music. Bach gave us so many great works but the cello suites for me are some of his best and they’ll be with me forever.

Otello

Otello is the operatic version of the Shakespeare play Othello. The opera was written by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi and it remains one of the greatest operas ever written. The opera perfectly captures the work of Shakespeare and although the moor himself is not played in black make up by anyone that sings the role the opera reduces the play to a succinct version that is in some respects more powerful than Shakespeare’s original work.

The play Othello offers a nuanced approach to the characters, Othello’s slow decline in jealousy, Iago’s development into pure evil and Desdemona’s innocence totally betrayed, but in the opera things move a much more dramatic and faster rate. Othello’s suspicions are raised early with Iago singing what could be described as a pact with the devil that aims to destroy the Moor. Iago convinces the once mighty Moor that he is the only one Otello can trust much to the joy of Iago.

The music of Otello is some of the best Verdi ever wrote. The Oath duet at the end of act two is easily as good as the tenor baritone duets from Il trovatore, Don Carlos and La Forza and really probably the best of all of them.

The often made comparison between Verdi and Wagner are most in show with Otello than anything else Verdi wrote. Wagner was an exponent of the composing style called; Through composing, meaning one aria, chorus, duet etc flowed into the next, there was no big note and the end, rather the drama and the music keeps moving. There are very few perfect cadences where the audience has a chance to recognise resolution. Verdi was no big fan of Wagner and vice versa, the two men once stood metres apart from each other in a park but faced away from one another and refused to meet and never did.

Despite Verdi being no real fan of Wagner Otello is very much through composed. Apart from Iago’s credo and Desdemona’s aria there are no real big aria moments, yes Otello has Dio mi potevi but it’s not Nessun Dorma and even that offers no real chance for a pause. Many say that Falstaff, Verdis last opera was his best but for me it’s Otello. No it’s not the play but with the libretto brilliantly written by Boito and with Verdis music for me it is better than the play.

It all ends badly of course with both Otello and Desdemona dying but such is the drama and the soul in opera and Shakespeare. Otello remains one of the great grand operas in the history of western music and long may it stay there Ai or not.

The Spinto Tenor

A Spinto tenor sits in that rare, electric space between lyric beauty and dramatic power—the voice that can whisper and then, without warning, cut straight through a full orchestra. The word “spinto” literally means “pushed” in Italian, and that’s exactly what defines it: a lyric tenor sound with an extra surge, a gear change that brings weight, urgency, and emotional punch.

It’s not just about volume. Plenty of singers are loud. A true Spinto has control—silvery tone, warmth in the middle, and then that unmistakable push when the music demands it. It’s the sound that makes you lean forward in your seat. In opera, that matters. These are the voices that carry passion, conflict, and heartbreak without losing elegance.

Think of Luciano Pavarotti in his prime—often labelled lyric, but with a Spinto edge when it counted. Or Plácido Domingo, whose voice rode that line between lyricism and full dramatic force. Then there’s Franco Corelli—arguably the ultimate Spinto, all fire and steel, a voice that felt almost dangerous in its intensity.

More modern names like Jonas Kaufmann carry that same DNA, blending darkness and power with precision. These singers don’t just perform—they drive the music forward, pushing it to the edge without breaking it.

That’s why Spinto tenors are so revered. They bring balance: beauty and strength, control and risk. In a world where voices often sit safely in one category, the Spinto refuses to stay still—and that’s exactly what makes it unforgettable.

Banksy revealed? Again?

The mystery of Banksy has become almost as famous as the work itself. For decades, the elusive figure behind some of the world’s most recognisable street art has remained hidden, turning anonymity into part of the brand. But every few years, the question resurfaces: who is he really?

Reports and investigations—picked up and circulated by outlets like Reuters—have pointed toward a man named Robin Gunningham, a Bristol-born artist with ties to the underground scene where Banksy first emerged. The theory isn’t new, but it’s been reinforced over time through geographic analysis, early interviews, and patterns in the artwork’s appearance. For many observers, the evidence feels compelling, even if it stops just short of confirmation.

And that’s the key tension. Banksy’s identity is both an open secret and a locked door. Enough clues exist to build a strong case, but never quite enough to definitively close it. Whether that’s by design or discipline, it has allowed the artist to maintain a rare kind of cultural power—one where the message always comes before the messenger.

There’s also a broader question at play. Does revealing Banksy actually matter? Part of the appeal lies in the anonymity, in the idea that the work could belong to anyone and everyone at once. Strip that away, and you risk turning a movement into a man.

For now, despite the reporting and speculation, the myth holds. And perhaps that’s exactly how Banksy—whoever he is—wants it.

