WSNSW e-news 6

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Dear Wagner Society friends

 

 

WSNSW — REMINDER ABOUT EVENT AT 2PM ON SUNDAY 7 MARCH: ‘WAGNER AT 40′

Concert with soprano Laura Scandizzo and pianist Bradley Gilchrist at Mosman Art Gallery

 

Admission: Members – $40  / Non-Members – $45 / Full-time students – $20    Members of the public are welcome!

Pre-payment:  To expedite queueing in these times of Covid-19 restrictions, those planning to attend are encouraged to pay beforehand. Please let us know if you wish to attend by replying to this email and an e-invoice will be forwarded to you, which will also list alternative payment options.

Arrival requirements: While the concert is scheduled to commence at 2.00pm, those attending are advised to arrive earlier as the following will need to be carried out on arrival:

– COVID Safe check-in using a QR code by those attending

– a queue for ticking off names for those who have pre-paid

– a separate queue for:

            – preferably cashless payment by members who have not pre-paid 

            – preferably cashless payment plus recording of name / phone number / email address for non-members who have not pre-paid

Venue: Mosman Art Gallery is at 1 Art Gallery Way, Mosman. There is plenty of parking available. Getting to Mosman Art Gallery is also easy by public transport with either a bus to Spit Junction or a ferry to Mosman Wharf. The Gallery is just a 5 minute walk from Spit Junction. 

Seating and catering: Seating will be at large tables, and there will be simple catering served to members of the audience in accordance with Covid-19 regulations.

 

About Laura Scandizzo:

Laura Scandizzo’s operatic roles include Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos for Land of Enchantment Opera in New Mexico, USA and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Varna International Opera Academy, Bulgaria. Laura is an alumna of the Pacific Opera Young Artist program and during their 2020 Pocket Opera productions she played Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. During the 2020 Covid-19 shutdowns she worked on online streaming projects and performed the role of Hannah Glawari in Streamed Shakespeare’s Merry Widow workshop and the role of Wally in La Wally for Salon for the Dramatic Arts.  She has performed with the Opera Australia chorus in King Roger, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s Carmen, The Nixon Tapes, Verdi Requiem, Aida, Turandot, and she is joining the chorus again for the 2021 Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s La Traviata and more yet to be announced for the Winter season.

She is also honoured to be the 2020 recipient of the three year Prue Kennard Career Development Scholarship. 

Laura has often performed for the Wagner Society in NSW, most recently at the Memorial Concert for The Hon Jane Mathews AO in February last year.

The Wagner Society in NSW is proud to have sponsored Laura at the Varna International Opera Academy, Bulgaria and The Lisa Gasteen National Opera School. 

 

About Bradley Gilchrist:

Bradley Gilchrist completed a Bachelor of Music at the WA Conservatorium of Music, and post-graduate studies in accompaniment and piano performance in Sydney and Madrid.

Bradley has numerous concerto performances to his name including the Khachaturian Concerto with the WA Symphony Orchestra, the Grieg Concerto with the Slovakia Philharmonic Orchestra and Beethoven’s First and Second Concertos with the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra. Bradley has given solo and chamber music recitals across Australia and in South Korea, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Bradley broadcast two solo programmes for the ABC Young Australia program. Bradley enjoys chamber music and has performed in a variety of ensembles but has specialised in piano trio and flute and piano duo repertoire.

As repetiteur, Bradley’s early interest in ballet repertoire has extended to opera and he has been repetiteur for WA Opera, Opera Australia and many of Sydney’s chamber opera companies as well as being in demand as an accompanist and vocal coach for auditions, recitals, examinations and concert performances. Bradley is the Music Director for Pacific Opera and Musical Director of Music at Manly. 

 

 

WSNSW — 2021 MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS

Membership enables the Society to align our cash flow to plan events and continue our artist support program, and brings many benefits to members such as discounts at all our functions, access to tickets for Bayreuth (normally), special offers to many musical performances and the informative Quarterly Newsletter.

For 2021 we have developed an excellent program of events for the first half of the year, with more to come. Dramatic sopranos Susan Bullock and Lise Lindstrom – both wonderful Brünnhildes – spoke to us via Zoom from London, Professors Heath Lees and Thea Brejzek will give presentations on ‘Wagnerism’ and Adolphe Appia, and there will be our usual combined concert and champagne celebration of Wagner’s birthday PLUS our 40th anniversary celebration party (Covid-19 willing). 

However, we can’t achieve all this without the support of our members, and it appears that many have not yet paid their 2021 membership subscriptions, which were due by 28 February. 

