The past 30 years...
It really seems like yesterday when my mother asked me if I could help look after a young Australian singer from Rosebud, Victoria, called Liane Keegan. She had won the coveted Shell Covent Garden Scholarship, but had no support network in London. “Perhaps you could put on a concert for her?” my mother suggested. I had hardly ever been to Australia House except to read newspapers, but we had a connection with Australia House in Trevor Baldock, the Agent General for Victoria. He kindly agreed to give us the Downer Room for the concert, thinking we’d only get a small audience. I made a list of all the Australians I knew, and before long I’d collected a 300 strong crowd with their English partners and friends.
On 9 December 1992 we held our first concert in the substantially bigger Exhibition Hall, introduced by Derek Nimmo. Since then we have held over 170 fundraising events in various London venues, big and small, some online due to COVID, and given out £800,000+ to young performing artists from Australia and New Zealand instrumentalists, singers, and ballet dancers studying in the UK. Many events have been held in Australia House, with the staunch backing of the Australian High Commission, and the High Commissioners for which we are very grateful.
It must have been the Tait entrepreneurial heritage and spirit, but I quickly realised how much I enjoyed putting together concerts and other events! These of course have been absolutely vital to our fundraising, but also served as important performance platforms for our awardees. These have offered enjoyable and relaxing social occasions for the Australian and New Zealand communities and our Tait Friends in London.
Photos by Angus Forbes
I am most proud of the concert we shared with the Australian Music Foundation under Chairman Peter Andry for Dame Joan Sutherland’s 70th birthday Celebration in 1996. Artistically Directed by Jan Black this memorable event was very successful for both our charities. Jan and Jeffrey Black brought their artistic professionalism to the Tait Trust and continued to do so for many years.
For me personally, tonight is very special: almost 60 years after my father brought Joan and Richard to tour Australia for the first time, Richard is here with us in spirit his lovely message means a great deal to me!
A heartfelt tribute to other absent founding members of the Tait family who have brought us to where we are tonight Anne Longden, Shirley Barr, Tina McFarlane and Sally Mellor as well as our very dear Patrons, Committee and Trustees, a few who are sadly no longer with us: my husband Julian; Dickie Lowe, event decorator extraordinaire; and just this year we keenly felt the loss of committee members Jan Gowrie Smith and Janet Hotham (Hogarth Scott), as well as our most valued Trustee John Rendall, and also John Crisp, who left us a generous bequest in his will to fund awards in his name for many years to come..
After this sadness, I am so touched that my special friend Elspeth Turner Laing has helped me with tonight’s concert to mark our significant birthday. We have received further generous sponsorship from Mr Roses, Mindberry, VEC Acorn Trust, Bird in Hand and Investment NSW, with superb catering by Jane Sutherland.
Photo by Angus Forbes
Finally, I acknowledge the unfailing presence of a few Tait troupers: my artist sister Ann Seddon and photographer cousin Angus Forbes, and my three boys: two awardees from the early days, current administrator James Hancock, and his predecessor and now my PA, Jeremy Vinogradov, as well as tonight’s Master of Ceremonies Ross Alley, who has been arranging and presenting concerts for us for more than eight years..
Thank you for all your support! The past 30 years would not have been possible without our sponsors and venues, friends and family, and of course, our enthusiastic and dedicated audiences. We do hope we can manage to survive another 30 years. With your help we will continue to enjoy seeing our young Aussie and Kiwi talent on the great stages of the world.
Isla Baring OAM Chairman, The Tait MemorialTrust
SpecialTaitlogodesignbyJuneMendozaAOOBE. OriginallogodesignbyAnnSeddon
Photo by Hannan Images
Photo by Angus Forbes
TAIT 30TH ANNIVERSARY
I am proud and honoured to have been part of the Tait Trust and that I am able to congratulate Isla Baring on its 30th Anniversary for her stupendous work in helping young Australian and NZ musicians and dancers in the UK, especially in these difficult times.
