Shakespeare in the Salon programme

Coming Tait Events Concert: Royal Overs-Seas League Princess Alexandra Hall, Over-Seas House.

London SW1A 1LR Monday 14th May at 7pm Som Howie, clarinet; Yelian He, cello Emily Sun, violin; Yasmin Rowe, piano & Chad Vindin, piano

Proudly supporting young Australian performing artists in the UK

The Australian & New Zealand Festival of Literature & Arts Kings’s College, London May 28-31

The Tait Trust Presents

Shakespeare in the Salon Roberto Abate, Lisa Bucknell, Emily Edmonds, Coady Green, Panayiota Kalatzis, Tara Minton & Christopher Smith Introduced by Ross Alley

The Story of the Kelly Gang dir. Charles Tait Saturday May 30th at 4.00pm

Principal Partner

Tait Memorial Trust 4/80 Elm Park Gardens London SW10 9PD @TaitTrust Phone +44 207 351 0561 info@taitmemorialtrust.org www.taitmemorialtrust.org Reg. Charity 1042797 Follow us :

Tait Gala Concert: Double Bill: Jayson Gillham & The Australia Piano Quartet Saturday May 30th at 7:30 pm Tait Young Performers Showcase Sunday May 31st at 1.30pm

The Leanne Benjamin Awards English National Ballet Markova House, 39 Jay Mews, London SW7 2ES Wednesday July 2nd at 7.30pm

The Tait Memorial Trust was formed in 1992 by Isla Baring OAM in memory of Sir Frank and Viola, Lady Tait and the Tait brothers who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. The Trust offers awards/grants for postgraduate study and regularly gives performance opportunities to young Australian musicians and performing artists and general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK. To ensure its continuance the Trust arranges regular fund raising events & concerts, invariably featuring the talented young winners of the various awards, and relies a great deal on financial support from the business sector, private donors and other loyal supporters.

www.taitmemorialtrust.org

Thursday 30 April 2015 7 for 7.30pm 49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7 5PN Principal Partner

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Programme Bellini

Gounod

Se Romeo l'uccise un figlio I Capuleti e I Montecchi Emily Edmonds, Mezzo Soprano Coady Green, Piano

Grainger

Verdi

Mendelssohn

The Tait Memorial Trust is pleased to be assisting these fine young Australian artists in 2014/15 Adopt a Performer Royal College of Music

Baring family/ Tait Scholar*

Wayne Kwonn, Cello

Royal Northern College of Music

Higgins Family Award*

Lisa Bucknell, Viola

Royal College of Music

Whalley/Goldie Morrison Award*

Peter Wilson, comp/ piano

Royal College of Music

Andrew Loewenthal Award*

Gerard Schneider, tenor

National Opera Studio

Royal Over-Seas League

Sam Sakker, tenor

Jette Parker Young Artist

Baring Amis Award

Joanna Norman,soprano

Royal Northern College of Music

The Googie Withers Award

Chad Vindin, accompanist

Private language lessons

Thornton Foundation

Alison Frilingos, cello

Chamber Music Masterclass

Tait Award

from Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet Lisa Bucknell, Viola Coady Green, Piano

Ádám Szabó, cello

Private lessons

Tait Award

Nicola Crowe, flute

Southbank Sinfonia

Sir Charles Mackerras Chair

Panayiota Kalatzis, soprano

Austr’n International Opera Awards Frank and Viola Tait Award

Act IV, Scene 1, Ah, la paterna mano Macbeth Roberto Abate, Tenor Coady Green, Piano

Luke Styles, composer

Private studies

Julian Baring Award

James Ioelu, baritone

TMT/Bel Canto Awards

Joan Sutherland &

Act II, Ah! lève-toi soleil! Romeo and Juliet Roberto Abate, Tenor Coady Green, Piano

