Trio from London International Players
Lisa Peacock Presents Thursday Lunchtime Showcases
Three renowned soloists combine to perform a scintillating programme of works for this rarely heard combination.
Wigmore Hall, 24th November 13:00
ANA DE LA VEGA – DANIEL RÖHN – IRINA BOTAN
flute violin piano
Bach’s stunning Musical Offering is complimented by the greatest of flute sonatas – the Poulenc Sonata. An awaited UK premier of an arrangement of Debussy’s L’Apres-midi d’un faune is followed by fireworks by Brahms and from Bizet’s evergreen ‘Carmen’.
J.S. BachTrio Sonata in C Major BWV 1037 for flute, violin & piano
Poulenc Sonatafor flute and piano
Debussy Prélude a l’apres-midi d’un faune for flute, violin & piano (arr. Jascha Heifetz) UK premiere
Brahms Scherzo from F.A.E. Sonata
Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 17 (arr. Fritz Kreisler)
Bizet Carmen Fantasyfor flute, violin & piano (arr. Röhn) UK premier
As a proud Australian, Ana is the artistic director of the London International Players who have just had a rave review in The STRAD, and her solo career has seen her on many of Europe’s most prestigious stages!
Ana de la Vega, Biography
Few flautists of her generation have performed so extensively worldwide as soloist and chamber musician. Ana de la Vega’s recent Wigmore Hall debut was reviewed as ‘Outstanding’ (Classical Source), her Cadogan Hall London performance as ‘true artistry’ (Musical Opinion), and her Berlin Philharmonie debut as ‘first-class’.
Ana was student of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris where studied for her Premier Prix under Catherine Cantin, as well as with Philippe Pierlot and Raymond Guiot. At the age of 23 she won the position of Principal Flute with the Orquestra Sinfonica do Norte in Portugal. Since then she has held Principal Flute positions with the EPK Europa Philharmonie in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, and the Philharmonie der Nationen in Hamburg.
Ana is founder and artistic director of the London International Players, a dynamic London ensemble which brings together the finest musicians of her generation. On the wings of her dynamism they have already in their first season performed in Europes greatest halls to high regard, making headlines in the UK and abroad with their ‘explosive and ‘dazzling’ performances (World Of Classical Music, Wigmore Hall review).
With tremendous élan and vitality, de le Vega revealed her artistry…
Musical Opinion, London
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Ana de la Vega www.anadelavega.com
London +447944642991
Berlin +491724651909
We are thrilled to report that Tait Awardee, Panayiota Kalatzis, won the coveted 2016 Herald Sun Aria in Melbourne’s, Hamer Hall a few days ago. Panayiota was the 2014 recipient of the Australian International Opera Awards which gave her the funds to study at the Wales International Academy of Voice with Dennis O’Neill.
SCINTILLATING soprano Panayiota Kalatzis swept all before her last night to win the 2016 Herald Sun Aria.The 30-year-old Brisbane vocalist, trailing an elegant train, won the coveted prize in its 92nd year ahead of four other outstanding classical singers.“I never thought it would happen,’’ she said after accepting the prestigious award from Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston. “You work hard and enter competitions and then someone, ‘Yes’. Winning this changes everything.’’Kalatzis, of Greek background, captivated a 1500-strong audience at Hamer Hall with thrilling performances of Massenet and Verdi. A huge ovation greeted her win which carries $15,000 cash and a $22,500 scholarship for overseas tuition.“The plan is to go back to the UK, make some connections there, and then go to America,’’ she said. “Winning this makes all that possible.’’Jessica Harper, a 26-year-old soprano from Sydney, was runner up while the encouragement award went to Douglas Kelly, a Victorian-based tenor.Judges Richard Mills, Margaret Haggart and John Bolton-Wood praised the high standard of competition and Penny Fowler, Chairman of the Herald and Weekly Times, paid special tribute to Richard Divall — the Aria’s long serving maestro and chief adjudicator.
The Australian soprano reflects on the challenges of singing Donizetti’s tragic Anna Bolena.
While Anna Bolena is definitely on the larger end of the bel canto roles, it still requires great flexibility, as well as heft and drama where required. It is a great thrill to sing and while it is perhaps ‘heavier’ than some other bel canto roles – mostly due to the intense dramatic situation Anna finds herself in – one must remember to maintain a lilt and ease so that the voice remains flexible. There are also a number of lower notes: the bottom register is well applied by Donizetti to add drama and colour, and I absolutely love using a wide range of colours to characterise her journey. The challenges of the role lie in matching the tessitura and the weight or volume.
