Sydney Opera House Serves As Inspiration For Miss Universe

Opera Sails: Not since the television show Dynasty
has the world seen power shoulders this dynamic.

"Dame Edna is as Australian as a jar of Vegemite - but would you want to replicate her style? The iconic figure is the inspiration behind a gravity-defying costume in the running to grace the stage at Donald Trump’s International Miss Universe Final. Giant cat-eye glasses, the sweeping sails of Sydney Opera House and tonnes of reef-inspired blue tulle make up the designs that best represent our country, as The Elucent Skincare National Costume Competition reveals its four finalists. The designs, which were unveiled on Sunrise on Monday, represent what it means to be Australian and will be worn by Miss Universe Australia Monika Radulovic. Previous years have seen the newly crowned Miss Universe Australia clad in earthy-toned outback themed designs, Crocodile Dundee couture and high-heeled woollen Ugg boots. This year has seen a step away from the sunburned country to the sea, as all four designers used Sydney Opera House as inspiration....The final design will be announced on Friday, October 5 on Sunrise. Monika Radulovic was crowned Miss Universe Australia in June this year. The brunette beauty fled war-torn Bosnia with her parents when she was just four years old. She went on to attain an honours graduate in psychology and hopes to bring light to Dr Charlie Teo's cure brain cancer foundation and ending world hunger through her ambassador role." [Source] See more designs after the jump.

Win Tickets To See Angela Gheorghiu Live In Australian Concert

Enter here for your chance to win tickets to Angela Gheorghiu's upcoming appearance in Australia (dinner included!). The press release and concert program can be seen after the jump.

Dawn Upshaw Brings Jazz Down Under For Australian Tour

Soprano Dawn Upshaw (left) with composer Maria Schneider

"The last time she toured here with the ACO was also in summer, in February 2009, when she sang works by Bartok, Golijov, Dowland, Schubert and Schumann. This time she'll introduce a work written for her by friend and colleague Maria Schneider, a nine-song cycle titled Winter Morning Walks that uses the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser. A performance of this earned her a Grammy award for best classical vocal solo. Upshaw doesn't see her musical diversity as a trip along a musical vector. 'No, I don't see a straight line anywhere,' she says. 'It's more adding on to the structure of my musical life. I don't see myself so much on a path as exploring.' Born in Nashville, Tennessee, the daughter of a minister in the United Church of Christ, she felt that music must have some kind of message. 'My musical upbringing was centred on the civil rights movement, and I grew up listening to recordings of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. The message was that music could inspire people so much that things could really become better. I want to be engaged in the world that I'm living in, and I think that's what stirred my interest in particular in working with composers. I really feel I'm jumping right in with music of my own time.' Upshaw fell in love with Schneider's music when a friend introduced her to a recording of Schneider's Concert in the Garden. She started going to Jazz Standard in