Leanne Benjamin AM OBE recital

Leanne Benjamin AM OBE Recital Australia House 20 November 2019

In Association with The Tait Memorial Trust

A Message from the Governor of Queensland It is a great honour to represent the people of Queensland at tonight’s historic recital in honour of Leanne Benjamin AM OBE. My wife Kaye and I are always happy to acknowledge Leanne as a proud and exceptional Queenslander. Her regional roots, in the Central Queensland city of Rockhampton, have very effectively translated on the world stage.

The breadth and depth of her ballet skill and repertoire is legendary. However we, as appreciative audiences, are just one beneficiary of her prodigious talents.

At every stage of her remarkable career, Leanne has used her passion and drive to inspire others. We see this through her contemporary association with the Tait Memorial Trust, and when she returned to Queensland earlier this year to coach admiring dancers at our State ballet company, Queensland Ballet.

I thank Ms Linda Apelt for instigating the Queensland AgentGeneral Award; Leanne is an inspired choice as its inaugural recipient. I further thank the Trust for so effectively pursuing its mission, and everyone here tonight for their support. May it be a most memorable and happy occasion.

His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC

A Message from the Queensland Agent-General Tonight’s recital recognises and celebrates a truly outstanding Queenslander, Leanne Benjamin AM OBE. At this year’s 160th Queensland Day celebrations I awarded Leanne the inaugural Queensland Agent-General Award to recognise Queenslanders who have excelled in their chosen field and significantly contributed to QueenslandUnited Kingdom relations.

Leanne’s achievements are exceptional - she reached the pinnacle of the ballet world by succeeding to the highest echelons of the Royal Ballet. This award recognises not only her outstanding personal achievements but the contribution she has made throughout her career and as a mentor, teacher, trainer and inspiration for the next generation of Queensland and international dancers and artists.

In honour of the award, I asked Leanne to curate a special recital. I congratulate and thank Leanne on this beautiful program. I also wish to congratulate the performers including several notable Queenslanders who are future stars in their fields and I wish them all continued success.

Finally, I thank the Tait Memorial Trust for their kind assistance in delivering tonight’s event and I encourage you to support this brilliant organisation which helps young Australians succeed on the world’s best stages and finest institutions.

Linda Apelt

A Message from the Chair of the Tait Memorial Trust The Tait Memorial Trust was founded in 1992 and has raised more than £900,000 to help support over 300 young musicians and dancers from Australia and New Zealand.

The Leanne Benjamin Awards were created in 2014 with the support of retired Royal Ballet principal artist, Leanne Benjamin AM OBE. These awards specifically identify and recognise young Australian and New Zealand dancers who have gained entrance to study at major U.K. ballet schools.

It is so thrilling for the Tait Memorial Trust to be a part of tonight’s performance in partnership with the Office of the Queensland Agent General, in the presence of the Governor of Queensland and the Australian High Commissioner. Leanne Benjamin has curated excellent performances which include new compositions from Tait Awardee Connor D’Netto.

I personally wish to thank our Patron, Leanne Benjamin; Kevin O’Hare, Director, Royal Ballet; and Marion Tait, Acting Director, Birmingham Royal Ballet for supporting this very special event. I look forward to enjoying a very special evening of dancing and music making with you all and to showcase the extraordinary talents of Queensland artists who have studied in the United Kingdom and who are now making their careers on the world stage.

Isla Baring OAM

Programme

Timing

Welcome speeches Meditation Music Cecile Chaminade Piano Kate Shipway

2’00

Asphodel Meadows 8’00 Choreography Liam Scarlett Music Francis Poulenc Dancers Romany Pajdak, Calvin Richardson Hobson’s Choice Choreography David Bintley Music Paul Reade Dancer Lachlan Monaghan

4’00

Adoxographies no. 2 Music Connor D’Netto Piano Kate Shipway

1’45

Carmen Fantasy Op. 25 Lento Assai & Allegro Moderato Music Pablo de Sarasate Violin Courtenay Cleary

5’00

Shore on the shining night – Op. 13: No 3 Music Samuel Barber Soprano Alex Oomens

2’30

Programme

Timing

Requiem, Pie Jesu – In D minor Op. 48: No 4 Choreography Kenneth MacMillan Music Gabriel Faure Soprano Alex Oomens Dancer Romany Pajdak

4’00

The Dying Swan Choreography Calvin Richards Music Saint- Saëns Violin Courtenay Cleary Dancer Calvin Richardson

4’00

Closing Remarks Refreshments and networking

Dancers appear by kind permission of Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, and Marion Tait, Acting Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. Special thanks also to Deborah MacMillan, David Bintley, Liam Scarlett and Connor D’Netto.

