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Thanks, Alison - a great piece. I envy you the experience, as I only know her work from recordings, some official, some, er, downloaded. *Vena cava* is the greatest extended mad scene of all, only very remotely comparable with some of the work Berio wrote for Cathy Berberian & with nothing else; it's pure poetry at the edge. Must get that *Todesfuge*. Useful site - http://www.diamandagalas.com/ Best Martin Alison Croggon wrote: >Alison's Festival Diary #2 > >Songs of Exile , Diamanda Galas; Hamer Hall, Victorian Arts Centre. > >There's no question that Diamanda Galas is demanding. She demands your >attention from the moment she walks on to the stage and paces, without pause >or preamble, towards the piano. She demands that you listen and that you >think. Most of all, she demands that you feel. > >But the feeling she summons is no gentle waft on the airs of sentiment. For >Galas, feeling is passion: the passion of unconsoled grief and longing; the >passion for a precise and ethical beauty in the face of the unhealable >divisions which scar human existence. > >And she earns the attention she asks for. The aggression with which Galas >performs contains the arrogance of a vast generosity. Galas will give us >her all: and she expects no less from her audience. For those who expect or >desire a lower-octane experience of art, something like what Barry Humphries >calls a "nice night's entertainment", this demand is more than confronting. >It is felt as an assault, and expresses itself in tedium. But for those >prepared to take up her gift, the experience is exhilarating. > >Read more at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com > > -- M.J.Walker - no blog - no webpage - no idea Nous ne faisons que nous entregloser. - Montaigne