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ELVIS Costello is a musical polyglot: he speaks the language of rock, country, jazz and, increasingly, classical music.
At a Sydney concert hall yesterday, he was on stage rehearsing with the Brodsky string quartet.
And next week, he will appear with the Sydney Symphony, which will perform music from his ballet score Il Sogno.
Costello, in Sydney with his wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, is one of the highlights of this year's Sydney Festival.
"I pretty much get to do everything except play with a rock 'n' roll band," Costello told ABC radio yesterday.
Costello is also giving a concert with Steve Nieve -- the keyboard player from The Attractions -- performing intimate arrangements of songs from his back catalogue.
The three concerts display Costello's versatility as a musician, beyond his famous hit songs Oliver's Army and Watching the Detectives.
But some people are dismissive of his explorations into territory other than rock.
"I didn't get into this business to be loved by everybody," Costello said. "I am doing what I do and I have enough confidence that there are enough people who share my curiosity."
In his concert with the Brodsky Quartet, Costello will sing songs from his 1993 album, The Juliet Letters.
Shakespeare was the inspiration behind his orchestral score, Il Sogno, which is based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.
When he agreed to write the piece in early 2000, he had only just started to get his head around writing musical notation.
More recently, he has collaborated with Krall on her album The Girl in the Other Room. He was particularly sensitive to the task, he said, because their relationship was still new.
"I had to listen to what was being said and not use too much craft and start to distort these very personal stories," he said.
In yet another guise, Costello has written pieces for an unfinished opera about the conflicted Danish storyteller, Hans Christian Andersen.
"The idea of an ugly, misfit man in love with an unattainable woman is something I can identify with," he said.
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