Act V, Le sommeil de Juliette Tara Minton, Harp

Verdi

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Kevin Penkin, comp

Act IV, Duet Roberto Abate, Tenor Panayiota Kalatzis, Soprano

Prokofiev

Tait Awards

Op. 64 arr. for viola and piano Romeo and Juliet Excerpts. "Introduction" & "March of the Knights"

Willow, Willow

Emily Edmonds, Mezzo Soprano Tara Minton, Harp Act IV, Willow Song Otello Panayiota Kalatzis, Soprano Coady Green, Piano

Nocturne and Scherzo from Incidental Music

to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ arr. for piano duet Coady Green, Piano Christopher Smith, Piano

Berlioz

Duo-Nocturne Béatrice et Bénédict

Bernstein

Tonight West Side Story

Panayiota Kalatzis, Soprano Emily Edmonds, Mezzo Soprano Coady Green, Piano All

General awards

Richard Bonynge Foundation Josephine Frick, dancer

The Royal Ballet School

The Leanne Benjamin Awards

Awards announced and continuing Adopt a Performer awards 2015/16 Som Howie, clarinet

Continued study

Royal Over-Seas League Prize

Waynne Kwon, cello

Royal Northern College of Music

Higgins Scholar*

Peter Wilson, comp piano

Royal College of Music

Andrew Loewenthal Award*

Lisa Bucknell, viola

Royal College of Music

Whalley/Goldie Morrison Award*

Matthew Reardon, tenor

Austr’n International Opera Awards Frank and Viola Tait Award

Adopt a Performer*

The Tait Memorial Trust Chairman Isla Baring OAM Founding Patrons Dame Joan Sutherland AC OM DBE, Viola, Lady Tait AM, John McCallum AO CBE, Googie Withers AO CBE Patrons Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, John Frost AM, Julian Gavin, Patricia Countess of Harewood, Barry Humphries AO CBE, Piers Lane AO, June Mendoza AO OBE, Ermes de Zan Trustees Justin Baring, Isla Baring OAM, Shirley Barr, Anne Longden, Susie Thornton Committee Fay Curtin, Jan Gowrie-Smith, Caroline Hamilton, Ros Higgins, Wendy Kramer, Gayle McDermott, Patricia Nimmo, John Rendall, Margaret Rodgers, Ann Seddon, Jacqueline Thompson Treasurer Will Middleton Honorary Committee Member Nicola Downer AM

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Supporters

Concert Notes by Ross Alley

Supporters of the Tait Trust

BELLINI Se Romeo l'uccise un figlio I Capuleti e I Montecchi Bellini's 6th opera, I Capuleti e I Montecchi, was written for La Fenice in Venice in 1830. It was not based directly on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but on its Italian precursors. Felice Romani’s libretto, relying on earlier Renaissance sources, has no ballroom and no balcony scene, it also has no Nurse, Mercutio or Paris. Romeo is not Shakespeare's sensitive dreamer but a warrior, the military leader of the Montagues clan. In Bellini’s opera, the part of Romeo was cast as a Mezzo-Soprano – a “travesti” or trouser role – mainly for the sheer beauty of two female voices singing together.

Proudly supporting young Australian performing artists in the UK - Est. 1992

Principal Partner

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Supporters

Australian High Commission Qantas Airways Limited Thornton Foundation Braithwaite Family Foundation Australia Day Foundation Royal Over-Seas League Linbury Trust Tait Memorial Trust Committee Britain-Australia Society Australian Business Treasury Wine Estates Minter Ellison Baring Family Higgins Family Hunter Family Sir Vernon and Lady Ellis Richard Bonynge AC CBE Mrs Anne Longden Michael Whalley and Karen Goldie-Morrison Jan Gowrie-Smith Margaret Rodgers Andrew Loewenthal Chevalier Richard Gunter Lady Robertson Damian Walsh and Jacqueline Thompson Piers Lane AO The late John Amis Anonymous

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In this aria Romeo has come to plead his case to Cappelio, offering to make peace by joining their families with Romeo's marriage to Giulietta. Capellio doesn't like this idea because he believes Romeo has killed his son. Romeo sings that, if he did kill him, only fate is to blame. If he is allowed to marry Giulietta, Capellio will have another son in Romeo.

