In Conversation: Jayson Gillham | Rehearsal Magazine

Jayson Gillham is a featured artist in our 25th Anniversary Concert, Stuart Skelton sings Wagner at St Paul’s Church Knightsbridge on Wednesday 13 September at 7pm. Tickets are still available book here via this link

Fascinating Q&A with him published in Melbourne based Rehearsal Magazine.

On homesickness, networking and practice techniques.

Your newly released third album features the rarely-heard Medtner Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor. How did you discover the work and what was the process for programming the remainder of the record?

I was asked to learn Medtner’s first concerto for a feature documentary about the Australian pianist Geoffrey Tozer. Along the way I asked ABC Classics General Manager Toby Chadd whether it was something they would like to record and he liked the idea very much. At the time I was also working on the Rachmaninoff No. 2 with MSO for one of their free concerts at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. It seemed like a great pairing, as the two men were contemporaries and friends. Toby Chadd suggested I add a couple of short solo works, and together we chose the beautiful Medtner ‘Angel’ and I chose the Rachmaninoff D major Prelude.

Performing for a live audience is, I imagine, a different beast to playing for a recording. Does the way you prepare the pieces going into the studio differ from the way you prepare for a live performance?

I always like to prepare everything as if it is for a live performance, however the process of studio recording is different. It could be compared to recording for film as opposed to live theatre. Sometimes you have to start at Act Two Scene Three and be immediately in character and aware of where this scene fits within the overall structure of the work. It can be mentally tiring because you need to maintain this intensity over a number of days.

Since relocating to London for study in 2007, you have performed across the globe with some of the world’s best orchestras and conductors. Can you tell me about that initial trip to the United Kingdom, what it was like to move away from Australia, and now how you look after yourself on the road when you’re away for so much of the year?

This is a great question. I can’t believe it’s already ten years since I left sunny Queensland. It’s a very difficult thing on reflection, to move so far away from home, and to be a country boy at heart who’s grown to form a love-hate relationship with city life. At the beginning, when I first moved to London, I was so caught up in the excitement of study at the Royal Academy of Music and new friends at my student halls that I didn’t realise what an upheaval it was. But after my first trip back to Australia I became very homesick. Over time things have settled to a point where I’m left with bittersweet feelings of being partly at home and partly out of place wherever I go.

I’m getting better at packing for trips. I don’t like quick trips where I have to take only hand luggage and be corralled through large clunky European airports. Those trips are very draining because what should be only a one or two hour flight ends up taking almost a full day by the time you factor in the train/bus journeys at either end and the 2-3hrs you need to be at the airport before the flight. European airports tend to serve a number of different cities and are not close to any of them. Australian domestic air travel is an altogether painless experience after flying in Europe.

I try to eat healthily and for me that means 95% of what I eat is whole plant foods. It’s a very nutritious diet that gives me a lot of energy and I tend to bounce back from the travel better now eating this way. For exercise, while I’m travelling it can be difficult. I really like Feldenkrais, which is popular amongst musicians but less well known than Alexander Technique. It teaches you a really fine awareness of your body through very gentle and pleasant movements. I can get away without massages most of the time now if I keep up with a regular Feldenkrais practice. It helps me to address an imbalance between the left and right sides of my body and a tightness in my mid back which can build up over time if I’m not careful and start to cause me problems. I have added this to my repertoire of strength and physio/pilates based exercises that I can take on the road with me anywhere. But I highly recommend to anyone, especially performing artists, to delve into Feldenkrais. There are endless resources online and a good place to start is www.feldenkrais.co.uk.

Being a professional pianist takes a lot more than just great technique and musicianship: in fact, you have to be fantastic at lots of non-musical things! Outside of the practice room, what have been the most important skills you’ve needed to develop?

For all musicians and especially those focused on mostly solo work and spending a lot of time alone, it is crucial to develop social skills and an ability to communicate with your audience. These days everyone wants to have a more personal connection with the artist and I always try to see the audience after the concert and say hello. For solo recitals in a more intimate or less formal setting, I will introduce each piece, talking about its historical context, its context in the life of the composer, and often my personal connection or experience with that piece.

