Blog — Talking Adelaide

Talking Adelaide is just a tad obsessed with Aimee Leduc, the detective heroine in Cara Black's Paris-based crime series, in which each book is set in a different arrondissement of the French capital.

So it was with interest TA received details of the inaugural The Body in the Garden, a crime and garden writers’ festival in Adelaide Botanic Garden this weekend.

Hilarious. Mixing garden writing with crime. Love it.

BTW check out Talking Adelaide's spring roses. These are St Jude the Obscure and there are so many buds (you can seem in the background) in TA's garden that it's going to smell like Guerlain's perfume factory this spring-summer. This David Austin variety was chosen because of its scent and heavy head of petals.

But back to the writing festival. It's organised by Rose Wight and Penelope Curtin, experienced arts, literary and festival practitioners in Adelaide.

TA is a fan of UK actress Brenda Blethyn's work as English detective Vera Stanhope in the TV series and Vera's creator Anne Cleeves is on the program; she is joined by Toby Musgrave, one of the UK’s leading authorities in garden history and design; Hakan Nesser, winner of the European Crime Fiction Star Award and three-time winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award and British garden writer Charles Elliott.

Check out the program here.

One of Talking Adelaide's favourite Sunday outings is an afternoon concert in the gorgeous Elder Hall, North Tce.

About five times a year, one of Australia's top pianists, Kathryn Selby, comes to town for an afternoon of brilliant chamber music accompanied by two or three other young musicians, all at the top of the games. For a couple of years, the concerts were by Trioz, which included Adelaide violinist Niki Vasilakis.

It is a relaxed couple of hours; each time it seriously feels like you are catching up with old friends. Selby, or one of her players, doesn't hesitate to address the audience before each piece to explain its origins and why it fits in with the program's theme.

This is no intimidating, snobby classical music event. It is a casual afternoon of invigorating music by musicians at their peak. The applause is hearty and appreciative. And at half-time there is Adelaide's best afternoon tea to be had: home-made cup cakes, slices and biscuits, with the left-overs snapped up on trays by the departing audience. It all goes to a good cause too.

Selby&Friends' 2014 program is out and it includes an array of big names (Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Debussy, Tchaikovsky) including a whole afternoon in May devoted to a Talking Adelaide fave, Beethoven. It also names Selby's guest artists.

You can check out the program here. A subscription to the concerts before November 1 saves 20% - essentially 5 concerts for the price of 4. And the next concert is Sunday, September 29 - perfect, gentle afternoon after a big Grand Final Saturday.