The Singer

I dusted off my aria books the other day and decide to have a sing something I’ve not done for a while. I have so many ideas of what I could do at a creative level to sing more but I run of time before the family get home and my planning of global opera domination stops to return another time for my delusions of grandeur.

Aside from my own somewhat fictitious plans for a global singing career it did get me thinking what advice I’d give my younger self when it came to singing. I was a poor student both at school and University, didn’t listen, didn’t care, thought I was destined to be a megastar. Didn’t really practice, didn’t know my music, got pisses and laid a lot and really fucked it all up. So what I’m trying to say to a young singer is don’t fuck it all up.

Now we know as parents telling any kid how to do something either gets an eye roll or a reaction of I’ll do exactly the opposite, such was my reaction. But could I go back to the early 90’s I’d say to myself, keep up the languages, pay attention in music theory and be more committed than everyone else! Be dedicated, listen, go and hear other singers, travel, love, drink, live a life and be ready…

Music and more specifically opera is hard career to have. You have a highly competitive industry and there are no friends when it comes to castings. Don’t try and make sense of it all either, it does not make sense so just be you, but be the you you can live with 35 years from now. Be the person who gave everything and never ever gave up.

Languages

The ability to sight read

An understanding of the Fach system

Being prepared

Never giving up

Resilience

Confidence but not arrogance…and

Talent

Being an opera singer takes years of dedication and hard work but it can be done and believe me that while you won’t make a fortune it is one of the most fulfilling occupations on the planet…even if Chalamet thinks it’s a dead art.

Oscars ‘26

Every year the film industry gathers for the glitzy ritual known as the Academy Awards—better known as the Oscars. Once upon a time, it genuinely felt like a cultural moment. Families watched together, the winners became household names, and the movies crowned that night were often the same ones people had actually seen at the cinema.

These days, it feels more like a private party the rest of the world forgot to attend.

Ratings for the Oscars have been sliding for years, and it’s not hard to see why. Many of the films nominated are tiny art-house productions that ordinary audiences haven’t heard of, let alone paid to see. Meanwhile the movies that people actually line up for—big crowd-pleasers, comedies, blockbusters—often barely get a look in. The ceremony ends up celebrating a version of Hollywood that feels disconnected from the culture it claims to represent.

Then there are the speeches.

Instead of a night about filmmaking, the Oscars increasingly turn into a political soapbox. Actors who spend their lives reading lines written by someone else suddenly present themselves as moral philosophers delivering lectures to millions of people watching at home. Whether it’s climate policy, elections, foreign wars, or social issues, there’s always another celebrity ready to explain how the world should be run.

But here’s the thing: most people didn’t tune in for a sermon.

They tuned in—if they tuned in at all—to see movies celebrated.

Maybe that’s the real reason the Oscars feel less relevant today. When an awards show stops being about films and becomes about celebrities broadcasting their opinions, audiences eventually decide they have better things to do.

The Oscars are this coming Monday and we will find out not only the winners but if they have any kind of cultural relevance in 2026. Personally I doubt we will ever be writing about the Oscars in our Culture section ever again.

Opera as Art

In 2026 the world moves at a relentless speed. News cycles spin by the hour, attention spans shrink by the minute, and culture is often reduced to whatever happens to be trending on a screen. That is exactly why opera still matters.

Opera forces us to slow down and listen—to music, to language, to the depth of human emotion. Works by composers like Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini remind us that art can express love, rage, grief, and hope with an intensity few other forms can match.

In your life can you remember a time when it has been more important to understand how our souls feel? How it feels to be alive and how it feels to be part of something cultural and important!

Opera does exactly that. It gathers strangers in a theatre and invites them to feel something together. In a fragmented modern world, that shared emotional experience is rare.

Opera isn’t a relic from the past. It’s a reminder that culture still has the power to make us human. Opera is a great love of mine and will feature heavily in the pages of my newspapers in the coming weeks, months and years.

Be decent, be human and be cultured

In 2026 it can sometimes feel like society rewards the loudest voice rather than the wisest one. Social media amplifies outrage, public debate turns into shouting matches, and many people seem quicker to judge than to understand. In that kind of climate, something very basic has become surprisingly valuable again: simple human decency.

Decency is not complicated. It means listening before shouting, treating strangers with respect, and recognising that people with different views are still people. In a world where outrage travels faster than thought, basic kindness has become almost radical.

But decency alone isn’t enough. Culture matters just as much. Music, theatre, literature, film, and art help people understand one another in ways politics rarely can. The works of composers like Mozart or writers like William Shakespeare endure because they explore what it means to love, struggle, hope, and forgive.

Culture reminds us we share the same emotional language. In uncertain times, being decent to one another and protecting culture may be the two most important ways we hold society together.

Culture is a big part of who we are at Hoodies and it will always be at the forefront of what we do.