Michael Shirrefs, Author at squawk studios

Tricky business, this thing called opera

12 Oct 2014

In 1954 Aaron Copland, one of the darlings of 20th Century American music, created an opera that was damned with faint praise. Everything else Copland touched seemed to turn to gold. So was it a bad opera, or was it just bad timing?

Aaron Copland and The Tender Land

10 Oct 2014

The 1950s turned out to be a tricky time for Aaron Copland, the master of Americana, to create his first major opera. In a period of mass-neuroses typified by Senator McCarthy’s Communist witch-hunts, Copland found himself less sure of his standing as a darling of the music world.

Finding the right words: Australia’s failure to embrace multilingualism

23 Jun 2014

Most of the world’s people acquire second and third languages as easily as they achieve basic literacy and numeracy. (Iain Masterton/ Photographer's Choice)

Language is the key to unlocking culture and, in a shrinking, swirling, multicultural world, multilingualism is a crucial tool. Michael Shirrefs asks why Australia, a country that proudly spruiks its multicultural credentials, is still so monolingual.

Monolingual in a Multilingual World

23 Jun 2014

a radio feature produced by Michael Shirrefs 360-Documentaries—ABC RN—Sunday 22nd June 2014 Learning foreign languages—it’s not rocket science, surely. No, for most Australians it’s much harder than that.

A place called Morley

29 Apr 2014

It’s one of the most important institutions for English music in the 20th Century—a place that Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Michael Tippett poured their heart and soul into. The buildings witnessed the creation of some of the best known works of the last century. But it’s almost certain you’ll not know of it, and it’s barely mentioned in the conventional histories of the period.

Hungary: Democracy Distorted

12 Mar 2014

Ultra-nationalism, anti-Semitism, censorship and intimidation of opponents. How has Hungary gone from having one of the most admired legal systems in the world, to becoming the most worrying symbol of democratic decline within Europe?

Ali Alizadeh

18 Nov 2013

Ali Alizadeh was born in Tehran in 1976. He grew up with the love of literature and strong Marxist ideologies of his immediate family, while a Revolution went horribly wrong across wider Iran. Today Ali Alizadeh is a highly respected writer and poet with a voice that is clear and uncompromising.

Radio Yak Yak

08 Oct 2013

Radio Yak Yak is one element of an international exhibition called Yak Yak, being hosted by the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery in northern Victoria.

Radio Yak Yak

08 Oct 2013

Radio Yak Yak is an interactive sound installation … one element of an international exhibition called Yak Yak, being hosted by the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery in northern Victoria.

Sonic Structures

22 Sep 2013

Our world is a complex organism, more interrelated than the silos in which we typically place it. One area of research to recognise this is the new discipline of participatory architecture, which explores among other things the relationship between music and buildings. Michael Shirrefs explores the search for harmony in the built environment.

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Michael Shirrefs

Tricky business, this thing called opera

Aaron Copland and The Tender Land

Finding the right words: Australia’s failure to embrace multilingualism

Monolingual in a Multilingual World

A place called Morley

Hungary: Democracy Distorted

Ali Alizadeh

Radio Yak Yak

Radio Yak Yak

Sonic Structures

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