Another critical skill is an ability to network and promote yourself and your work, with self-respect and discretion of course. At the end of the day no one is going to be as committed to helping you out as yourself, so it is very important to keep contacting promoters, agents, critics, etc, and finding other musicians you like and want to work with. The right tone and balance has to be struck, of course, because friendly reminders and updates can quickly turn into spam emails and unwanted calls.

With recitals and examinations fast approaching for students, getting performance-ready is the task at the front of the mind. Do you have any advice for musicians on dealing with feelings of performance anxiety and stage fright? How do you keep nerves in check before a performance?

I am perhaps not the best person to ask about performance anxiety because I know that it can range from nerves to something rather serious and debilitating, which fortunately I have not experienced. I think it would be wise for anyone with a crippling kind of anxiety to seek professional help in the form of therapy. There are many people who are very experienced in this and I have had friends who have benefited from therapy regarding performance anxiety.

I’ve been very lucky in that my nerves are mostly positive ones that help to make my performance more exciting and narrow my focus on stage. The only times I’ve had the bad kind of nerves is when I’ve felt underprepared, and so I would caution everyone, especially if they have to memorise their works, to know their music well enough that they can pick it up at a number of different points throughout the piece. Practising in a way that really reinforces forms of memory other than muscle memory is very important. Try practising a piece starting at a different point each time, and really get to know where you are structurally in the piece, such as what key you are in and where it modulates to next. Get to know your fingerings and inner voicings, and for pianists, practise the hands separately to the point of being able to completely memorise just the left hand, or try playing only the inner notes of chordal passages to strengthen your deep knowing of the piece. For a contrapuntal work, try singing one part whilst playing all the others. All of these tricks really help to secure a performance to the point where nerves are not going to cause debilitating worry on stage.

I think the more I’ve performed the more I’ve realised that the audience are there to enjoy the music, and they are not there to criticise me at every turn. There might be a couple of people in your average audience who go to concerts wanting to pick everything apart, but the vast majority are appreciative and understanding. People really want the performance to go well for you. And those listening who are performers/teachers/examiners, they have all been on stage themselves and know only too well the pressure of performing. They will also be hoping and wishing that it goes well for you.

Finally, if you could go back to the start of your performance career and give yourself one piece of advice about the industry, what would you say?

Repertoire! Learn lots of repertoire and learn it thoroughly, because later on you will have less time to learn new things. Look after your body. Learn languages (do as I say and not as I do when it comes to this one!).

Jayson Gilham’s new recording with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Benjamin Northey is now available to purchase and download here.

Published with the kind permission of Rehearsal Magazine. 

Read the original article here

To learn more about Jayson Gillham please click here

Chloe Keneally wins prize at the English National Ballet School

We are delighted to report that Chloe Keneally; Tait Awardee, recipient of a Leanne Benjamin Award; has successfully completed year one at the English National Ballet School.

She appears to be flying through her studies having been awarded the First Year Female Student Progression Award/Most Progressed.  Well done to Chloe and we look forward to hearing more about your progression into Second Year.

To learn more about the Leanne Benjamin Awards please go to our website here (Photos: Victor Gonzalez)

Chloe Keneally, Biography

Australian ballerina, Chloe Jane Keneally completed her first year at the English National Ballet School and is about to start her second in September.

With the English National Ballet School, Chloe is currently studying around 50 hours per week and is working towards a Diploma in Professional Dance at Level 5. She has had many performance opportunities such as being chosen to dance for the Slaughter and May performance, perform her own choreography solo in the Christmas Show and perform in the finals of the Choreography Competition. Prior to this she trained at the Debra Whitten School of Dance completing her RAD Advanced 2 exam achieving 96%, Advanced Foundation 98% and Advanced 1 95%.

In April 2016, Chloe competed in the 2016 Youth America Grand Prix finals in New York and was offered a scholarship to The New Zealand School of Dance.