Her mother, Lady Tait, was a very dear friend going back some seventy years. I knew her as Viola Wilson, a beautiful soprano singing with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. at the Theatre Royal in the 1940s in Sydney. She became the founding Patron of the Trust in 1992 and was soon after joined by my wife Dame Joan.
Isla’s father, the last of the five Tait brothers who as managing director of J.C. Williamson benevolently ruled (musical) theatre life in Australia for many years, had the wonderful idea of forming a Sutherland Williamson operatic company to honour Dame Joan’s great career. He asked me to help him form the company in 1965 which became one of our greatest achievements. We spent hours together discussing (and not always agreeing) operas and performers and eventually engaged a splendid company which performed in four capital cities within
Australia for 14 weeks eight times a week with seven different operas. So the Tait family and then the Tait Trust and especially Isla have been a really important and happy part of Joan’s and my life.
The Tait Trust arranged a Gala at Australia House to celebrate Joan’s 70th birthday with the finest of Australia’s singers with the guest of honour HRH Prince Charles. Conducting this concert and also the 20th Tait Trust Anniversary concert are some of my happiest memories.
The Trust has arranged countless concerts and raised a great deal of money to help young musicians and dancers. They helped me to raise substantial funds to create a Richard Bonynge Award for a young ballet dancer at the RoyalBallet Schoolwhich we hope will continue formany years to come.
I am sad not to be with you tonight, but Australia and my family call. I will be with you in spirit to wish you all a happy evening on the occasion of your 30th Anniversary celebration.
DearIsla, I send you muchlove. Richard Bonynge AC CBE
Photo by Hannan Images
Tait Turns Thirty at Australia House
In the presence of The Acting High Commissioner of Australia Her Excellency, Mrs Lynette Wood
Artistic Director: Ross Alley Musical Director: Chad Vindin Dance Artistic Director: Leanne Benjamin AM OBE Special Guest Appearances by Piers Lane AO, piano Rachael Ward, dance Rosemary Tuck, piano
Samantha Crawford, soprano (WA)
Tait Awardee 2017, Julian Baring Award
Claudia Tarrant Matthews, violin (NZ) Tait Awardee 2019, Royal Academy of Music
Sky Ingram, soprano (SA) Tait Awardee 2011, National Opera Studio
Magdalenna Krstevska, clarinet (VIC) Tait Awardee 2022, Royal College of Music
James Blackford, euphonium (QLD) Tait Awardee 2022 Royal Northern College of Music Tait White Loewenthal Award
Emily Sun, violin (NSW) Tait Awardee 2016, Royal Over Seas League
Tara Minton, jazz harp/voice (VIC) Tait Awardee 2018/2019 Guildhall School of Music & Drama White Loewenthal Award
John Williamson, double bass (GB) Guest artist
Samantha Furney, dance (NSW) Tait Awardee 2022, Rambert School
Sarah Prestwidge, soprano (NSW) Tait Awardee 2021 Royal Northern College of Music White Loewenthal Award Opera Foundation for young Australians, 2022 Lady Galleghan Award
Jeremy Kleeman, baritone (VIC) Tait Awardee 2020, Royal College of Music Australian International Opera Awards
Programme
Tarantella Liszt S. 162
Piers Lane AO, piano
Songs my mother taught me
Samantha Crawford
Chad Vindin, piano
Fantasie Variations on the Last Rose of Summer
Rosemary Tuck, piano
Claudia Tarrant Matthews, violin
Dvořák Op 55 4
Wallace WV Op. 74
Musetta's waltz, La bohème Puccini
Sky Ingram, soprano
Chad Vindin, piano
American in Paris Gershwin
Magdalenna Krstevska, clarinet
Chad Vindin, piano
La vie en rose Piaf & Guglielmi
Emily Sun, violin
Chad Vindin, piano
Programme
Napoli Bellstedt
James Blackford, euphonium
Chad Vindin, piano Blackbird with dance choreography
Lennon/McCartney
Tara Minton*, harp/voice arr. Minton
John Williamson, double bass S. Furney chor.
