Puffio

As this, the ultimate edition of dB Magazine for 2008 was going to print, news came through that Simon Slade, friend to theatre types across Adelaide, lawyer, writer and theatre critic, has lost his protracted battle against cancer, succumbing at the RAH on Sun 14 Dec. He will be sadly missed.

Better known as a playwright and theatre director, Stephen House wants all to know that he has an exhibition now open at West Torrens Auditorium Gallery, on Brooker Terrace at Hilton. 'Faces & Words' has been funded by the City Of West Torrens and features, what for House is likely a new extension of his interests; that is, to reflect humanity and its foibles.

As you may read elsewhere in this magazine, this is the final appearance of art writer and critic Nerina Dunt in dB Magazine, who has tossed in her blunted quill after being in the job for nearly three years. Puffio seized the opportunity to wish her all the best in future endeavours and resisted the instinct to make some pithy quip, the likes of which have peppered their email correspondence in that time. It is to be hoped this fine tradition will continue in the hands of her able successor, Jemima Kemp - welcome on board! For the moment fellow arts writer Lauren Sutter remains in the crew, busy in the hold stoking the fires of artistic expression. Onya, all!

Apparently Adelaide has embraced 'Phantom...'generating more than $1 million in box office sales in the first week, during November. 'The Phantom Of The Opera' opens for a strictly limited season from Sun 3 May 2009 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

The Experimental Art Foundation is seeking expressions of interest from artists/curators who would like to participate in a four day workshop - small & focused - dedicated to curating, and to be led by Vasif Kortun next year. A highly respected and influential curator, Kortun is the founding director of Platform Garanti CAC, Istanbul and he is the curator of 'Socially Disorganised', the EAF's first exhibition for 2009, which will open on Wed 18 Feb 2009.

Internationally recognised as a leading interpreter of vocal music, and muse to some of the greatest composers of our time, super-star Dawn Upshaw sings four centuries of song, which rather means she'll be whipping through the decades when it comes to her performance at Adelaide Town Hall on Wed 4 Feb as part of her Australian tour, accompanied by Richard Tognetti (Artistic Director and Lead Violin) and Christopher Moore (Principal Viola). Said the 'Chicago Tribune', making it all sound a little feral, "Hearing the astonishing soprano Dawn Upshaw weeping, wailing, groaning, growling and cooing her way through Osvaldo Golijov's Ayre was reassuring evidence that this most refined of artists can reinvent herself more smoothly than just about any singer today."

Quick diary note: Sat 7 Feb at the Adelaide Festival Theatre - Roberta Flack and her band perform with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Could be a very luscious event indeed.

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of their new concertmaster: Natsuko Yoshimoto. Noted as one of Australia's most sought after violin virtuosos, Yoshimoto will take up the five year post in time for the orchestra's 'Symphony Under The Stars' in January 2009. Welcome aboard!

The Adelaide Festival Centre and The Australian Classical Youth Ballet present a performance season of that old family favourite 'The Nutcracker', to be performed for two nights only, on Sat 20 and Sun 21 Dec. These performances are, incidentally, to raise funds for children's charity Camp Quality. In this production three guest dancers from the Australian Ballet Company will be dancing the lead roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Gina Brescianini), the Cavalier (Kevin Jackson) and Drosselmeyer (Colin Peasley OAM). Please note the Sunday performance is in the afternoon, beginning at 2.00pm.

'Binnanendi 09' is a calendar taking a fresh ew look at the positive roles young Aboriginal men play in the community, and it was launched earlier this month at Tauondi College (Nile St, Pt Adelaide) by Gavin Wanganeen, the SA Government's new Ambassador for Youth Opportunity. Produced by Kurruru Youth Performing Arts and photographed by Adelaide photographer Shane Reid, the calendar is the first stage in a new multi-artform project focused on promoting positive messages about young Aboriginal men and boys.

More welcoming aboard! For their most wondrous revealing of cinemagraphic excellence, the Adelaide Film Festival announces that JM Coetzee will take his place as their final Award Juror. He will join his six fellow judges Laurence Kardish, jury president, and fellow jurors Naomi Kawase, Hannah McGill, David Stratton, Bill Gosden and Jo Dyer. JM Coetzee is a two times winner of the Booker Prize, and in 1993 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. You can bet he knows a thing or two about what he likes.