Some recent achievements include:

  • In 2015 Chloe was selected to participate in the Royal Ballet (Upper School) Summer School in London.
  • Participated in the City of Sydney Eisteddfod and was a Finalist in the Robert and Elizabeth Albert Scholarship (top 8%) and then placed 2nd (out of 80) for the 15 years’ classical section.
  • Received the encouragement award for the 2015 RAD Jacqueline Morland Awards and was awarded the most outstanding classical dancer of Brisbane Eisteddfod
  • Was part of the Australian Ballet School Interstate training program from level 1 through to “Invitee”, and also continued to train weekly with the Queensland Ballet Junior training program (since 2012).
  • Danced the lead role of the Sugarplum fairy in 2015 in my ballet school end of year concert, dancing the challenging Grand Pas de Deux and variation with a professional male ballet dancer as guest artist.

4

 

 

Stuart Skelton sings Wagner | Concert now on sale

The Tait Memorial Trust is to present renowned Australian tenor Stuart Skelton, at a gala concert to celebrate our 25th Anniversary at St Paul’s Church Knightsbridge, on Wednesday the 13th September at 7pm.

“Stuart Skelton’s Tristan is the finest account of Wagner’s most extreme and taxing operatic character…that I’ve ever seen or heard on a stage.”  David Nice, The Arts Desk, June 2016

Stuart is arguably the world’s leading Wagnerian Heldentenor; he is critically acclaimed for outstanding musicianship, tonal beauty and for his intensely dramatic portrayals. As Tristan, he recently opened the 2017/18 season at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and will make his long-awaited Royal Opera House debut singing Siegmund in Die Walküre in 2018.

To book click here

He will shortly appear in this year’s BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall singing Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio. Accompanied by pianist Richard Peirson, Stuart will be joined by some of the Tait’s talented past and present awardees, Catherine Carby who is singing in the Royal Opera’s Ring Cycle next year, Deborah Humble who most recently recorded Erda for Naxos with Hong Kong Philharmonic, Katrina Sheppeard who last year sang Norma for English National Opera, Jayson Gillham who’s CD of Chopin, Bach and Schubert went to number 1 in Australia, and Liane Keegan, our first awardee, will return to London after a triumphant season in Melbourne’s recent Ring Cycle.

All are appearing to help raise funds for the Tait Trust’s work of providing scholarships for young performing artists from Australia and New Zealand studying in the UK.  The evening will be introduced by Richard Wagner’s great-great grandson, Antoine Wagner.

Jayson Gillham | New Album Release ABC Classics

New Release
ABC Classics – Pre-order now
Medtner Piano Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

Jayson Gillham CD cover artwork

We are very excited to announce that Jayson Gillham’s latest disc with ABC Classics is now available to pre-order, and will be released on 7th July!  It features concertos by two Russian friends Rachmaninoff and Medtner.

Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 is one of the most beloved works in the repertoire, which Jayson has paired with the much less-known but equally stunning Concerto No. 1 by Medtner.

To order your copy now click this link:
ABC Shop – Jayson Gillham

Other places to hear and buy Jayson’s recordings:
iTunes | Spotify | Amazon

Upcoming Concerts

View full details here

Australian Festival of Chamber Music
2-5 August 2017
Townsville, QLD, Australia

West Australian Symphony Orchestra
18-19 August 2017
Perth, WA, Australia

St Mary’s Perivale
10 September 2017
London, UK

25 years of the Tait Memorial Trust – Wagner Spectacular featuring Stuart Skelton
13 September 2017
London, UK

Dorstone House
1 October 2017
Herefordshire, UK

Bloomsbury Festival – Conway Hall
21 October 2017
London, UK

 

View full details here

Connor D’Netto | Tait Scholar 2017

We are delighted to confirm that Connor D’Netto is to be our 3rd Tait Scholar at the Royal College of Music, a generous award sponsored by the Julian Baring family. We wish him all the very best and look forward to working with him as he aspires to reach the very top of the musical world.

Being awarded the title of the Tait Scholar means so much to me. It’s incredibly encouraging to have this support as I take this next big step in my career, moving to London and beginning to really establish myself in the International music scene. Studying at the Royal College of Music is an important part of this, and it mightn’t have been possible without the generous support of the Tait Memorial Trust.