Inaugural QLD Agent-General Award Recipient Leanne Benjamin AM OBE Leanne Benjamin was born in Rockhampton, Australia.

At 16 she joined The Royal Ballet School winning the Adeline Genée gold medal and the Prix de Lausanne and she performed the role of Giselle at Covent Garden in the Royal Ballet School’s annual performance.

Leanne joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in 1983, English National Ballet in 1988 and the Deutsche Oper Ballet Berlin in 1990 before joining the Royal Ballet in 1992 at Kenneth MacMillan’s invitation, where she performed as a principal dancer for 21 years.

Her wide repertory included most of the classical and neoclassical repertoire. She created new roles for choreographers including, Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon and Twyla Tharp and was one of the last dancers to work with Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan.

In 2004 and 2009, Leanne was recognised as Best Female Dancer in the Critic’s Circle Dance Awards and in 2013 she was given the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

In 2005 Leanne received an OBE in recognition of her services to dance, in 2014 an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts by Central Queensland University and in 2015 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

In 2016 Leanne was appointed a Governor of The Royal Ballet Companies.

Leanne is the Patron of the Tait Memorial Trust where an annual award is given in her name to support young Australian Dancers to train in the UK. She is now coaching pre-professional students and working with a number of international ballet companies as a coach to their principal dancers.

The musicians and dancers Connor D’Netto Composer Connor D'Netto is a composer of contemporary classical music, described as "the model contemporary Australian composer" by ABC Classic FM. Throughout his works, Connor balances driving rhythmic elements, heartfelt lyrical expression drawn from his performance experience as a classically trained bass baritone, a lushly textural approach to orchestration, and the delicate incorporation of electronic music elements. Connor’s music has been commissioned across Australia and abroad, including by ensembles such the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Goldner String Quartet, Australian String Quartet, New York based groups including Bang On A Can and the Mivos Quartet, and performers such as Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp.

In 2019, Connor was Composer-In-Residence of the 2019 Australian Festival of Chamber Music, youngest in the Festival’s history. He has also held residencies and fellowships with prolific New York new-music collective Bang On A Can in 2017 and with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2016. Connor has been awarded prizes including an APRA Art Music Fund Award 2018, Australian New Works Award 2015, a Brisbane Arts and Cultural Innovation Award 2017, the Percy Brier Memorial Composition Prize 2016, and the Donald Tugby Musicology Prize and Scholarship 2015.

Recently Connor completed his Masters of Music at the Royal College of Music in London He is a Tait Trust Scholar at the Royal College of Music, and his studies are further supported by the Australian Music Foundation Award, the Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor’s Young and Emerging Artists Fellowship, the Tait Performing Arts Association, a Churchie Foundation Scholarship, The Julian Baring Award and by the Big Give Campaign at RCM. Connor has a Bachelor of Music (Honours), graduating with First-Class Honours in 2016 from the University of Queensland Kate Shipway Pianist English pianist Kate Shipway is on the music staff of The Royal Ballet. In addition to playing in rehearsals for the Company she regularly gives solo piano performances in Royal Ballet productions.

Shipway was born and educated in south-west England. She studied piano at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Frank Wibaut and went on to become a freelance soloist and accompanist, before joining The Royal Ballet School as a rehearsal pianist in 1993. In 1998 she was invited to join the music staff at Birmingham Royal Ballet, where she worked as rehearsal, orchestral and solo pianist for seven years. She returned to The Royal Ballet in September 2005.

Shipway’s solo performances include Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, Poulenc’s Double Piano

Concerto, Concerto, A Month in the Country, Tetractys – The Art of Fugue, Sensorium, After the Rain and Les Enfants Terribles for The Royal Ballet, Diversions for The Royal Ballet School, Dance House and Brouillard for BRB, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and Consolations and Liebestraum for New Works in the Linbury, The Royal Ballet.

