Lucky Programme Prize! The Nutcracker, The Royal Ballet

We are very grateful to Australian star ballet dancer, Steve McRae, who has kindly, once again, given us 2 tickets in the Grand Tier for The Royal Ballet’s, production of The Nutcracker 8th December – 7.30pm, starring Lauren Cuthbertson & Federico Bonelli.

These highly coveted tickets to a sold-out performance of a Christmas favourite will be one of our prizes in our lucky programme draw at our Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square Wednesday 30 November.

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More prizes will be announced in the coming days. Please come and support our talented young Australian performing artists.

Credits

Choreography: Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov
Music: Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Original scenario: Marius Petipa
Production and scenario: Peter Wright
Designer: Julia Trevelyan Oman
Lighting designer: Mark Henderson
Production Consultant: Roland John Wiley

Performed by: The Royal Ballet

Performers

Conductor: Boris Gruzin
The Sugar Plum Fairy: Lauren Cuthbertson
The Prince: Federico Bonelli
Clara: Francesca Hayward
Hans-Peter/The Nutcracker: Alexander Campbell
Herr Drosselmeyer: Gary Avis
Concert master: Peter Manning
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Source: The Nutcracker (Thursday 8 December 2016, 7.30pm) — Productions — Royal Opera House

Tait Awardee, James Guan is playing in the finals of the Intercollegiate Piano Competition

James Guan, piano We are thrilled to confirm that 2016 Tait Awardee, James Guan, will be playing in London’s famous recital venue, Wigmore Hall tomorrow morning, competing as the Royal Academy of Music finalist in the Intercollegiate Piano Competition.
You can watch him on live stream, for those Aussies playing along at home it will be tonight at 6:55pm AWST and 9:55pm AEST. The Intercollegiate Piano Competition aims to provide students with an opportunity for outstanding students to perform at well known London concert venues.

James is a featured artist in our 2016 Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square on Wednesday 30th November. James will play Australian composer, Malcolm Williamson’s 2nd piano concerto with the Tait Chamber Orchestra. To book please click here

Final at Wigmore Hall – open to the public

10th November 2016
10am – 2:30pm
entry fee: £8
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP

box office tel: 0207 9352141

10:00 – 10:50 Jonathan Ferrucci, Guildhall School of Music & Drama
10:55 – 11:45 James Guan, Royal Academy of Music

— 30 minute break —

12:15 – 13:05 Ilya Kondratiev, Royal College of Music
13:10 – 14:00 Oda Voltersvik, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

approx. 14:15 announcement of the winner

The final is open to the public. The four finalists will each perform a 45-50 minute programme of own choice including the compulsory work. The announcement of the winner is made approx. 15 minutes after the end of the last performance.

Adjudicators

All four piano professors of the heats/the semi final
all or at least one of the following three:
Paolo Fazioli, creator and builder of Fazioli Pianos and sponsor of the recital at the Fazioli Concert Hall
John Gilhooly, director of Wigmore Hall
Stuart Mitchell, S. W. Mitchell Capital LLP, sponsor of the live recording of the Wigmore Hall recital
As chairman:
Terence Lewis, Managing Director of Jaques Samuel Pianos

Intercollegiate Piano Competition

The Jaques Samuel Pianos Intercollegiate Piano Competition has taken place annually since 1996. Our competition aims to provide students with an opportunity to compete against like minded musicians, to gain experience in piano specific competitions and give outstanding students the opportunity to perform at well known London concert venues. The competition heats begin in May with the final and semi-final in October.

The winner will perform a solo recital at Wigmore Hall and at the Fazioli Auditorium in Sacile, Italy. The Wigmore Hall Recital will be recorded and he/she will receive 500 professionally produced CDs. A further four entrants will win a solo lunchtime recital at St James’s Piccadilly.

The competition is open to
all students (first year to postgraduate) of the four main London music colleges: Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Sponsored by S.W.MITCHELL CAPITAL and FAZIOLI
www.swmitchellcapital.com and www.fazioli.com

For more information

please download the leaflet:
or contact us by e-mail: competition@jspianos.com.