Connor D’Netto | June 2017

I have been selected as a fellow of the prolific American new-music ensemble Bang On A Can. As part of my fellowship, I have been invited to take part in an intensive three-week residence as part of their Summer Music Festival, held this July at MASS MoCA, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts. My new work summer / summer, a concerto of sorts for saxophone, two voices, and chamber orchestra, will be premiered by the ensemble
as a feature in the Festival.

I am the artistic director and co-founder of Argo, a contemporary classical music concert series based in Brisbane, Australian. Argo has four concerts left in 2017, collaborating with the likes of Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, the Viney-Grinberg Piano Duo (Liam Viney and Anna Grinberg), soprano Merlyn Quaife, violinist Monica Curro, pianist Stefan Cassomenos, Opera Queensland, the Queensland Music Festival and the Queensland
Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, and presenting four newly commissioned works by young local composers, including new work by me, as well as multiple Australian premieres.

Media:
• Website: www.connordnetto.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/connordnetto @connordnetto
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/connordnetto @connordnetto
• Instagram:  www.instagram.com/connordnetto @connordnetto

Videos & Recordings of interest:
o Recording: String Quartet No. 2 in E minor, winner of the Australian New Works Award 2015:
https://soundcloud.com/connordnetto/string-quartet-no-2-in-e-minor-live-micmc-2015


o Video: Texture No. 1 for Orchestra: https://youtu.be/vhVNFbRorRE

Biography:
Connor D’Netto (b. 1994) is a Brisbane based composer of contemporary classical music, described as “the model contemporary Australian composer” by ABC Classic FM. Throughout his works, Connor balances the quasi-neoclassical with post-minimal influences, combining
them with contemporary performance practices, unique one-off concerts and performances, and the delicate incorporation of electronic music elements and production techniques. His music combines driving post-minimal rhythmic elements with heartfelt lyrical expression drawn from his extensive performance experience as a classically trained bass baritone, contrasted with textural devices that push the expectations of an instrument’s capabilities without confronting the audience. Connor’s music has been commissioned and performed across Australia and abroad, including commissions from ensembles such the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland’s Camerata and new music specialists PLEXUS, and performers such as Katie Noonan, Karin Schaupp and Claire Edwards.

In 2017, Connor has been selected as a fellow of Bang On A Can. As part, his music will be featured at Bang On A Can’s Summer Music Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts (MASS MoCA) in July, and will travel to the USA to take part in a three-week residency with the ensemble. In 2015, Connor was named winner of Chamber Music Australia’s Australian New Works Award. His winning work, String Quartet No. 2 in E minor, became the set work for the 7th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and received premieres by three internationally chosen finalist ensembles at the Melbourne Recital Centre. He has also been awarded a Brisbane Arts and Cultural Innovation Award 2017 for his contribution to the Arts, the Percy Brier Memorial Composition Prize 2016 for his Texture No. 1 for Orchestra, and the Donald Tugby Musicology Prize and Scholarship 2015 by the University of Queensland for exceptional contribution to the field of music research.

Connor is the artistic director, producer, and co-founder of the successful contemporary classical music concert series and collective Argo. Founded in 2015, Argo creates immersive art music experiences bending the boundaries of genre and artform, combining contemporary classical music with electronic music, live-visuals, and fostering creative collaborations between artists of various mediums. Its focus is on creating experiential and concept driven events that fuse classical instruments and ensembles with contemporary influences and new
modes of musical expression.

To find out more about Argo, head to www.argosound.com.

As a performer, Connor is a trained classical bass, having previously studied with Shaun Brown. Connor is also a talented photographer, videographer and visual-artist, creating and shooting not only material for his music, but also for a number of other local artists and musicians. Currently Connor is working on his PhD through the University of Queensland, having completed a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the University of Queensland, graduating with First-Class Honours in 2016. In September, Connor moves to London, where (while continuing his PhD) he will study his Masters of Music at the Royal College of Music.

More about Connor and his work can be found at www.connordnetto.com.

Tait Music Awards 2017

The Tait Memorial Trust is pleased to be assisting these fine young Australian artists in 2017.

The Tait Adopt a Performer scheme
The adopt a performer scheme allows a donor to directly support a young performing artist from Australia or New Zealand (as of May 2017) annually for a three-year commitment. Please click here to learn how to actively involve yourself in the career development of a young performer.