-----------GOUNOD Romeo’s Act II aria “Ah! lève-toi soleil!”

In Act II, Romeo has stealthily made his way into the Capulet garden at night and, facing Juliet’s balcony apostrophizes her as the morning sun in the famous cavatine, “Ah! lève-toi soleil!” where, under the opening phrase, the evening star, fading away, is depicted musically in chromatically descending harmonies.

Act IV Duet Gounod’s opera is notable for the series of four duets for the star-cross’d lovers and the Act IV dawn duet before Romeo leaves Verona in exile is breathtakingly beautiful beginning in rapturous close harmony as the young lovers sing of their ecstasy. Gradually, as in Shakespeare, Juliet’s artful deception of the piping of a nightingale is revealed by Romeo to be a lark leading to their sorrowful parting.

Le sommeil de Juliette Act V begins with a calm musical interlude depicting Juliet lying in peaceful slumber under the effects of Friar Laurence’s potion. For tonight’s performance, this has been transcribed for the harp which enhances Gounod’s detached, drooping phrases with magical effect.

Prokofiev (arr. for viola & piano) transcription by Borisovsky Prokofiev's now-famous ballet Romeo and Juliet had a difficult start in life. The Kirov Theatre commissioned Prokofiev to compose a ballet, but political changes resulted in cancellation of the planned production of Romeo and Juliet. He subsequently signed a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet and completed the score in mid-1935. The music was judged impossible to dance to, and a happy ending was suggested on the argument that the living can dance, the dead cannot. Still the ballet remained unstaged until a 1938 performance in Brno; meanwhile his success with two Symphonic Suites and a piano version of the ballet attracted the attention of both the Bolshoi and the Kirov companies, who finally staged the ballet in 1940 and 1946, respectively. Two excerpts. The "Introduction" &

"March of the Knights".

Elena Xanthoudakis, Soprano Tait Awardee 2008

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Concert Notes by Ross Alley With Prokofiev's approval, the gifted Moscow-born violist Vadim Borisovsky (who was later to become Professor of Viola at the Conservatory only five years after graduating) transcribed an eight-movement suite of this ballet for viola & piano.

Later, he transcribed a further five excerpts, two of which required another viola.

Considering the complexity and orchestral lushness of Prokofiev's original score, Borisovsky created a remarkable transcription.

Prokofiev's use of leitmotifs in the original ballet is cleverly portrayed here by an imaginative use of the viola's full register, harmonics, and bowing techniques.

Given the complexity and intricacy of the original score; his writing for the piano proves to be as adept as that for the viola.

VERDI Ah, la paterna mano Act IV, Scene 1 Macbeth Verdi’s opera Macbeth, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, was the first Shakespeare play that Verdi adapted for the operatic stage – Otello and Falstaff were to be his final two works. Written for the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, it was Verdi's tenth opera and first given on 14 March 1847. Macduff’s minor-major key romanza in Act IV is an outpouring of grief. Macbeth has killed Macduff's children and his wife and, immensely saddened by this news, Macduff, laments his children's death.

GRAINGER

Willow, Willow

Willow, willow, words which are familiar to us as the words sung by Desdemona in William Shakepeare’s tragedy, Othello, was first set by Grainger for voice and piano in November 1898. It was his first arrangement of a traditional tune. Four years later he sketched a version for voice, strings and guitar or harp adding a further verse with a much richer accompaniment. He finally published this version together with its voice and piano counterpart in 1912.

Tonight, the harp transcribes the piano part to enhance this lament for lost love which, with its sighing motifs, is of rare and ravishing beauty.

