entertainment – Page 3 – Tait Memorial Trust

Sabina Im, Concert Pianist – Royal College of Music, Master of Piano Performance Degree

The Tait Memorial Trust was created by Isla Baring OAM to support young emerging Australian Performing Artists who wish to study in the UK. I am listening to a recording of Sabina Im, the Tait Memorial Trust representative at the 2013 London Masterclasses where she met and worked with Norma Fisher and sat in on masterclasses with Benjamin Zander, Ralph Kirshbaum, Gyorgy Pauk and Rosalind Plowright, she is playing the Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 17 in d minor, Op. 31. No. 2. Her performance of this famous piece is beautiful with a flowing technique and expression way beyond her years. Sabina Im is exactly the type of artist the Trust wants to support. We are delighted to hear that her career is blossoming.

Sabina is currently at home in Sydney and will be returning to London in the Autumn as she has been accepted into the coveted Master of Piano Performance Degree at the Royal College of Music, which will commence in September 2013.

“Thanks to this Tait Memorial Trust I met one of the greatest piano teachers in the UK. During my studies at the Royal College, I will be taking private lessons with Norma Fisher as well as learning from Andrew Zolinsky.” Sabina Im. August 2013

Before her postgraduate studies commence in September, Sabina will be giving two recitals:

Theme & Variations Piano Services
451 Willoughby Road, Willoughby NSW 2068.

The first recital will be part of the Emerging Artist Series. Sabina will be giving a 40 minute recital on the 25th of August at 2:40pm. The program will be Schumann’s Carnaval Op.9 and Ginastera’s Danzas Argentinas, Op.2. This recital is open to the public.

The second recital Sabina will also be performing at the same location for the Theme and Variations Foundation on 1st of September. Sabina is one of four selected candidates who will be performing a 20 minute recital which is open to the public. Two successful candidates will be awarded $10 000 to support their studies.

All of us at the Tait Memorial Trust send Sabina our good wishes and we will be thinking of you and hope you win the AUD$10,000 prize. We will contact our Friends in the Tait Performing Association in Sydney and see if we can provide some welcome support.

If anyone is interested in attending these performances, please let them know! Their support will be greatly appreciated!

Biography

Sabina has recently been accepted into the Master of Piano Performance Degree at the Royal College of Music, which will commence in September 2013. In 2012, Sabina graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance Degree with honors, on a full scholarship from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. Under the tutelage of Albert Tiu, Sabina has given several solo and chamber recitals within Singapore. She has performed in masterclasses conducted by Norma Fisher, Cyprien Katsaris, Joseph Banowetz, Santiago Rodriguez, John Perry and Sara Buechner. Recently, Sabina was selected to take part in the London Masterclasses with a full scholarship provided by the Tait Memorial Trust. She has also been featured in the Artist Concert Series at the John F. Kennedy Center during the Washington International Piano Festival.

Prior to tertiary studies, Sabina commenced piano lessons with Dr. Christine Logan during her early teens. She was awarded a full music scholarship to study at St. Catherine’s School, Waverley. At the age of thirteen, Sabina gave her solo debut performance at the Sydney Opera House. Since then Sabina actively performed in notable venues such as the Metropolitan Art Space in Tokyo, Japan in 2005 and the University of New South Wales in 2006. Sabina has performed for prominent individuals such as the Korean ambassador and Sir Donald Spencer. In 2007, she was a guest performer in “Richard Tognetti with the Australian Chamber Orchestra Concert” at St. Catherine’s School Waverley. Sabina has also been invited to perform for radio broadcast stations in Sydney such as SBS Broadcast 97.7FM and 2MBS-FM 102.5FM Radio Station consecutively from 2002 till 2008. She has been successful in competitions within Sydney.

Inspired by the humble musicians such as Mitsuko Uchida and Alfred Brendal, Sabina strives to be a dedicated artist who persistently seeks a great depth in musicality. Uchida once said, “What really matters is that your love of music is stronger than your love for yourself.” Sabina aspires to search for a deep insight in music and create thought-provoking performances.

Sydney Chamber Opera, Owen Wingrave

The new production of Benjamin Britten’s television opera, Owen Wingrave is getting rave reviews from the press in Sydney.

Above a lovely article from the Sydney, Daily Telegraph and a review from Limelight here

The cast includes Tait Awardees, Morgan Pearse and Simon Lobelson. We are delighted to read the attached reviews and look forward, hopefully, to hearing a recording(?)

Morgan returns to London to sing at Wigmore Hall later this month. Bravo

OWEN WINGRAVE

Opera in two acts, Op. 85 by Benjamin Britten
Libretto by Myfanwy Piper

Australian Stage Premiere

Benjamin Britten is the most important British composer of the twentieth century, and is the greatest composer of opera in English. Based on a Henry James ghost story, Owen Wingrave is a statement of Britten’s lifelong pacifism. Composed during the Vietnam War, it is the story of a young soldier from an eminent military family whose anti-war instincts lead him to rebel against his upbringing. Desperate to keep his would-be bride and prove he isn’t a coward, he is forced to confront the ghosts of his ancestry.

The music is Britten at his refined, luminous best, with influences ranging from Gamelan to twelve-tone techniques. Imara Savage returns to Sydney Chamber Opera to direct the work’s Australian stage premiere.