The greatest return, however, would be to see your awardee fulfill their true potential and, as they graduate to a professional career, the pleasure of knowing that you played an important part in making this possible.

Royal College of Music
Tait Scholar
Supported by the Julian Baring family
The Royal College of Music
Connor D’Netto, Composer | Bass Baritone | Photographer | Artist
To learn more about Connor please click here

Connor D’Netto, Tait Scholar 2017

Royal Northern College of Music
Higgins Scholar
Supported by the Higgins family
Waynne Kwon, Cello
To learn more about Waynne please click here

Waynne Kwon, cello, Higgins Family scholar
Waynne Kwon, Higgins Scholar

Andrew Loewenthal Award
Adopt a Performer award to support studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Madeleine Randall, Oboe

The Leanne Benjamin Awards 

selected by Leanne Benjamin AM OBE.

Financial assistance and support for young Australian & New Zealand dancers studying at major UK ballet schools.

tba – Judging ongoing

Partner Award Funding

Royal Over-Seas League Tait Prize
Australian musician showing the most promise
Justin Sun, Bassoon

Justin Sun, Bassoon

John Frost, Frank and Viola Tait Award
Australian International Opera Awards winner 2017
Bronte Zemlic, Mezzo-Soprano
To learn more about Bronte please click here

Bronte Zemlic, mezzo-soprano

Bel Canto Awards
Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation
A Concert platform for a young Australian/New Zealand singer
tba

Tait & Sir Charles Mackerras Chair
A Chair in the Southbank Sinfonia for the duration of the annual programme. This award is made possible due to a generous gift from the Estate of Lady Mackerras and a contribution from the Tait Trust to fund the Chair for at least the next 10 years.
Bernadette Morrison, Cello

John Amis Award
Dartington International Summer School
For a 1 week course of intensive study for an Australian musician
tba

Extraordinary Awards

Louise Worthington Award
Award from Tait Friend, Louise Worthington to support the studies of a young Australian singer
Ashlyn Tymms, Mezzo-Soprano

Tait General Awards

Award funded by Nicholas Heesom
To assist with continued private study
Andrey Lebedev, Guitar

 

Tait Memorial Trust Award
To assist with studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Samantha Clarke, Soprano

Samantha Clarke, Soprano

Tait Memorial Trust Award
To assist with continued private study
Kate Amos, Soprano
To learn more about Kate please click here

Kate Amos, Soprano

Tait Memorial Trust Award
To assist with continued private study
Jade Moffat, Mezzo-Soprano
To learn more about Jade please click here

Jade Moffat, Mezzo Soprano

Julian Baring Award
Supported by the Julian Baring family
To assist with continued private study
Samantha Crawford, Soprano
To learn more about Samantha please click here

 

Tait Memorial Trust Award
To assist with studies at the Royal Academy of Music
Wilbur Whitta, Jazz Piano
To learn more about Wilbur please click here

Wilbur Whitta, Jazz Piano

Tait Memorial Trust Award
To assist with studies at the Royal College of Music
Iona Allan, Violin
To learn more about Iona please click here

Iona Allan, Violin

Tait Memorial Trust Award
To assist with studies at the Royal Academy of Music
Courtenay Cleary, Violin
To learn more about Courtenay please click here

 

 

Samantha Crawford, soprano | 2017 Julian Baring Award

We are delighted to confirm that Samantha Crawford has been awarded the 2017 Julian Baring Award. The Julian Baring award winner is selected personally by our Chairman, Isla Baring OAM, it is one of the Trust’s most prestigious awards. This summer Samantha will debut at the Bayreuther Festspiele in concert and perform Agathe DER FREISCHÜTZ for Blackheath Opera.

This year we are thrilled to announce that awards to the value of £47,100 are to be offered to young performing artists from Australia and New Zealand. This is an increase of 22% compared to last year’s awards, awards growth has been an outstanding 362% in the past 5 years. We will be announcing our other music award recipients in the coming weeks. This growth is due to the incredibly generous support of our Friends and our Principal Partner, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Thank you!