Samantha Furney, dance
Putting on the Ritz Irving Berlin
Rachael Ward, dance arr. Gregory Porter
I could have danced all night, My Fair Lady Lerner & Loewe
Sarah Prestwidge, soprano
Chad Vindin, piano
Some enchanted evening, South Pacific Rodgers & Hammerstein
Jeremy Kleeman
Chad Vindin, piano
*Sponsored by Lorraine Buckland
London based Australian pianist Piers Lane has a worldwide reputation as an engaging, searching and highly versatile performer, at home equally in solo, chamber and concerto repertoire. Five times soloist at the BBC Proms, Piers Lane’ s wide ranging concerto repertoire exceeds one hundred works and has led to engagements with many of the world’s great orchestras, working recently with conductors like Sir Andrew Davis, Vassily Sinaisky, Gerard Schwartz and Brett Dean. Festival appearances have included Aldeburgh, Bard, Bath Mostly Mozart, Bergen, Cheltenham, Como Autumn Music, Prague Spring, Rockport, La Roque d’Anthéron, Ruhr Klavierfestival, Schloss vor Husum, Seattle and the Chopin festivals in Warsaw, Duszniki Zdrój, Mallorca and Paris.
Highlights of 2022 include two Wigmore Hall solo recitals, a performance of the mighty Busoni Concerto at the Bard Festival New York, an Australian tour with the Maltese tenor Josef Calleja, appearances for series and festivals in Australia, the Czech Republic, India, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA. In 2015 Piers Lane was appointed Artistic Director of the Sydney International Piano Competition and is responsible for initiatives like the 2021 Online Piano Competition, the Piano Lovers’ Competition for amateur Australian pianists and Composing the Future, a competition to help Australian composers during covid times.
In the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Birthday Honours he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished services to the arts. In 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was a professor from 1989 to 2007. Piers holds Honorary Doctorates from two Australian Universities: Griffith and James Cook. He received the 2022 Sir Bernard Heinze Award for 'service to music in Australia' from Melbourne Symphony and Melbourne University.
The Australian pianist Rosemary Tuck was born in Sydney. She studied with John Winther, Walter Hautzig & Andrzej Esterhazy. Rosemary represented Australia in a series of recitals in America under the auspices of the Australian American Bicentennial Foundation, including a recital at Carnegie Hall. She has performed at the Sydney Opera House, the South Bank Centre in London, the National Concert Hall in Dublin and the Aarhus Musikhuset in Denmark in the presence of Queen Margrethe II, which was televised nationally.
In 2001, she gave the first official performance in the William Vincent Wallace Millennium Plaza in Waterford, Ireland. Hermany acclaimed recordings of Wallace's music includes a Critics Chioce in Gramophone Magazine. Festival appearances include the Aarhus, Wexford, Vendsyssel and Liszt en Provence. Since 2004 she has worked closely with Richard Bonynge AC CBE, as both soloist with orchestra and collaborative pianist.
Together they are recording Czerny's works for piano and orchestra with the English Chamber Orchestra forNaxos, all of which have appeared in the UK Specialist Classical Charts. The latest disc, which includes Czerny's Second Grand Concerto, was chosen as one of Musicweb International's Recordings of the Year. A fifth Czerny CD willbe released in2023.
Rachael Ward is an accomplished international stage and screen performer. Recent screen credits include the role of Lauren in ABC / Amazon Freevee’s TV series Troppo, and Baz Luhrmann’ s Elvis.
Musical credits include Go To Hell Kitty in the Australian National Tour of the international hit musical Chicago, Margarita in Opera Australia’ s Evita, Bombalurina in Cats at the Théâtre Mogador Paris, U/S Lina Lamont in the Australian tour and Tokyo season of Singin’ In the Rain, Mona cover Roxie Hart in Chicago, Blue Girl in Shout! The Mod Musical, GFO’ s Wizard of Oz, the Production Company’ s Hello, Dolly! and Jesus Christ Superstar, Ulla in The Producers at the Brisbane Powerhouse, and most recently U/S Milo in AnAmericanInParis.