Photography: Samuel Hodge

Conductor
Jack Symonds
Director
Imara Savage
Set & Costume
Katren Wood
Lighting Design
Conductor
Jack Symonds
Director
Imara Savage
Set & Costume
Katren Wood
Lighting Design
Ross Graham
With
Morgan Pearse, Georgia Bassingthwaighte, Rowena Cowley, Emily Edmonds, Paul Ferris, Pascal Herington, Simon Lobelson, Kornelia Perchy, boys’ choir, orchestra, and male movement ensemble
Date & Time
7.30pm Sat 3, Mon 5, Wed 7, Fri 9, Sat 10 August 2013
Venue
Carriageworks Bay 20, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh
Tickets
$60/$30 available here

The above details from the Sydney Chamber Opera site

Morgan Pearse site

Simon Lobelson site

Helena Dix to sing the title role in 'Cristina, regina di Svezia' at Wexford Festival Opera

Delighted to hear that Tait Memorial Trust awardee, Helena Dix is to sing the title role in Cristina, regina di Svezia at Wexford Festival Opera Performances on the 25th, 28th, 31st October and the 3rd of November 2013.

Soprano, Helena Dix to sing the tile role in Cristina, regina di Svezia at Wexford Festival Opera 2013

Helena Dix biography from her website

Having won the Wagner Society’s 2012 Bursary Competition, Helena Dix has begun to establish herself as one of the UK’s up-and-coming Wagnerian sopranos.

Australia-born Helena has had a great deal of success in competitions, most notably representing Australia in the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. Helena was also runner up in the prestigious Herald Sun Aria, a finalist in the McDonalds Aria held at the Sydney Opera House and won the Nino Sanciolo scholarship to further her studies in Italy. Helena has been successful in many competitions in London and competed in the finals of the ‘Songmakers Almanac’, the Opera Rara Bel Canto prize, Blyth Buesst Opera Prize, Clonter Opera prize and the Richard Lewis competition.

Helena’s operatic repertoire includes Flowermaiden, Parsifal for English National Opera, Rosalinde, Die Fledermaus and Hanna Glawari, The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera where she has also covered Frasquita, Carmen and Karolina in The Two Widows, Fiordiligi, Cosi fan tutte, Donna Anna, Don Giovanni and Nella, Gianni Schicchi for The Opera Project, Li-Li Greed for the Glyndebourne Young Artist Project and Musetta in La Boheme for Opera Novella. She has also covered the title role Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera. Other roles have included Felice School for Fathers, Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte, Title role Thais, Cio-Cio San, Madama Butterfly, Elvira, Ernani , Violetta, La Traviata and Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon.

Helena is in high demand on the international concert stage. She has sung with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah, receiving critical praise for her performance, and returning as soloist in several performances of Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor and Carmina Burana. Recently, she returned to Australia to sing as a guest artist at Opera in the Alps and give a series of recitals including one for The Melba Trust at The Kooyong Tennis club.

In London her concert engagements include Handel Messiah, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle Mozart Coronation Mass in C, Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Oratorio de Noel by Rheinberger, Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio, Brahms Requiem, Richard Strauss Four Last Songs, Mendelssohn Elijah, Beethoven 9th Symphony, Mozart Exsultate Jubilate, Faure Requiem, Britten War Requiem, Orff Carmina Burana, Haydn’s Creation and Verdi Requiem for which she is always in demand. Helena has performed in many of the UK’s leading venues, including The Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Cadogan Hall, Westminster Abbey, St. James Piccadilly, St John’s Smith Square, Dorchester Abbey, St.Paul’s, Ripon, Guildford and Gloucester Cathedrals. Her credits with orchestras include the RPO and she has sung under the baton of conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Simone Young, Matthew Willis, Giuseppe Finzi and Mark Wigglesworth.

Since having won the Wagner Society’s Bursary Competition, Helena has performed in the 2012 Bayreuth Stipendiatenkonzert at the Festspielhaus for members of Wagner’s family and recently sang in Karlsruhe as part of the International Wagner prize. She gave a concert of Strauss Lieder with the Music Camp Orchestra and then went on to perform Strauss’ Four Last Songs at Cadogan Hall.

Upcoming engagements include her ongoing contract with Lübeck as Elettra in Idomeneo ,the Title role in La Gioconda in Vallodiad, Erste Dame in Magic Flute at the Tobacco Factory, Verdi requiem at The Royal Albert Hall, Strauss Songs at St. John’s Smith Square and Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with Northampton Symphony.

John Amis – Critic, Broadcaster and Patron of the TMT

John Amis has lived a life surrounded by the greats of modern British music. At Dulwich College, South London he was close friends with the satirical/ witty composer, Donald Swann. In his professional life Britten, Tippett and Walton, to name a few, were his friends and contemporaries. He followed and nurtured their careers, wrote about their work, broadcast about them on BBC radio and on BBC television, the justly famous, ‘Music Now’ brought his wit and comprehensive knowledge into the nation’s living rooms.

John is now 91 and is very ill. Thankfully he is being visited by many of his old friends and colleagues, his reaction to them is lovely to witness. Isla and all of the members of the Tait Memorial Trust pray for a swift recovery and ask that you join us in asking for John’s health to be restored to him so he can continue the active life for which he is so famous.

This is a recent portrait of John Amis by the celebrated Australian artist, June Mendoza. This is the John that many of us have come to know and love. We so want him to return.

If you would like to send a personal message to John or wish to pay him a visit please use the contact form attached

A clip of John from the May 1971 BBC broadcast of ‘Music Now’. A special programme made about the premiere of the new Benjamin Britten opera made for Television and commissioned by the BBC, Owen Wingrave.

Biography

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