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AC/DC
Australian rock group AC/DC is back. The legendary band is to release their first full-length studio album in eight years. Originally formed in Sydney in 1973 by British immigrant brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, AC/DC is considered by many a pioneer of hard rock and heavy metal music.
The new album, titled 'Black Ice', contains 15 new tracks and will be released on October 18th; but a single off the album, 'Rock 'n' Roll Train', will be on air-play lists from August 28.
The album is AC/DC's first since 'Stiff Upper Lip' in 2000 and was produced in Vancouver, Canada, by Brendan O'Brien at the Warehouse Studio.
In the past two and a half decades, the group has sold more than 150 million albums and gave the world the rock standard 'It's a Long Way to the Top if you want to rock 'n' Roll'.
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MELBOURNE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, FORMERLY AUSTRALIA PRO ARTE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra has changed its name to the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.
The change was announced by Chairman Brian Benjamin and Artistic Director Willim Hennessy in Melbourne last week.
Hennessy said of the new name: "It's who we are and it's what we are. Melbourne is fortunate to have one of the finest chamber orchestras in the country resident within its boundaries." The orchestra will be one of 12 Key Presenting Partners at the new Melbourne Recital Centre, and perform in the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.
The orchestra was founded as the Australia Pro Arte in 1990 by Jeffrey Crellin, the Principal Oboist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, who is now acting as the orchestra's Artistic Director Emeritus.
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ALAN BECHER (1947-2008)
Artistic director of the Perth Theatre Company Alan Becher has died at age 61.
Becher took over Fremantle-based Swy Theatre in 1991 and oversaw its relocation to Perth and its rebirth in 1994 as the Perth Theatre Company, based at the Playhouse Theatre.
Becher was born in Rawalpindi, British India (now Pakistan), but his British father's military career saw the family live in Malaysia and Singapore. As a young actor, Becher headed to Australia in 1969 where he worked at the Nimrod and other Sydney theatres, at the State Theatre Company of South Australia and the now-defunct Western Australian Theatre Company.
As Artistic director of the Perth Theatre Company, he shaped the company into a fully-fledged professional company, directing, adapting and even writing plays with general appeal and often local themes.
Among his successful literary adaptations were Tom Hungerford's 'Stories from Suburban Road' and Elizabeth Jolley's 'The Newspaper of Claremont Street'. Both were world premieres, directed by Becher, that set high standards for literary adaptation.
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MELBOURNE NAMED CITY OF LITERATURE
Melbourne has been named a City of Literature by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
Melbourne is the second city to be named a City of Literature as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network. The Scottish city of Edinburgh became the world's first City of Literature in 2004.
According to the bid document, drawn-up by a state government supported committee, Melbourne's literary publishing sector is the largest in Australia and the city has a strong tradition of independent publishing and bookselling. Committee member, Kristy Murray, says Melbourne also has more children's authors than any other Australian city.
A Centre for Books and Ideas is to be developed on the Little Lonsdale Street side of the State Library of Victoria. It will serve as a venue for organisations such as the Victorian Writers Centre, Express Media, and the Australian Poetry Centre.
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NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE
Entries are now open for the National Portrait Gallery's National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009.
Now in its second year, the winning entry will be announced on 20 March next and the accompanying exhibition of the finalists' photographs will run until 24 May. Approximately 60 portraits will be on display in the new National Portrait Gallery which opens in December.
According to Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, 'the first National Photographic Portrait Prize overwhelmed us with its quality and variety - photographers of all sorts, from all over Australia and working in all photographic mediums entered'.
VISA International is sponsoring the exhibition and will provide the prize money of $25,000.
The National Photographic Portrait Prize will tour to capital cities and regional centres after the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
Entries close at midnight Sunday 2 November 2008.
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JOINT COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS HEARING
Five national public institutions have given evidence to a public accounts committee hearing into the impact of the Federal Government's 2% efficiency dividend on small agencies.
They are the National Library of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery, the Australian Archives and the Institute of Aboriginal and Islander Studies, and all warn of job losses and curtailment of services and programs.
The National Library told the committee it may have to cut 45 jobs over the next four years and the director of the Institute of Aboriginal and Islander Studies, Steven Larkin, warned that much of its collection is at risk of being lost.
The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit will hold more public hearings in September.
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