Ross Alley, a New Zealander, graduated from Victoria University of Wellington following which he became sole pianist for the Royal NZ School of Dance and was Musical Director for many shows in the capital city. Moving to Melbourne in 1979 he worked for the Australian Ballet School and Company before arriving in London where, for his first ten years, he was a pianist at the Royal Ballet School and Music Tutor to its Teacher Training Course. In 1990 he was appointed as a music lecturer for Birkbeck College, University of London which also led to a wide range of other lecturing experience, becoming a frequent speaker at the Royal Opera House giving over 70 talks on opera & ballet music. Over the years he has given numerous pre performance talks and informative lectures at the English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, Wagner Society, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Gustav Mahler Society, NADFAS, Kenwood, Artstur and the London Jewish Cultural Centre. Ross also organises his own private lecture series on opera which take place each day of the week in various venues around London, the longest of which has been running for over 30 years.
Chad Vindin Winner of the prestigious accompanist prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition, the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Accompanist Prize at the Royal Academy of Music, and the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards Accompanist’s Prize at the Wigmore Hall, Chad is one of the rising young stars of the international accompaniment world. Born in Australia, Chad first studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before moving to London. He now maintains a full workload as a staff pianist and vocal coach at both the Royal College and Royal Academy of Music and performs regularly across the UK and internationally. He is a founding member of the Sydney Chamber Opera Company and performed with OperaUpClose in their Olivier Award winning production of La Bohème. His studies were generously supported by the Thornton Foundation, and he is grateful to have received further support from the Leverhulme Trust, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust (Australia), and the Reizenstein scholarship.
International artist, Liane Keegan is Australia born. She received scholarships from the Tait Memorial Trust, Opera Foundation Australia, Shell Royal Covent Garden Scholarship, and a Bayreuth Bursary from the WagnerSociety of Great Britain.
Liane’s extensive career has comprised leading roles in Australia and Europe. Her roles include Mary The Flying Dutchman, Erda, First Norn & Waltraute Der Ring Des Nibelungen, Azucena Il Trovatore, Ulrica Un ballo in Maschera, Klytämnestra Elektra,
Mistress Quickly Falstaff, Anna Les Troyens, Emilia Otello, Marcellina Le Nozze di Figaro and Siegrune Die Walküre. She is to sing Erda in the 2023 Opera Australia Ring.
More recently Liane launched her critically acclaimed one woman show JudyAustralia1964 based onJudy Garland’s careerand life.
Samantha Crawford is a British Australian soprano. She studied with Yvonne Kenny AM at the Guildhall School of Music and graduated from the Opera Course with Distinction.
Samantha made her operatic debut at the Aldeburgh & Edinburgh Festivals as Mrs. Coyle in Britten’ s Owen Wingrave conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. She has gone on to perform at Glyndebourne, Garsington Opera, ENO, Scottish Opera and Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. Samantha’s recent roles include Ortlinde Die Walküre at Teatro Real, Elisabeth Tannhäuser at Saffron Hall, and Santuzza CavalleriaRusticanaforWest GreenOpera in2023.
In concert, Samantha has performed across the UK and Europe, with recent repertoire including Verdi’ s Requiem, Mendelssohn’ s Elijah and Strauss’ Vier letzteLieder.
This season Samantha recorded her debut album, dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices, with pianist Lana Bode. The album will release on Delphian Records in 2023.
Claudia Tarrant Matthews is originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, and completed her postgraduate study in violin performance at the Royal Academy of Music in 2022, under the tutelage of Professor György Pauk. Claudia has recently joined the second violin section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra as their newest addition, aftera yearof freelancing with the orchestra.