-----------VERDI Willow Song, Desdemona Act IV Otello Verdi’s penultimate opera, Otello, is a rare instance of one masterpiece inspired by another. Set to a libretto by Arrigo Boito, Otello was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.

Act IV begins with Desdemona preparing for bed with the assistance of Emilia.

She asks Emilia to put out the bridal gown she used on her wedding day, and says that if she dies, she wants to be buried in it. Emilia tells her not to talk about such things. Desdemona recalls how her mother's servant Barbara was abandoned by her lover, and how she used to sing the Willow Song (Piangea cantando nell’erma landa / “Singing, she wept on the lonely hearth”). Verdi’s musical setting is hauntingly beautiful and captures perfectly her distracted mental state.

Artistic Director of this concert Ross Alley, a New Zealander, is a music lecturer for Birkbeck College, University of London. He has been a frequent lecturer at the Royal Opera House giving over 70 talks on opera and ballet music. He has given numerous pre-performance talks and lectures at the E.N.O., Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Wagner Society, the Gustav Mahler Society and the London Jewish Cultural Centre .

Ross founded The Lure of Opera/Inside Opera 1991 – Present (25 years) in the function rooms of the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, London “The Lure of Opera” is a privately-run lecture series on opera currently in its 55th series. The focus for each ten-week course is usually the operatic works of one composer and takes place on a Monday evening (7.459.45pm) at the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair and is repeated on Tuesday mornings (10-30am-12.30pm). “Inside Opera” is held at the same venue on Wednesday mornings (10.30am-12.30pm) and focuses on works currently being performed in London.

In addition, Ross has given numerous guest lectures for the Cecchetti Societies of Great Britain, USA, Canada & Italy; Royal Academy of Dancing, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, the Council for Dance Education and Training, Birmingham Royal Ballet Education, London Junior Ballet, Hammond School, Elmhurst School of Dance.

Numerous lectures on music for English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, London Symphony Orchestra, the UK Wagner Society, the Gustav Mahler Society, Kenwood, NADFAS, Artstur, Newbury Spring Festival, and London Jewish Cultural Centre.

Partner Organisations Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition Opera Foundation Australia (Sydney) Australian International Opera Awards, WIAV Cardiff Mietta Song Recital Award, Melbourne Southbank Sinfonia, Sir Charles Mackerras Chair Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation, Bel Canto Award Royal CollegeTickets of Music, Taitonline Scholar available www.taitmemorialtrust.org/events Royal Northern College of Music, Higgin’s Scholar The Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School

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Biographies

Biographies Perth born Roberto Abate has performed with the West Australian Opera since 2006 when he made his debut as a member of the West Australian Opera Chorus. Principal roles he has performed include: 1st Priest (Die Zauberflöte), Harry (La Fanciulla del West), Bob Bowles (Peter Grimes), Nanki – Poo (Mikado) and Beppe (Pagliacci), as well as covering Don Jose (Carmen) and Nadir (Les Pêcheurs des Perles).

Roberto has also sung the solos in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise, & appeared as a soloist in the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Gala Concert with Sumi Jo in 2010, and Opera Gala with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa & Dennis O’Neill at the Wales Millennium Centre in 2012. As the recipient of the Australian International Opera Awards scholarship and the Frank and Viola Tait Award from the Tait Memorial Trust, he recently completed his masters in Advanced Vocal Technique with Dennis O’Neill at the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff.

Lisa Bucknell has performed around the United Kingdom with the Scottish Ensemble, Southbank Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and Birmingham Royal Ballet. She has been on trial with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and also performed in the Alan Bennett play "Untold Stories" at the National Theatre and on the West End. Lisa is very much looking forward to her upcoming performance at the Wigmore Hall later next month.

Lisa began her studies on viola winning a scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium Open Academy, and is completing a Master of Performance at the Royal College of Music under the tutelege of Simon Rowland-Jones. She has studied with Vicci Wardman, Roger Benedict, Annette Isserlis, and Caroline Henbest, and has had master classes with Maxim Rysanov, Nobuko Imai, and Jean-Eric Soucy.