Courtenay Cleary Violin Courtenay is currently on scholarship at The Juilliard School in New York where she is completing her Master of Music degree with violin professor Naoko Tanaka. She recently received her Bachelor of Music degree with first-class honours from the Royal Academy of Music in London where she studied with professor Maureen Smith. In 2017 Courtenay performed as a soloist for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and other distinguished guests at Westminster Abbey for the Royal Commonwealth Service. This was broadcast live on BBC television. In 2018 Courtenay again performed for the HM the Queen at Buckingham Palace for the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. She has also performed as a soloist at prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall, St James’ Piccadilly, the Regent Hall, Colston Hall and the Lincoln Centre. She recently performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra in Sydney and will be returning to Australia in 2019 to give the

Australian premiere of David Lang’s Mystery Sonatas. She is a Tait Memorial Trust and ABRSM scholar, and was recently awarded second prize at the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition as well as the Dame Joan Sutherland Award from the American Australian Association and the Guy Parsons Award from the Portland House and Australian Music Foundations.

She is a member of the Patronus Quartet who in 2015 progressed to the semi-final of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. She has performed at many international festivals including Tallinn Music Week and the Melbourne Festival and has recently recorded a solo contemporary album in collaboration with Australian Composer, Benjamin Heim. She has performed in many masterclasses for esteemed artists including Julian Rachlin, Daniel Hope, the St Lawrence String Quartet, and the Borodin Quartet, from whom her own quartet received a letter of recommendation for the MICMC. Courtenay is a core member of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and also plays casually with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. She studied at the Australian National Academy of Music from 2012-2014 with William Hennessy. During her time at the academy she played alongside many visiting artists including the Brodsky Quartet, Brett Dean, Michael Collins, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Aurora Orchestra, Anthony Marwood, Dale Barltrop and was concertmaster of the ANAM orchestra under the direction of Simone Young, James Judd and Nicholas Carter.

In 2011 Courtenay studied under the direction of Associate Professor Patricia Pollett at the University of Queensland.

During this time, she was concertmaster of the University of Queensland Chamber and Symphony Orchestras and was finalist in the university’s Bach Prize and The Howard and Gladys Sleath Prize for Strings. She was the recipient of the Sleath String Scholarship for outstanding students and was a winner of the Sid Paige & Musica Viva/4MBS Chamber Music Prize.

Alexandra Oomens Soprano Australian soprano Alexandra Oomens is a recent graduate from the Royal Academy Opera where she studied with Lillian Watson and Jonathan Papp.

Alexandra holds an MA and a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital (Royal Academy of Music, 2017), and a BMus Hons. (Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, 2014). In 2017, she made her European debut at the Concertgebouw in the world premiere of a work commissioned for the Holland Festival. She is an alumna of the Georg Solti Academia where she worked under Maestro Alessandro Corbelli, Barbara Frittoli, and Sir Richard Bonynge. In July 2019, Alexandra sang the role of Zerlina Don Giovanni with Clonter Opera. In 2020 she makes her debut with Opera North in the role of Barbarina The Marriage of Figaro, and returns to Pinchgut Opera to sing Créuse Médée.

During her time at Royal Academy Opera, Alexandra sang Vixen Cunning Little Vixen, the title role in Semele, La Princess/La Chauve-Souris L’Enfant et les sortileges, Laurette Le

Docteur Miracle, Tina Flight, Cupidon Orphée Aux Enfers, and Damigella L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Alexandra has performed in various Royal Academy Opera Scenes: as Titania A Midsummer Nights Dream, Ännchen Der Freischütz, Despina Cosí fan tutte, Héro Beatrice et Benedict, and Corinna Il Viaggio a Reims.

Further highlights include Clizia Teseo with the London Handel Festival, Isabelle L’Amant Jaloux, Lisel The Chimney Sweep, and Alinda Giasone all with Pinchgut Opera, and Childerico Faramondo, 2nd Lady/1st Witch/Spirit Dido & Aeneas, both with Brisbane Baroque.

Alexandra has performed in various recitals, including performances of Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the Amersham Festival of Music, and the Ride Hunters Hill Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen and Coffee Cantata at the Canberra International Music Festival. She has performed as the soloist in Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Telemann’s Die Donner Ode with Pinchgut Opera, Bach’s B Minor Mass with Song Company, Vivaldi’s Gloria with Gondwana Choirs, and Bach's Christmas Oratorio (part 6) as part of the Royal Academy/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata series. She has also performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Eroica Ensemble, and the Orchestra of the Antipodes.

Calvin Richardson Dancer and choreographer Australian dancer Calvin Richardson is a Soloist of The Royal Ballet. He trained at The Royal Ballet Upper School and joined the Company in 2014 and was promoted to First Artist in 2017 and Soloist in 2018.