Claudia performs regularly in London in a wide variety of ensembles, including with her string quartet; Calathea Quartet. They have recently been announced as Britten Pears Young Artists 2023, and will be embarking on a tour of New Zealand in 2023 supported by ChamberMusic New Zealand.
Australian clarinetist Magdalenna Krstevska has performed as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral clarinetist in renowned music halls across the UK, Australia, Europe, and China.
Her accolades include the Australian National Young Virtuoso of the Year and the RCM Clarinet Prize. After completing a Master of Performance with Distinction at the RCM, Magdalenna was the Mills Williams JuniorFellow in 2021/22.
A strong advocate for diversity in classical music, she is the founder of the Corelia Project, an initiative that addresses unequal gender representation through spotlighting and performing music by women composers.
James Blackford is a leading Australian euphonium performer. He is a Besson Artist, Australian Music Foundation alumnus, and previous winner of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) concerto competition.
A recipient of numerous arts funding awards, in 2021 James commissioned four Australian works recorded and released on the album Blackford & Collins; New Australian Music for Brass. He is principal euphonium with the Royal Australian Air Force Band and has performed with many of Australia, England, and Norway’s leading brass bands.
2023 will see James complete his Master of Music at the RNCM, in January performing Martin Ellerby’s euphonium concerto at the RNCM Festival of Brass. James thanks the Tait Memorial Trust for awarding him a prestigious Tait White Loewenthal Award which has allowed him to complete his studies at RNCM.
Sky Ingram studied at the National Opera Studio and Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She has worked in the UK with companies including the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Opera North, Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, as well as New York, Spain, Norway, Germany, France and Australia.
Sky has won several music scholarships and competitions including an Opera Awards Foundation Bursary, Wingate Scholarship, 5MBS Young Performer of the Year, and ROSL Overseas Trophy, a Tait Memorial Trust award, and was a South Australian Young Achiever of the Year. Recent Roles: Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Rusalka Rusalka, Katya Katya Kabanova, Avis The Wreckers, Foreign Princess Rusalka, La Contessa Le Nozze di Figaro, Dido Dido and Aeneas, Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Musetta La Bohème, Lea Glare, Venus Orpheus
Tara Minton is an Australian born harpist, vocalist and composer. She is proudly endorsed by Camac Harps and holds a Master's degree in jazz performance from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Tara has worked with Björk, Tom Walker, ESKA, Stan Sulzmann, Geoff Gascoyne, The Ronnie Scott's All Stars and the Australian World Orchestra forthe BBC Proms.
She was a finalist in the 2021 World Harp Competition and is a proud Tait awardee. She leads her own original project as a harpist/ vocalist and is a workshop leader and vocalist for The Blues and Roots Ensemble music charity.
Tara was a recipient of a White Loewenthal Award and thanks the Tait and Eugénie White most sincerely for the generous support over severalyears.
Born and raised in Saltburn, north east England, John Williamson has spent time In Leeds, Washington DC and now London. His musicality and versatility have led to a diverse portfolio including jazz, funk, big bands, pit orchestras, pop, and avant garde repertoire.
Among many more, John has played alongside Jason Brown, Trevor Mires, Alex Garnett, Gene Calderazzo, Jo Harrop, John Turville, Pete Horsfall, Rachael Cohen, Sam Braysher.
Samantha Furney Born in Mudgee, NSW and brought up in Boomerang Beach, NSW where I began to study dance before moving to Newcastle to continue my training. I danced with the National College of Dance and the Sydney Dance Youth company.
I moved to the UK in January of 2022 at 16 after being accepted to Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance where I recently began my second year of training which is generously supported by a Tait Memorial Trust, Leanne Benjamin Award.
Sarah Prestwidge is an aboriginal Australian Soprano, with a Bachelor of Music from Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a Master of Music (Opera) from the Royal Northern College of Music, where she was awarded a full ABRSM Scholarship.