There are also a number of added cadenzas and high notes, so finding the balance between the elements is crucial. Anna is extremely fun to sing, as well as technically challenging – but again therein lies the fun too! Donizetti’s Anna Bolena departs from the historical details in a number of ways, done for dramatic licence. However, there is much that corresponds with the historical Anne Boleyn’s journey. In my opinion, her trial itself was a complete set-up, and the nature of it is made very clear in the opera.As for Anna’s mad scene, I would say it is less ‘mad’ than many! She begins the mad scene in a state of delusion, drifting in and out of awareness of her real situation. It begins in some respects like the Lucia di Lammermoor mad scene, in both concept – Anna is imagining a wedding – and orchestral colour. However, it soon shifts to much more dramatic colours and intense melodic shapes. It is perhaps less florid than roles like Elvira or Lucia, but is no less impressive. The role of Anna Bolena has been performed by a great number of sopranos, including Callas, Sutherland, and Netrebko. In an ideal world we would all love the dramatic intensity of La Callas, as well as the beauty of tone and flexibility of La Stupenda. Of the other major exponents of the role, I admire Beverly Sills for her recordings, which are extremely ornamented – perhaps too much? I would like to be at least as inventive where required. And though no recordings of Giuditta Pasta exist, one would hope to have a voice as strong and flexible as hers at the top, with the same depth and colour in the middle and bottom. Pasta, the original Anna, was a mezzo-like soprano, who was both the first Norma and Amina, the latter of which is substantially lighter and requires more limpid flexibility. Given the original Anna’s voice, and contemporary audience expectation for extemporised top notes, balance and care must be taken in order to maintain ease at both ends of the registers, to give the widest range of possible colour. Knowing the repertoire of Donizetti’s Tudor Queens, it would be a joy to one day have the opportunity to sing Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux.
Elena’s performance of Mozart’s, Ch’io mi scordi di te? K 505, with Jayson Gillham and the Tait Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Kelly Lovelady, at the 2014 Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square.
Elena Xanthoudakis appears in the Australian premiere of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena for Melbourne Opera November 2, 5 and 9. Buy tickets here
Melbourne Opera stages the Australian premiere of Roberto Deveraux in 2017.
Following the sold out triumph of Maria Stuarda last year, Melbourne Opera continues the great Donizetti trilogy bringing the bel canto masterpiece Anna Bolena to The Athenaeum for the first time this November.
Starring Elena Xanthoudakis (Anne Boleyn), Sally-Anne Russell (Jane Seymour), Eddie Muliaumaseali’i (Henry VIII), Boyd Owen (Richard Percy), Dimity Shepherd (Mark Smeaton) and Phillip Calcagno (Lord Rochefort).
Australian conductor, Jessica Cottis is to conduct Chelsea Opera Groups concert performance of Borodin’s masterpiece, ‘Prince Igor’ at London’s, Cadogan Hall on the 22nd of October. Famous for its soaring melodies and dances the opera is sadly rarely performed. The cast includes Australian baritone, Joshua Bloom.
Saturday 22nd October 2016
at 6.30pm
Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin (1834-1887)
Concert performance sung in English.
Jessica is to conduct our Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square on Wednesday 30th November.
Opera in 4 acts* by Alexander Borodin (1833 – 1887)
Libretto adapted by the composer from the Ancient Russian epic The Lay of Igor’s Host., which recounts the campaign of Rus prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Cuman (“Polovtsian”) tribes in 1185. He also incorporated material drawn from two medieval Kievan chronicles. The opera was left unfinished upon the composer’s death in 1887 and was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov.
First performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890.
* Act 3 will be omitted in this performance.
Russian opera’s most melodious epic was many years in the making. Like his colleagues in the Nationalist circle of composers known as the ‘mighty little handful’ (‘moguchaya kuchka’), Alexander Borodin had extra-musical fish to fry. His ‘other’ career, in fact, was the most distinguished of all; as Professor of Chemistry, he was responsible for a discovery still known to science as ‘the Borodin reaction’.