Richardson grew up in Traralgon and started dancing aged five. With an initial interest in tap and musical theatre, he turned to ballet aged 14 when he began to study at The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. After becoming a finalist of the 2012 Prix de Lausanne he was awarded a full scholarship to study at The Royal Ballet Upper School.

His roles since joining the Company have included Albert de Belleroche in Christopher Wheeldon’s Strapless and the Mad Hatter and Gardener in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Peter in Kenneth Macmillan’s Judas Tree, pas de six in Giselle, ‘Emeralds’ in George Balanchine’s Jewels, Evans in Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works and Chroma, and David Dawson’s The Human Seasons. He has also performed roles in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Symphonic Dances and Asphodel Meadows. He has created roles in Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern, McGregor’s Multiverse, Obsidian Tear and Yugen and Hofesh Shechter’s Untouchable.

Richardson also has a strong interest in choreography. In his graduate year at the Royal Ballet School, he was asked to create his own rendition of the famous solo piece, The Dying

Swan. It went on to be performed in the school’s annual graduate performance on the Royal Opera House Main Stage and has been performed on tour with the company at the Lincoln Centre, New York, for the Deloitte Ignite 14 in the Paul Hamlyn Hall and in various gala performances around the world. His later work includes Good People in the Erik Bruhn Prize in 2016, Intractable in the International Ballet Gala, Melbourne, various works in the Royal Ballet’s creative season, Draft Works, and a short piece created for Principal dancer, Lauren Cuthbertson.

Romany Pajdak Dancer English dancer Romany Pajdak is a Soloist of The Royal Ballet. She trained at The Royal Ballet School and graduated into the Company in 2004, promoted to First Artist in 2008, and Soloist in 2019.

Pajdak was born in London and was inspired to dance after seeing Viviana Durante dance in The Sleeping Beauty with The Royal Ballet. She joined The Royal Ballet School as a Junior Associate and graduated through the School. Awards while at the School included the 2003 Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance and silver medal at the Adeline Genée Awards. Her repertory with the Company includes Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, Fairy of the Crystal Fountain (The Sleeping Beauty), Effie (La Sylphide), Princess Louise (Mayerling), Tatiana (Anastasia), pas de six (Giselle), Emily Dimmock (Sweet Violets), Harlot and Juliet’s Friend (Romeo and Juliet) and roles in Ceremony of Innocence, Monotones I, The

Dream, Song of the Earth, Serenade, ‘Emeralds’ (Jewels) and The Firebird. She has created roles in Will Tuckett’s Timecode (Clore Studio Upstairs), Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse, Kim Brandstrup’s Rushes – Fragments of a Lost Story and Robert Binet’s Void and Fire.

Pajdak regularly appears in the Royal Opera House’s Insights and has performed many of the demonstrations in Ursula Hageli’s Insights series ‘Ballet Evolved’. Appearances away from The Royal Ballet include starring with Ruth Wilson in Eleanor, a cinematic installation for the Cob Gallery by Alex Warren and Tobias Ross-Southall with choreography by Kristen McNally, and performing in aid of such charities as Children of the Andes, Dancing for the Children and the Ashanti Trust.

Lachlan Monaghan Dancer Born in Australia, Lachlan Monaghan trained locally at The McDonald College and then at The Royal Ballet School, Covent Garden. Whilst still a student he performed with The Royal Ballet in Christopher Wheeldon’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and MacMillan’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ He joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2012 and was promoted to First Artist in 2016, then to Soloist in 2018. His repertoire includes ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ (Prince Florimund, Bluebird), ‘La Fille mal Gardée’ (Colas), ‘The Nutcracker’ (Prince), ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (Mercutio), ‘Hobson’s Choice’ (Will Mossop), ‘Coppélia’ (Franz), ‘Aladdin’, ‘Slaughter on Tenth Avenue’ (Hoofer), ‘Elite Syncopations’ (Friday Night) and Jessica Lang’s ‘Lyric Pieces,’ among others.

The Leanne Benjamin Awards The Leanne Benjamin Awards recognise the great Australian artist and Tait Patron, Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, arguably the most successful ballerina ever to have come from Australia.

To support our scholarship fund for young dancers from Australia & New Zealand studying in the U.K. email james@taitmemorialtrust.org

U.K. Reg Charity 1042797

www.taitmemorialtrust.org

The Tait Memorial Trust Trade and Investment Queensland’s Event Partner

www.taitmemorialtrust.org The Tait Memorial Trust offers awards/grants for postgraduate study, performance opportunities to young musicians and performing artists from Australia and New Zealand, and general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK.

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