Samantha Crawford

Samantha graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Opera Course, where she studied with Yvonne Kenny AM as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar. Samantha is the winner of the Golden Medal with Honours at the 2017 inaugural Berliner International Music Competition, First Prize and President’s Prize at the 2016 Wagner Society Singing Competition and Royal Philharmonic Society Chilcott Award finalist.

Equally at home on stage singing in opera or concert, Samantha has performed at Glyndebourne, Edinburgh Festival, Scottish Opera, Aldeburgh Festival, Garsington Opera,
Opera Holland Park, Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Wales Millennium Centre and Schlosstheater
Schönbrunn. She received critical acclaim for her recent performances of Rosalinde DIE
FLEDERMAUS, Contessa LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Donna Elvira DON GIOVANNI, Micaela
CARMEN, Erste Dame DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and Mrs. Coyle OWEN WINGRAVE. Her
performances have been broadcast on live cinema relay in Europe, on television and radio for the BBC and filmed for DVD (Sony).

Recent engagements include Samantha’s debut at Teatro Real Madrid as a Blumenmädchen PARSIFAL under Semyon Bychkov, debut at the Bayreuther Festspiele in concert, Agathe DER FREISCHÜTZ for Blackheath Opera, title role in SOUR ANGELICA at Théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau, Fiordiligi COSI FAN TUTTE for Scottish Opera and Miss Jessel TURN OF THE SCREW for GTO covers. In concert, Chausson’s POÈME DE L’AMOUR ET DE LA MER at Barbican Milton Court, Mozart’s REQUIEM under Martyn Brabbins, Wagner’s WESENDONCK LIEDER for City of London Festival and Strauss’ VIER LETZTE LIEDER at Blackheath Halls.

Photo credit: Jeremy Hosking

Website: www.samanthacrawford.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSDS49jfKLzjx3E0f3KIEg

Jessica Cottis to conduct the RPO at the 2017 BBC Proms

Jessica Cottis is to conduct at the 2017 BBC Proms this summer, this time with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (including a work by Sculthorpe)

More information can be found here
22nd July 2017: 2pm and 6pm
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Albert Hall
Proms 11 & 12: works by Beethoven, Copland, Elgar, Mozart, Respighi, Ravi Shankar and Peter Sculthorpe
Kathryn Lewek soprano
Jess Gillam saxophone
Jessica Cottis conductor

About This Event

Tickets on sale 9.00am Friday 12 May

Programme to include music by Beethoven, Copland, Elgar, Mozart, Respighi and Ravi Shankar

Join rollicking ringmaster Sir Henry Wood (founder-conductor of the Proms) on an exciting adventure for all the family. Together with young performers, the Ten Pieces Children’s Choir and guests, he discovers how nature, history, dreams, love, magic and lots more have inspired composers to create musical masterpieces.

There will be one interval

Jayson Gillham – to play in Acton, Sunday June 4th, 4pm – 5:15pm

Jayson Gillham, to perform at Acton Hill Church for the first time on June 4th in an all-Bach programme.

Despite composing in the era of the harpsichord and clavichord, Bach has long held fascination for many of the world’s greatest pianists, and his Well-Tempered Clavier remains one of the great show-pieces for artistry at the piano.

Jayson has prepared an exciting program for us, mixing pieces from the Well-Tempered Clavier, with some of Bach’s thrilling organ music and piano transcriptions by some of the great exponents of piano – Rachmaninoff, Cortot and Kempf.

Full Program

Suite from Violin Partita in E major BWV 1006
(trans. Rachmaninoff)
Prelude
Gavotte
Gigue

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor BWV 873
(Well-Tempered Clavier Bk II)

Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor BWV 867
(Well-Tempered Clavier Bk I)

Toccata in G major BWV 916
[Allegro]
Adagio
Allegro e presto

Siciliano from Flute Sonata in E-flat major BWV 1031
(trans. Kempff)

Toccata in C minor BWV 911
[Toccata]
Adagio
[Allegro]

Largo from Keyboard Concerto in F minor BWV 1056
(trans. Cortot)

Organ Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 543
(trans. Liszt)

Picture

 4pm-5pm. Tickets: adults £6.00, concessions £5.00, children £2.00. Tickets available at the door. Crèche facilities available.