The reaction he won in music was to his strong sensual vein and his knack of pouring forth good tunes (as the kitsch oriental musical Kismet acknowledged in the 20th century). Like most Russians, he was fascinated by the lure of the east, and the scenes in which Prince Igor of ancient Russia is detained in the camp of the hospitable enemy, Khan Konchak of the Polovtsian tribe, are among the most dazzling and brilliantly orchestrated in music: as well as the famous dances the genius quotient in the arias and duet is extremely high, even if his colleagues Rimsky-Korsakov and the younger Alexander Glazunov had a hand in completing many of the numbers during his lifetime and piecing together the whole opera following his death.
The lyric soprano role belongs to Yaroslavna, the wife he leaves behind in his home town of Putivl – a foil to the siren song of the mezzo playing Konchak’s daughter, with whom Igor’s son Vladimir falls in love. So there are laments, celebrations, vigorous dance sequences and splendid choruses: the very essence of Russian opera.
We are delighted to introduce you to Jo Dee-Yeoh. Jo is one of our musical awardees this year, and is continuing her Masters Degree in Performance at the Royal College of Music. Jo is to play with the Tait Chamber Orchestra in our Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square on Wednesday 30th November.
A review of Jo Dee Yeoh’s performance at the 2015 Open Instrumental Finals Concert
Townsville Civic Theatre 7.30pm 28 July 2015
Review by Katy Frewen-Lord, Townsville
The Open Instrumental Finals Concert gave Townsville a chance to hear some of Australia’s finest up-and-coming musicians. Adjudicator Carl Pini had his work cut out for him, given that the standard of this year’s entrants were very high.
Hailing from Melbourne, Cellist Jo Dee Yeoh opened the night with Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor. Immediately, Yeoh proved herself to have complete control over the character and strength of her sound. The second movement provided an opportunity for Yeoh to bewitch the audience with her beautiful, lush low notes and song like phrasing. The third and final movement erased any doubt that the audience could possibly have about Yeoh’s technical prowess, as her fingers flew across all four strings with precision and vigour.
To read more about the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition please click here
adj.
1. Dazed or distracted with romantic sentiment.
2. Mentally deranged; crazy.
Tickets: £6
Vivien Conacher
Vivien Conacher is an operatic mezzo-soprano from Sydney, Australia. She now holds a Tier 1 UK Exceptional Talent Visa and currently based in London where she studies under the tutelage of Yvonne Kenny. Vivien trained at the Royal College of Music, where she achieved a Distinction in her Masters degree in Vocal Performance. She then completed the Opera Works training scheme at English National Opera. Vivien is also an alumna of the Oxford Lieder Festival Mastercourse with Roger Vignoles and has participated twice in the prestigious Britten Pears Young Artist Programme.
Vivien has performed for Opera Australia, Grange Park Opera, the BBC Proms, Wexford Festival Opera, Iford Arts Festival, British Youth Opera, and Bloomsbury Opera. On the concert platform in Sydney, she has appeared as a soloist for Pacific Opera, Opera & Arts Support Group, and The Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation. In the UK, Vivien has performed in concert at the historical St-Martin-in-the-Fields, the Foundling Museum, and her new solo show entitled ‘Moonstricken’ will be performed at this year’s Bloomsbury Festival on 20 October. Vivien wishes to express her sincere gratitude to the Tait Memorial Trust for their support of her continued study and training.
Les Chemins de l’amour by Poulenc
Vivien Conacher (mezzo soprano) & Simon Kenway (piano)
copyright Puresonics Media for Pacific Opera.
We are delighted to share the news that Tait Awardee, Benjamin Mellefont is to play Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto on Thursday 13 October 2016 7:30pm & Friday 14 October 2016 7:30pm at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with the ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA.
Benjamin was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in October 2015. He has also performed as Guest Principal of the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English National Opera, London Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Sinfonia Cymru, as well as performing with the London Sinfonietta. He has played at the Salzburg, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh Festivals.
Tait Winter Prom 2016
Benjamin joins us at the Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square, 30th November, to play Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with the Tait Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jessica Cottis.
“Post-concert Question Time (Thursday 13 October) – starts 15 minutes after the concert in the Music Room. Join conductor Nicholas Collon and Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont, in the Music Room after the concert.
Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony isn’t just a matter of life and death – it’s more important than that. Written as an answer to Stalin at a time when one wrong note would have landed Shostakovich in the Gulag, it’s one of 20th-century music’s true epics, told in music of raw feeling.