Recent roles include, Susanna Le Nozze Di Figaro, Zerbinetta Ariadne auf Naxos, Controller Flight, QueenoftheNight The Magic Flute, and Adele Die Fledermaus
Sarah is grateful to the Wagner Society NSW, the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, the Tait Memorial Trust (White/Loewenthal Award), Pacific Opera, Short Black Opera and The Opera Foundation for young Australians.
Jeremy Kleeman Winner of the 2019 Australian International Opera Award & Tait Memorial Trust Scholarship, baritone Jeremy Kleeman is a graduate of the Royal College of Music’s Opera School.
Recent performances include the title role in Le nozze di Figaro for both Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera, Rossini’ s Petite messe solennelle with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tilford Bach Festival with London Handel Players and Elgar’ s Apostles with London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2023, Jeremy’s season includes Captain Corcoran HMS Pinafore and Sergeant of Police Pirates of Penzance for State Opera of Australia’ s ‘Gilbert and Sullivan Festival’ and Guglielmo Così fan tutte with Opera Queensland.
Emily Sun’ s compelling and captivating interpretations have earned her international renown. She is the 2023 Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Artist in Association, and returns for concertos with Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra alongside conductors Vasily Petrenko, Jaime Martin and Mark Wigglesworth. Emily’s debut album, Nocturnes, was released on ABC Classics/Universal to critical acclaim, staying at No. 1 on the Classical Charts for 4 weeks.
She has performed at Wigmore Hall, Sydney Opera House and Royal Albert Hall. Emily is a Violin Professor at the Royal College of Music, and was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal from the RCM presented by King Charles III.
Honouring the Tait Brothers
The Tait Memorial Trust was formed in1992 by Isla Baring and her Trustees to honour the enormous contribution that Isla’s father, Sir Frank Tait, and his four older brothers had made to the Arts in Australia. In Melbourne, Australia, three years before the turn of the last century, a family of five sons of John Turnbull Tait, a sheep farmer in Lerwick, Shetland who had emigrated to Australia in 1860, entered into the entertainment world to become the dominating influence in the theatrical scene for the next seventy years. One of their earlier ventures, in 1905, was to make the world’s first full length feature film a 4000 foot film on the capture of the notorious Ned Kelly Gang. The film was a sensationand played inevery Australian capital city until the films wore out only fragments remain. J&N Tait Concert Management was formed in 1906. From concert management the Tait brothers amalgamated with JC Williamson in 1920 to form the largest theatrical empire in the world, offering a constant flow of ballet, drama, grand opera and musical comedy. The Taits presented world famous celebrities such as Melba, Chaliapin, Flagstad, Pavlova, Laurence Olivierand VivienLeigh, Paderewski, Harry Lauder, Oistrakh, Margot Fonteyn, Menuhin, Marcel Marceau, Gracie Fields, Kreisler, Heifetz, Danny Kaye, Victor Borge, Katherine Hepburn, and Sir Robert Helpmann; the musicals My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Pajama Game and many others. They brought out the Shakespeare (Stratford) and Old Vic Companies, and toured the Borovansky Ballet, not to mention all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Frank Tait helped form the Australian Ballet, and was Chairman of the Board until his death. In 1957, he was made a Knight Bachelor by the Queen in recognition of the major contribution he and his brothers had made in their dedication to Australian theatre. It was Sir Frank’s ambition to present Dame Joan Sutherland to the Australian public after her international acclaim. The Sutherland Williamson Opera Company was formed in 1963. As Artistic Director Richard Bonynge engaged a team of world renowned principals and internationally successfulAustralianartists. One of the principals was Luciano Pavarotti, a young tenor from Modena; the chorus was Australian. There was no government subsidy and the fate of Williamson’s future rested on the success of the venture. Sir Frank lived to see his ambition fulfilled. The triumphant Melbourne opening heralded the returnof Dame Joan to her homeland: it was a season never to be forgotten. He died at the age of 81 after the Melbourne season finished and while the company were in Adelaide. It was the end of an era in the history of Australiantheatre.
InRichard Bonynge’s words: “Sir Frank Tait has done the greatest service to Australian Theatre and to the arts of anyone we know.”
