Society Events from 2003 - (Presentations)
2010
2 August
Stephen Whale piano recital. BRAHMS (1833-1897): Zwei Rhapsodien Op. 7923, HAYDN (1732-1809): Keyboard Sonata in E Flat Major, Hob. XVI 49 (No.59, SCHUBERT (1797-1828): Piano Sonata No. 14 in A minor
23 May
Recital by Emma Moore and Simone Easthope (sopranos), and Morgan Pearse (baritone)
18 April
Dr Terence Watson - talk on ‘Wagner and Friendship’, a chapter in his forthcoming book on ‘Wagner and Philosophy’.
28 March
Professor Heath Lees – talk on 'Lifting the Lid on Wagner’s Piano'. An expose on how Wagner regarded and used the piano in his life and in his way of composing, as well as showing examples of Wagner-pianists through the ages — those who used the piano as a means of teaching and evangelising on behalf of Wagner and his music.
21 Feb
Peter Bassett - talk on ‘The Operas Wagner Almost Wrote’.
An examination about ‘the great composer as he is rarely seen: the creator of such non-Wagnerian characters as the theatre prompter who can’t stop sneezing, the young man who makes his living dressed as a bear, and the poet who addresses his audience from a hot air balloon. Peter will also discuss the visionary composer who planned dramas dealing with the lives of Jesus and the Buddha, and relations between the west and Islam. This talk will explore Wagner’s many unfinished works and show how these anticipate dramatically and textually the great music dramas of his maturity. Peter’s preparations for this talk have formed part of his research for a forthcoming book on Wagner and Verdi, whose bicentenaries will be celebrated in 2013.’
2009
29 November
8 November
Antony Ernst – talk, The Ring: ‘From Malediction to Valediction - curses and dramatic resolution in Wagner.’
18 October
A recital prepared by Louis Garrick.
Wagner: Pilgrim’s Chorus from Tannhauser arranged for piano duet. Louis Garrick and Jack Symonds
Berg: Seven Early Songs. Emma Moore soprano, Louis Garrick piano
Wagner: Seven scenes from Parsifal arranged by Humperdinck for piano duet. Jack Symonds and Chad Vindin
19 July
Recital
Overture to Die Meistersinger arranged for four hands (pending availability of score). Tom Johnson, Stephen Whale; Piano
Beethoven: Sonata in E Flat Major op. 27 no. 1.Tom Johnson, Piano
Scriabin: Sonata no. 4 in F Sharp Minor. Stephen Whale, Piano
Wagner: 5 songs. Jared Lillehagen, Baritone. Stephen Whale, Piano
Brahms Rhapsody in B Minor. Stephen Whale, Piano
Liszt/Wagner Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. Tom Johnson, Piano
23 March
Professor Heath Lees - talk on 'Wagner, the Dutchman and the Sea'. Wagner, The Dutchman and the Sea - A Lecture/Presentation by Heath Lees
The Flying Dutchman was Wagner’s first major step away from the operas of his day towards a new kind of music-drama. For the first time, Wagner based his work on the story — in his words the ‘folk-poem’ — of a mythical figure. In the Dutchman, he saw humanity’s storm-tossed wrestling with Fate, its yearning for peace and fulfilment, and its defiant rejection of Death as the Last Word on everything.
As everyone knows, this grand scheme inspired Wagner with a powerful text and wonderful music, and helped him build a much deeper connection between the two. Less well known is the fact that the sea and its mariners actually provided the source of all the surface details and underlying swells that made Wagner’s new music such an enthralling language.
In this presentation, using piano and DVD examples, Heath Lees traces out Wagner’s musical and operatic background around 1839, when he first began to conceive The Flying Dutchman. He then shows how the liberating influence of the sea sets the course for the drama, and creates an all-embracing force for the music’s constantly changing currents.
15 March
Warwick Fyfe - talk on 'Coming to Wagner'.
15 February
Peter Bassett - talk on ‘Beethoven and Wagner’.
2008
19 October
Goetz Richter (A/Prof. Strings - Chair Strings Unit, Sydney Conservatorium ) - talk on 'Nietzsche and Wagner: on the quarrel between music and truth'.
28 September
Christopher Broderick, President of the Wagner Society of New Zealand, - talk on “Wagner and the Visual Arts”.