In case members are unsure whether they have paid or not, we will be sending e-invoices to all who have not yet paid. These will include the subscription amount and, while paying by debit or credit card via the e-invoice is easy and will provide an automatic receipt, other methods are available which will be outlined in the e-invoice.

We seek your support in having all members become financial members. Let us all look forward to 2021 being another successful year for Wagner lovers and the Wagner Society in NSW, in spite of Covid-19!

 

 

WSNSW — OUR MOST RECENT ZOOM EVENT FOR 2021


Thirty-nine members and friends – including ones from Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand, England and Sweden – greatly enjoyed the zoom session ‘Lise Lindstrom in conversation with Dr Robert Mitchell’ at 8pm on Thursday 11 February. Details will appear in the next Quarterly.

 

We would love more members and friends to join us at these zoom events.  We’d love to know why zoom numbers are not growing – feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

If members are unsure about zooming, individual help can be provided on request!!! 

 

 

 

WSNSW — 5 – 30 MARCH: SAN FRANCISCO OPERA’S VIRTUAL RING FESTIVAL

 

Throughout the month of March, San Francisco Opera will be hosting a diverse array of immersive events including lively panel discussions and lectures all about Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

 

 

Online program:
Tickets – https://sfopera.com/buy-tickets/ – Each session is $US15, except for the free streaming of the Ring Cycle.
Dates are all PST – Pacific Standard Time


– Ring Cycle – free stream:
San Francisco Opera’s sold-out performances of the “Ring” cycle, conducted by Donald Runnicles and filmed in HD in the War Memorial in June/July 2018, will be streamed for free in March at SFOpera.com.

6-7 March PST: Das Rheingold

13-14 March PST: Die Walküre

20-21 March PST: Siegfried

27-28 March PST: Götterdämmerung

Francesca Zambello’s “American Ring” staging of the tetralogy features Iréne Theorin (Brünnhilde), Greer Grimsley (Wotan), Daniel Brenna (Siegfried), Karita Mattila (Sieglinde), Brandon Jovanovich (Siegmund and Froh), Falk Struckmann (Alberich), Jamie Barton (Fricka, Waltraute and the Second Norn), Ronnita Millera (Erda and the First Norn).

– Saturdays in March, 1.00pm PST: I saw the world end: Exploring Wagner’s Ring, on zoom 
6, 13, 20 and 27 March
Explore the myth, music, and majesty of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung with the Company’s Dramaturg Emeritus Dr. Clifford (“Kip”) Cranna.

– Weeks 1 – 4, on zoom

Week 1:
Tuesday 9 March, 5.30pm PST – A Conversation with Alex Ross and Tony Kushner, Moderated by Dr. Clifford (“Kip”) Cranna
Friday 12 March, 10.00am PST – Sitting down with Siegmund and Sieglinde: Brandon Jovanovich and Karita Mattila in Conversation, moderated by Joshua Kosman

Week 2:

Tuesday 16 March, 5.30pm PST – Confronting Controversy: The Ring in the 21st Century, Lecture by William Berger 

Friday 19 March, 1.00pm PST: Becoming Brünnhilde: A Conversation with Iréne Theorin, Nina Stemme, and Jane Eaglen, moderated by Stephen A. Brown 

Saturday 20 March, 4.00pm PST – Dining on the Rhine: Food, Wine and Wagner’s Ring Cycle, with Fred Plotkin and Jamie Barton 

 

Week 3:

Tuesday 23 March, 5.30pm PST – (Rhein)Gold Rush: A History of the Ring in San Francisco – Lecture by Barbara Rominski and Jeffery McMillan 

Thursday 25 March, 5.30pm PST: Green Wagner: Environmental Themes and Challenges in Wagner’s Ring, with Kirsten Paige and Francesca Zambello 

Friday 26 March, 11.00am PST: Breaking Barriers at Bayreuth: In Conversation with Grace Bumbry, moderated by Kenneth Overton 

 

Week 4:
Saturday 27 March, 4.00pm PST – Kirsten Flagstad: A Brünnhilde for the Ages – Lecture by Paul Thomason and Annika E. Engelhart 

Tuesday 30 March, 5.30pm PST: Feminism and the Ring with Francesca Zambello, Ronnita Miller, and Naomi André 

 

 

 

 

WSNSW — MORE ONLINE VIEWING

The Cambridge Companion to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (Cambridge University Press, 2020), released late last year, is an insightful, highly readable collection of essays edited by Mark Berry and Nicholas Vazsonyi, two distinguished Wagner scholars and dedicated Wagner fans. Catherine Kustanczy has a website The Opera Queen at https://www.theoperaqueen.com 

 

 

 

 

Warm regards from the President and Committee of Wagner Society NSW.