It’ll make a powerful Liverpool debut for one of the UK’s most talked-about young conductors – and a striking contrast to Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Concerto, played by our own Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont. Berlioz’s comedy overture kicks things off with a wink.”
Form the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s website
To learn more about Benjamin please go to his website
We are delighted to announce The Tait Memorial Trust, ‘John Amis Award’ at the Dartington International Summer School. The Award, valued at £1,700, will fund the studies of a young Australian for two weeks intensive work at next year’s School. This will be an annual award available to an Australian citizen who wishes to further their musical studies in the UK. Please apply directly to Dartington to register your interest.
Melbourne born Tenor Matthew Thomson was the John Amis Award’s first recipient at the 2016 Dartington International Summer School and Festival. Speaking of Matthew as the first recipient of the award, Isla Baring says,
“John loved singing, he loved Australia, and he loved Dartington – these three elements have come together perfectly in Matthew receiving the first of these annual awards in celebration of John’s legacy at Dartington.”
John Amis
Writer, broadcaster, narrator, mimic, wit, raconteur, visionary, bon vivant, and an excellent organizer, John Amis’ life was a remarkable one, through which music, and the joy of it, ran as a rich golden vein.
When John Amis died in 2014, Isla Baring, the “Indian Summer” of his life, and Chair of the Tait Memorial Trust, of which John too had been an active patron, invited gifts from those who loved and appreciated him to create a ‘John Amis Award.
In celebration of John Amis’ defining role in its history, The Dartington International Summer School and Festival, and the Tait Memorial Trust have now joined to offer this award to an Australian Student applying to attend the Summer School each year.
John’s role in the Summer School goes back to 1948, when as William Glock’s right hand man, he helped set up the Summer School at Bryanston, a relationship that continued when the Summer School moved to Dartington in 1951, where John was closely involved in both its artistic direction and administration. Through the close friendships John built with notable musicians, composers, and conductors, he ensured that many of them featured at Dartington, where he worked to develop the special musical atmosphere that pervades to this day. (John was also in charge of the “trogs”; the unpaid volunteers who keep the show on the road – christened “troglodytes” by George Malcolm one summer.)
Matthew Thomson, Tenor
Matthew specialises in Baroque to Classical solo and chamber repertoire, this year bringing the characters of ‘Pyramus’ and ‘Sailor’ to colourful dramatic and vocal life at Dartington in Richard Williams’ quirky, demanding ‘back to back’ productions of ‘Pyramus & Thisbe’ and ‘Dido and Aeneas’, and excelling in his solo performances in the Monteverdi Vespers and Handel’s ‘Alexander’s Feast’.
Matthew says of his experience on the Advanced Opera Course at this year’s Dartington International Summer School and Festival
“These two weeks at Dartington provided one of the most intensive and rewarding learning and performance experiences of my career. I am thrilled too to be the first recipient of this award.”
Matthew’s course diary
“Week 1: Emma Kirkby was amazing to work with and learn from – as well as having the opportunity to have a lesson with Jessica Cash who was fantastic!! Having so many baroque and early music instruments there and working with all the lutenists really made the experience special. Also, I think it is important to give students the opportunity to sing some solos in the major concert alongside some of the more established professionals as I did in the Monteverdi Vespers with Stile Antico. Emma said some things that really assisted me regarding vowels and how I come on to notes when I sing. This will definitely change the way I approach songs in the future. Also, I feel like Jessica Cash helped me to overcome a mental block that I have been experiencing for years regarding listening to my sound and not singing freely – a bit of a revelation really!
Week 2: It is hard to pick a highlight of this week when it was opera for every session, but I have to say, I enjoyed it so much! Working with Maggie Faultless was probably the most valuable experience for me. Also, a shout out to the staff, particularly Georgie who was very helpful and understanding. Also – I loved the music shop. So many wonderful scores and so much money I probably shouldn’t have spent but did!! I have never really considered myself as someone who was good at performing staged opera – it isn’t something I have had confidence in. Performing in Pyramus and Thisbe, the comic opera, threw me in the deep end. I had to perform lines, a death scene, learn stage movements, memorise a tonne of music and on top of all of that, it had to be funny. A massive challenge that I really feel like I rose to. My confidence in this area has increased significantly to a point where opera is something I am seriously considering pursuing further.”