14 September
Dr Robert Gibson - talk on relationships between the music of the two Richards, Wagner and Strauss. Hans von Bülow apparently called them 'Richard the First' and ''Richard the Third', for the obvious reason that no-one was worthy of being placed in such proximity to the Meister as a 'Richard the Second'
20 July
Peter Bassett - talk on 'Lortzing's 1840 Singspiel, Hans Sachs, as inspiration for Wagner's Die Meistersinger'
18 May
Recital by students of the Conservatorium of Music, accompanied by Sharolyn Kimmorley
20 April
Glenn Winslade - talk on 'Life in Bayreuth' from singer's perspective
16 March
Warwick Fyfe, the 2007 Bayreuth Scholar will give an illustrated talk about his time in Germany, touching on some of his recent and forthcoming roles.
17 February
Alan Whelan - illustrated talk on “Wagner in Russia”
'In February 1863 Wagner suddenly abandoned the Viennese rehearsals of Tristan und Isolde and travelled deep into Russia. In St Petersburg and Moscow he worried the Russian secret police, but he worried Russian critics even more by conducting actually facing the musicians, with his back to the audience. At least Tchaikovsky was impressed. How did Wagner’s visit affect Russian music and culture? And how did Russia affect Wagner? Alan Whelan explores Wagner’s little-known Russian connection
2007
11 November
Antony Ernst - talk on Tristan und Isolde
2 September
Professor Heath Lees – talk on Wagner and Mallarme: Music as Poetry and Poetry as Music
15 July
Roger Cruikshank –talk on ‘Wolfram, the glue that binds the story of Tannhauser'
18 March
Robert Gay – talk on Wagner and French Grand Opera. The influence of French Grand Opera and production on later works, through to Tristan and Parsifal.
2006
26 Nov
Nigel Butterley - talk on Faust, Mephistopheles – and composers!
15 Oct
Alan Whelan - illustrated talk on Rienzi
21 May
Recital by the students from the Con who received scholarships to study German at the with Sharolyn Kimmorley accompanying.
2 April
Alan Whelan - the life and works of Seigfried Wagner
19 February
A window on the work of the conservtorium of music. Professor Kim Walker, Dean of the Conservatorium, introduced the work of the Conservatorium, especially its Opera Unit. Sharolyn Kimmorley demonstrated the coaching techniques she uses with singers by conducting a class with a pupil from the Con
2005
20 Nov
Alan Whelan – talk on 'Perception and Reception of Wagner in the Nazi period'
16 Oct
Nigel Butterley – illustrated talk on Liszt and Wagner. Nigel also played three late Liszt pieces.
7 August
Deborah Polaski, acclaimed dramatic soprano, - talk with Miriam Gordon-Stewart about her career and recent performances.
22 May
Recital by Conservatorium German language scholarship winners.
17 April
Alan Whelan - Palm Sunday ‘Symbols in Parsifal'
March 20
Justice Jane Mathews '- talk on Women and Loss in the Ring'. Followed by an interview with Jessica Pratt by Anthony Ernst
2004
17 October
Preparation for the Ring Part 2 Roger Cruikshank, Dennis Mather and Terence Watson - talks about aspects of The Ring.
Roger Cruikshank - In an introductory presentation Roger discussed how one might approach the event, physically as well as musically and the ‘story’.
Terence Watson - the Myth and History, Masculinity and Femininity in The Ring Cycle.
Dennis Mather - Leitmotifs in The Ring.
19 September
Preparation for the Ring Part 1 - Jim Leigh presented the film of the making of the Solti Ring and also provided some insights into the best way to prepare oneself for The Ring
22 May
Recital by students of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music - Erin O’Connor, Emily Garth, Rebecca Hilder and Jessica Pratt - who received scholarships from the Society to study German at the Goethe Institut this year, accompanied by Sharolyn Kimmorley (Chair, Opera Studies Unit at the Conservatorium, and 2003 Bayreuth Scholar).
18 April
Margaret Whitlam - talk about things Wagnerian in her life and introduced a showing of act of an opera that has special meaning for her.
21 March
Robert Gay - talk on Berlioz and Wagner.
2003
16 November
Player Piano Exposition and Recital - Dennis Condon - Presentation with transcriptions for Duo Art reproducing piano of Wagner’s music
13 April
Antony Ernst – talk on Parsifal
23 February
Associate Professor Michael Evans – talk on ‘Wagner in Perspective - 155 years after the Master's death'.
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