She was a prizewinner at the North London Festival of Music, Kenneth Loveland and Brian Boak Outstanding Performer Awards, and a recitalist for the Tait Trust /New London Orchestra Young Performers Concert Series.

Lisa is very grateful for the support of the Richard Carne Trust, Tait Memorial Trust supported by the Whalley/ Goldie-Morrison Award, John and Heather Clemence Charitable Settlement, Simon Fletcher Charitable Trust, Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust, Denne Gilkes Charitable Trust, Lynn Trust, and Pirastro GmbH. Save the Date

The Leanne Benjamin Awards English National Ballet, Markova House 39 Jay Mews, London SW7 2ES Wednesday July 2nd at 7.30pm

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Emily Edmonds joins the Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artists Programme from the beginning of the 2015/16 Season. Emily completed a First Class Honours degree majoring in Vocal Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Operatic engagements include Kate Julian (Owen Wingrave) and roles in Through the Gates & the Australian premiere of Into the Little Hill for Sydney Chamber Opera, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) for Opera New England and Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) for Pacific Opera. Concert engagements include Sea Pictures and Third Maid (Elektra) with Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Emily was a scholar with the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust, as a recipient of the Dame Nellie Melba Scholarship and the Patrick and Vivian Gordon Award. She also completed a Young Artists Programme with Pacific Opera Company. She has an Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart grant allowing her Coady Green is widely acknowledged as a rising talent on the international concert scene and has recently been described “a virtuoso pianist with sensitivity, intelligence and charm”, with “a strong, versatile technique capable of the most delicate colouring & tonal brilliance, rising to the challenges of extreme virtuoso demands with relish” (The Advertiser, South Australia) and “accurate and exhilarating”, (Musical Opinion). He has been awarded almost all the most prestigious cultural awards that his native Australia has to offer. These included first prize in the City of Sydney National Piano Competition which is one of Australia’s most prominent piano competitions, a Winston Churchill Fellowship Award, In 2011 he was the recipient of the Sinclair and Wendy Hill Award, a Wigmore Hall recital, from the Tait Memorial Trust, London.

Since early 2006 Coady has been based in London. He regularly performs in Europe and abroad and has given critically acclaimed recitals in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, the Beijing and Shanghai Concert Halls, the Salzburg Mozarteum, He is a lecturer at Goldsmiths College, the University of London, Events Manager for the Liszt Society & co-Artistic Director of the International Liszt Society Piano Prize.

Brisbane born soprano Panayiota Kalatzis was awarded the Australian International Opera Awards Scholarship in 2014 which gave her a years tuition at the Welsh International Academy of Voice in Cardiff. She was the recipient of the Ruskin Opera Scholarship through the Dame Nellie Melba Trust in 2013. Prior to this, Panayiota completed her Masters of Music studies in Opera at Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium of Music where she also completed her Bachelor of Music & Graduate Certificate in performance.

While at the Conservatorium as a Mezzo-Soprano she performed roles in Puccini’s Il trittico, and Dorothee in Massenet’s Cendrillon . She made her soprano debut as Donna Anna in 2012.

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Biographies

Concert Notes by Ross Alley

Tara Minton is a harpist, singer and songwriter hailing from Melbourne, Australia. Tara’s music is the divine combination of folk, jazz, soulful vocals and engaging story telling. After completing her studies in classical harp and piano, contemporary voice, and acting Tara moved to London in the spring of 2011. Since moving Tara has worked extensively as a musician, performing regularly at some of London’s most exclusive clubs. Tara and her trio headlined the Camac Harp Festival in Geneva in 2012, the Melbourne Cabaret Festival in 2013 (where she performed alongside Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Olympic diving gold medalist Matthew Mitchem) and at the World Harp Congress in Sydney last year.