Artists seeking to apply for the award should please apply to the Tait Memorial Trust info@taitmemorialtrust.org
To learn more about the Dartington International Summer School click here
To learn more about Matthew Thomson please click here
AUSTRALIA PIANO QUARTET
(Rebecca Chan, violin; Daniel de Borah, piano; Thomas Rann, cello; James Wannan, viola)
Thursday 15 September 2016 at 1:00PM
Programme:
MOZART: Piano Quartet in E flat K.452 (after Quintet for piano & winds)
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60
‘Intellectually and musically vigorous’ – Sydney Morning Herald
‘Chamber playing of the highest order’ – Limelight Magazine
The Australia Piano Quartet, Ensemble in Residence at the University of Technology Sydney, performs concert series at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre, as well as international tours throughout Europe and Asia. Following their London debut in 2015, the APQ returns to the UK, China, France and Italy in 2016.
In addition to the canonical masterpieces, the ensemble is committed to unearthing neglected works. They have commissioned piano quartets from Australian composers, including Elliott Gyger, Elena Kats-Chernin, Paul Dean and William Barton and have been broadcast on Foxtel Arts, ABC Classic FM and BBC Radio 3. In 2017, the ensemble will release their first disc, Mozart’s complete works for piano quartet.
2015 is a pretty special year for me. It’s the first year I’ve spent experiencing the 30’s, the first time my cello was swabbed and searched instead of me in an airport, and it’s the first time I’ve performed a concerto without a conductor – and with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to boot.
Speaking of, I must mention that all of these fantastic experiences happened during the month of May as a result of winning the inaugural Australian Cello Awards Grand Prize in 2014 (ACA Website, next competition in 2017). That was a highlight not soon forgotten in itself and I’m sure I’ll be hearing even greater things from CEO Roland Gridiger and his team at MOST. But as I was trying to say, my excitement grew endlessly (so too did practice) as my debut with the Sydney Symphony drew nearer.
On the way to my first rehearsal, I was nervous about what to expect. There have been times in the past where the concerts haven’t lived up to expectations owing to insufficient rehearsal time or difficulties in communication. When I arrived I was greeted by the Concertmaster Andrew Haveron before meeting the Orchestra for some one-on-one time with the Bach Concerto; this is when general & interpretational decisions are brought up so there are fewer surprises during rehearsal. It was clear from the start Andrew was confident and accommodating – vital qualities for a good musician, and a good human being.
A Concerto without a conductor is a trust building exercise, and it’s easy to lose your nerve or get too excited. There’s bound to be more communication between the musicians, leading to more ideas being aired, but you also better know the score intimately! Not only will there be questions from the orchestra, knowing how the 1st violins bow a particular sequence of quavers or how the cellos phrase another section makes all the difference in rehearsals and performances, all the while giving a brilliant unique interpretation of the work.
It’s not difficult when you play with a wonderful orchestra, to get carried away in the passion of a running passage and/or to indulge the slow movement so much everyone else thinks it’s like watching paint dry; it’s happened many times during my earlier years and I’m embarrassed to say that wasn’t too long ago, which is why I advocate discipline and self-control! Having said that, it doesn’t mean I’m to be lifeless on stage when not playing anything either. Here’s me and the SSO taking a couple of minutes off after the rehearsals to shred the piece we just spent hours rehearsing. (It’s definitely the SSO’s good nature that I’m allowed to get away with this…but what can I say? Music’s got to be enjoyed by the ones playing and the ones listening!
About two weeks prior the SSO’s website had listed the concert as SOLD OUT which meant the only chance of securing a ticket was to wait and chance it at the returns desk. As a performer the adoration of your audience is key! Don’t believe me? Try playing for a hall half-empty (or half-full depending on your philosophical bend) and tell me you don’t wish you’d have given more love and attention to them more often; for a concert organizer that’s also a great reason not to see you again any time soon. I’m sure both the Australian Cello Awards and the Sydney Symphony have worked very hard to push this concert to the public, and if anybody else was involved, I thank you sincerely for making all of this a fantastically memorable event!
To read Yelian’s complete article please click here
Yelian He and the Tait Memorial Trust
Yelian, a former Tait Awardee, was a featured artist at the 2014 Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smiths Square. He played Sollima’s thrilling duet for two celli with fellow Tait Awardee, Adam Szabo. Conducted by Kelly Lovelady and accompanied by the strings of the Tait Chamber Orchestra it was a highlight of the evening.
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