The Story of the Kelly Gang
By Angus Forbes
In Melbourne in the year 1905 a gang of five brothers, all of them in the theatre or the music world, embarked on a mission to produce, for the first ever time, a film as long as a play. The average length of films at that time was 10 minutes. The Great Train Robbery, made by Edwin Porter in the US in 1903, boasted a whole thirteen minutes. It was time to expand the possibilities of this newfangled French contraption this cinématograph.
The Tait brothers had been guided and mentored by the eldest, Charlie, who deployed them to work as ushers, bookers, stage managers; any job where the performing arts were involved. Through hard graft and persistence John, Nevin, Ted and Frank Tait had saved their coppers and become entrepreneurs in their own right. Charlie, meantime, had attained a directorship at Allan’s music store in the heart of the city. He was 34 years old. Frank, the youngest, was 22.
Arnold Denham’s stage play The Kelly Gang had long been doing good box office around Australia; but travelling with wagonloads of props, costumes, scenery flats and a dozen or so hungry and thirsty actors from one town to another had left its producers with scant reward. That was the moment when John and Nevin acquired the rights to the piece. With Charlie and Ted they fashioned a script that nowadays would be called a screenplay. None of this has
survived, but Frank (using the pseudonym ‘Stetson’) wrote a beautifully printed 20 page Synopsis that served also as a souvenir of what would later be recognized as a signal event in the history of the cinema: the premiere ‘by the Biograph’ of the longest film the world had ever seen: J&N Tait’ s The Story of the Kelly Gang, at The Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne on Boxing Night 1906.
So much of what still happens in movie making these days was enacted by the Taits over the course of realizing the Kelly film: family members and friends appearing in and helping to make the film; actors fighting with the director and storming off the picture; romances blossoming everywhere; the weather dictating if you can film or not; myriad incidents, felicitous or otherwise, taking place in real time and in dizzying profusion; argy bargy about who has the ultimate say about anything. Add in the fragility of the whole enterprise; the hordes to be fed, finances to be facilitated on a daily if not hourly basis and the logistics involved in keeping crews in the right place at the right time and you have a quasi military operation on your hands. Charles Tait directed this unwieldy monsterinto a glowing triumph.
The world’s first longer than an hour film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, recouped its £1000 budget in its first week of exhibition; a coup not equalled in the annals of cinema until Steven Spielberg released Jurassic Park in 1993. It is testament to Australian openness and daring that the Taits stole a march on every other nation by inventing the art format that has kept people the world over entranced and amused for over a century and counting the feature film.
Angus Forbes 2022
Tait Awards 2022/23
RCM Royal College of Music
SbS Southbank Sinfonia
GSMD Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Priv Private Studies
SuL Stimme, Leib & Seele
RAM Royal Academy of Music
RCS Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
RNCM Royal Northern College of Music
NOS National Opera Studio
RBS Royal Ballet School
ENBS English National Ballet School
EBS Elmhurst Ballet School
Ram Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance
Award Name Donor Award recipient Artform State/NZ AwardOur Supporters