 Jayson Gillham

Born and raised in Queensland, London-based Australian pianist Jayson Gillham is recognised as one of the finest pianists of his generation. He is internationally praised for his compelling performances and relentless elegance. Jayson’s recent performances of Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, were met with critical acclaim.

After receiving numerous prizes from some of the world’s leading piano competitions, it was Jayson’s win at the 2014 Montreal International Music Competition that brought him to international attention. Jayson’s outstanding performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 was described as being performed “with such streamlined patrician elegance that he took home the 1st Prize and a string of engagements to follow.” (Huffington Post)

Jayson now performs with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors with recent and future highlights including engagements with the Sydney Symphony / Vladimir Ashkenazy, Melbourne Symphony / Benjamin Northey, Adelaide Symphony / Jeffrey Tate, West Australia Symphony / Asher Fisch, Queensland Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Eroica Ensemble, Nashville Symphony / Asher Fisch, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana and Wuhan Philharmonic amongst others.

In recital, Jayson performs at prestigious venues across the globe including the Wigmore Hall, Louvre Auditorium, Saffron Hall, Royal Nottingham Concert Hall, City Recital Hall Sydney, Melbourne Recital Centre and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre amongst others. Chamber music forms an important part of Jayson’s career with highlights including performances with the Jerusalem, Carducci, Tinalley, Brentano, Ruysdael and Flinders string quartets.

Jayson records exclusively for ABC Classics and the recent release of his debut recital album (Oct 2016) featuring works by Bach, Schubert and Chopin immediately reached the No.1 spot in both the Core Classical and Classical Crossover ARIA charts. In 2017 Jayson will record works by Medtner and Rachmaninoff with the Melbourne Symphony, and, will also feature in a documentary film about the life of Geoffrey Tozer with Jayson performing Medtner Piano Concerto No.1.

Rebecca Blenkinsop wins Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award 2017

On Wednesday 10 May 2017 the  2nd Year students at the Royal Ballet School, Upper School in Covent Garden performed a selection of their choreographies for the Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award.

Nine students were shortlisted to show their choreography, collaborating with fellow dancers to direct and stage the work. Each piece was then performed to an audience, including the judging panel: Aletta Collins, Kevin O’Hare, Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon.

Tait Awardee, Rebecca Blenkinsop with Tait Chairman, Isla Baring OAM

Congratulations to the 2017 winner Rebecca Blenkinsop, with her piece Fajjar. She started dancing at the age of 11 and was accepted into the Victorian College of Arts Secondary School in Melbourne. Now in her third year at The Royal Ballet School we look forward to watching this talented young dancer’s career blossom over the coming years. Rebecca’s award has been kindly donated by John Frost AM as part of The Leanne Benjamin Awards.

Please contact us james@taitmemorialtrust.org if you would like to support a young Australian or New Zealand dancer.

The Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award, generously supported by Peter Wilson, was created in 1973 to encourage choreographic talent. Winners have included Adam Cooper, Matthew Hart, Michael Clark, Jonathan Burrows, William Tuckett, Christopher Hampson, Christopher Wheeldon, Cathy Marston and Liam Scarlett, all of whom have gone on to have careers as choreographers.

It is an annual opportunity for students to create their own choreography. Each student is given two formal showings with feedback from guest choreographers, and regular discussions and meeting points to reflect on the students’ progress.

For the choreographers and their contributing dancers, this learning and development process has been a rich and rewarding time. These are the first or second pieces made by these choreographers and the award performance is followed by a feedback session with one of the judges.

The school is extremely grateful to receive funding for the creative and improvisation workshops. These stimulate ideas and encourage creative development in the choreographers and their dancers. It also enables music advice, guest choreographic feedback and collaboration with professionals on design, to realise the choreographers’ ideas for costume and video projection. Our thanks go to The Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation and June Drew, in memory of David Drew. We are also grateful to Peter Wilson who generously sponsors the competition.

The choreographic programme runs across two years at the Upper School, offering improvisation and choreographic strategies in a range of projects. In the 1st Year, students create short sketches on a given theme, whenever possible with live music and also see performances by visiting companies. In the 2nd Year, all students are involved in the Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award.