This year Tara and renowned New York session guitarist Tristan Mc Coppin performed as a duo at the Alchemia Jazz Club in Krakow as part of the city’s harp festival in March. Tara has also appeared on the most recent release by “Kitty, Daisy & Lewis” playing harp for their rockabilly album “The Third.” Tara released her debut UK single “Rock n’ Roll Romance” September last year and will be releasing a live album in May. She is proudly endorsed by Camac Harps France.

Christopher Wayne Smith was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, England. He has been privileged to study under the tutelage of Dr Leslie Howard, Michael Young & Richard McMahon. In July 2014 he graduated with a First Class Honours degree. During Christopher's studies he took part in and won several competitions (Beethoven prize 2012, RWCMD Jacobson prize 2013, RWCMD concerto trials 2013, and RWCMD chamber prize 2014).

Christopher has had the opportunity to perform internationally as a solo and chamber artist, with recent performances in notable venues such as Steinway Hall, and the Purcell Room. Away from the piano, Christopher is a board director for the Liszt Society. He is also the joint Artistic Director and jury member for the annual Liszt Society International Piano Competition. He has an internationally celebrated duo with pianist Coady Green. The two pianists will shortly be embarking on a tour of India, with a special concert in the Ladahk to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Scriabin's death by realising the composer's dream of producing a festival of his music performed in the Himalayas.

TMT Friends £75 Tait Amis Supporter £250+ Tait Frank & Viola Supporter £500+ ADOPT A PERFORMER annually for a three year commitment Tait Helpmann Circle £1,000 p/a Tait Bonynge Partner £3,000 p/a Tait Sutherland Benefactor £5,000 p/a Tait Grainger Paton £10,000 p/a

Tait Friends Become a Friend of the Tait Memorial Trust with an annual minimum subscription of £75.

Join us in our work to assist the young Australians who come to the UK to pursue their dreams and help us to help them. info@taitmemorialtrust.org

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MENDELSSOHN

Nocturne and Scherzo Incidental Music A Midsummer Night’s Dream, arr for piano duet At two separate times, Felix Mendelssohn composed music for William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. First in 1826, near the start of his career, he wrote a concert overture (Op. 21). Later, in 1842, only a few years before his death, and at the request of King Frederick of Prussia, he wrote incidental music (Op. 61) for a production of the play, into which he incorporated the existing Overture.

The glorious Nocturne provides an entr’acte between Acts III & IV which skillfully evokes the enchanted slumbers of Shakespeare's main characters in the forest, while the impish Scherzo depicting the roguish Puck acts as an intermezzo between Acts I and II. BERLIOZ Duo-Nocturne Béatrice et Bénédict Hector Berlioz was one of those rare composers who wrote both the music and libretto of his operatic works. Béatrice et Bénédict, an opéra comique in two acts and first performed at Baden-Baden in 1862, is based closely on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

The first act ends with a nocturne for Héro and her lady-in-waiting Ursule, a slow duet in 6/8, in which they sing together about the night itself, and how the romantic atmosphere is perfect for the night of Héro's impending nuptials to Claudio. The distinguished Australian poet and writer W J Turner (18891946) described this duet as “a marvel of indescribable lyrical beauty”.

----------BERNSTEIN “Tonight” West Side Story West Side Story with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, libretto/lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins made musical history in 1957 with its gritty relocation of Romeo and Juliet to gang warfare in the 1950s Upper West Side New York. In “Tonight”, Juliet’s balcony has become a tenement building fire-escape on which Maria and Tony profess their love for one another

Tait Gala Concert: Double Bill: Jayson Gillham & The Australia Piano Quartet Saturday May 30th at 7:30 pm

www.ausnzfestival.com

Acknowledgements This evening would not be possible without the support of the Vernon Ellis Foundation.

Tonight’s sparkling wine is courtesy of Treasury Wine Estates. Catering tonight is provided

by Prue and Simon Horn.