Bequests
John Crisp
Peggy Haim
Richard Gunter
Viola, Lady Tait
Tait Grainger Patron £10,000+ Anonymous
Julian Baring Family*
The Estate of Lady Mackerras* Ms Eugenie White*
Tait Sutherland Benefactor £5,000+ M’tro Richard Bonynge AC CBE
Sir David & Lady Higgins* Mr John Frost AM*
Tait Endowment Patrons £5,000+ Earl Cadogan KBE DL
Mrs Karen Goldie Morrison
The Hon Sarah Joiner
Mr & Mrs Paddy Linaker
Mrs Anne Longden
Mrs Barbara Ross Mr Michael Whalley OAM
Tait Bonynge Partner £3,000+ David Norman Lady Sainsbury CBE
The Thornton Foundation
Tait Helpmann Circle £1,000+ Mr Peter Andreae
Mrs Jaki Bryant*
Mr & Mrs Nicholas Heesom*
The Hon Sarah Joiner
Mr Matthew Phillips The Thornton Foundation*
TMT Frank & Viola Friends £500+
Mr Julian Agnew Mrs Lorraine Buckland
The late Mrs Jan Gowrie Smith Mrs Jacqueline Thompson Mr Damian Walsh
Tait Melba Supporter £250+ Mrs Anne Longden Dame Norma Major DBE
TMT Friends £75+
Mr Julian Agnew
Mr David Baillieu
Miss Janina Bialoguski
Mr Daniel Crowley Mrs Fay Curtin
Mr James Coventry Mrs Katherine Coventry Mrs Nikki Coventry Miss Leanne Cutler
Mrs Meredith Daneman Mr Roger Davenport
Mr Philip Hart Ms Amanda Holder Ms Daniella Hotchin Mr Anthony Jamison Mr Patrick Kennedy Mr Martin Kramer Mrs Wendy Kramer Lady Rosa Lipworth Mrs Joanna McCallum Miss Ellen Moloney Mrs Lisa Orlov Professor Postma Mr Frederick Pyne Mr Roger Traves QC Mrs Samantha Traves Mrs Kathryn Wark Mrs Sue Whitley Mrs Maria Woodruff *Adopt a Performer
Partners:
Australia Day Foundation
Australian High Commission
New Zealand High Commission
Australian UK Chamber
Australia UK Season Britain Australia Society
FANZA
KEA New Zealand
Royal Over Seas League
Australian Charity Art Auction Australian Women’s Club, London The Cook Society
With thanks for this event:
Lynette Wood Piers Lane AO
Steven McRae
Rachael Ward Rosemary Tuck Ross Alley
Chad Vindin Leanne Benjamin AM OBE Liane Keegan
Samantha Crawford Claudia Tarrant Matthews
Magdalenna Krstevska
Emily Sun James Blackford Sky Ingram Tara Minton John Williamson Samantha Furney Sarah Prestwidge Jeremy Kleeman Bryan Brown Tait Committee
Tait Trustees Tait Music Board Tait Leanne Benjamin Board
Event Sponsor
Australian High Commission
Event Partners
NSW Investment fine wines Bird in Hand sparkling wine Mr Roses artist flowers
VEC Acorn Trust piano Mindberry stage
Concert Committee
Isla Baring OAM
Lorraine Buckland Fay Curtin Gayle McDermott Sue McGreggor
Dr. Margaret Mayston AM June Mendoza AO OBE Ann Seddon Rosemary Tuck
*adopt a performer
The Tait Memorial Trust
Proudly supporting young performing artists from Australia and New Zealand in the UK
Founded in 1992
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, Barry Humphries AO CBE, Piers Lane AO, June Mendoza AO OBE, Danielle de Niese, Ermes de Zan
Trustees
Justin Baring, Isla Baring OAM, Anne Longden, Matthew Phillips, Susie Thornton
Committee
Lisa Bucknell, Fay Curtin, Meredith Daneman, Wendy Kramer, Sue McGreggor Gayle McDermott, Patricia Nimmo, Margaret Rodgers, Mel Rendall, Ann Seddon, Elspeth Turner Laing, Jacqueline Thompson, Rosemary Tuck
Music Board
Dr Helen Ayres, Isla Baring OAM, Jessica Cottis (Chair), Amy Dickson, Julian Gavin, Jayson Gillham, Dr Leslie Howard, Deborah Humble, Anthony Roden, Katrina Sheppeard, Chad Vindin
The Leanne Benjamin Awards Ballet
Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, Artistic Director & Patron Meredith Daneman, Isla Baring OAM
Honorary Member Nicola Downer AM
Administrator James Hancock
Registered UK Charity 1042797
Tait Memorial Trust 4/80 Elm Park Gardens London SW10 9PD Phone +44 207 351 0561 info@taitmemorialtrust.org