Source: Intercollegiate Piano Competition at Jaques Samuel Pianos, London, UK

Miranda Keys' debut at The Royal Opera House

Australian dramatic soprano and former Tait Awardee, Miranda Keys, is to make her Royal Opera House debut in the 2016/17 Season as Marianne and Noble Widow (Der Rosenkavalier) with the American diva, Renee Fleming, singing the Marschallin.

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Miranda came to international attention in 2007 when she was a finalist in the Cardiff Singer of the World. She has gone on to sing at Glyndebourne, Aix en Provence Festival under Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Mark Elder with the Halle Orchestra.

Miranda Keys

Australian soprano Miranda Keys studied for her music degree at the Guildhall School Of Music in London. She completed the opera course at the Royal College of Music where she held the President Emerita Scholarship, the most prestigious scholarship the college can confer. She completed her studies at the National Opera Studio. She won the 2006 Wagner Society Bayreuth Bursary and the 2005 John Scott Award from Scottish Opera and was a main prize and song prize finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in 2007. Operatic roles include ELISABETH (Trieste and Bologna), ARIADNE (Salzburg Landestheater and Leipzig Oper), ODABELLA (Lyric Opera Dublin), MUSETTA (Glyndebourne on Tour), LADY BILLOWS (Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Salzburg Landestheater), ELETTRA (Glyndebourne on Tour), WITCH/MOTHER (Scottish Opera on Tour).

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Other roles include COUNTESS, FIORDILIGI, MISS WINGRAVE, MISS JESSEL, FEMALE CHORUS and MADAME LIDOINE. She has sung 3rd NORN in Götterdämmerung under Sir Simon Rattle (in Aix and Salzburg), Sir Mark Elder (for the Halle orchestra, recorded on the Halle label), Ed Spanjaard (Reisopera), and Donald Runnicles (BBC Proms). GERHILDE in Die Walküre for the Halle conducted by Sir Mark Elder and released on the Halle label (Manchester International Festival), AUFSEHERIN in Elektra (Rome and Bari), �FIDELIO conducted by Gianandrea Noseda (Turin). Recent highlights include AUFSEHERIN at Opera National de Paris conducted by Philippe Jordan, and at the BBC Proms conducted by Semyon Bychkov, MARIANNE LEITMETZERIN at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the BBC Proms conducted by Robin Ticciati and MISS JESSEL for Glyndebourne on Tour, LADY BILLOWS in Albert Herring (cond. Oksana Lyniv) and MARIANNE DI LEITMETZERIN in Der Rosenkavalier (cond. Kirill Petrenko) for Bayerische Staatsoper. Future highlights include her debut at The Royal Opera, London in Der Rosenkavalier (cond. Andris Nelsons) and a return to the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Miranda Keys website

Book for Rosenkavalier

Behind The Ring: Part Two – Die Walküre — Re:hearsal Magazine

Part two of young Australian opera director’s, Greg Eldridge’s, article about assisting Neil Armfield on Wagner’s, Ring Cycle for Opera Australia.

Stepping behind the curtain of Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle.

Auf der Erde Rücken wuchtet der Riesen Geschlecht

On the Earth’s surface dwells the race of Giants

– Wotan, Act 1 – Siegfried

The first time working for any company is a bit intimidating – make sure you get signed in, get a pass, meet a thousand people and try to remember exactly who does what. I’ve arrived in Sydney for the first month (!) of rehearsals, which will take place in The Opera Centre studios in Surry Hills. In London, I’m used to everything taking place in the flash of an eye (a week for a revival of Tosca, 10 days to get together a Traviata, perhaps 3 weeks for a new production of Così) so I’m looking forward to a process that will span 6 weeks in rehearsal studios, then a further 6 weeks on stage before opening night.

To read the full article please click here to go to Rehearsal Magazine

Source: Behind The Ring: Part Two – Die Walküre — Re:hearsal Magazine

Elena Xanthoudakis shines in Anna Bolena (Melbourne Opera)

We are thrilled to read this glowing review for Tait Awardee, Elena Xanthoudakis, who is singing the title role in Melbourne Opera’s production of Anna Bolena. Rob Holdsworth reviewed ‘Anna Bolena’ (Melbourne Opera) for Australian Book Review‘s Arts Update.

The star of Melbourne Opera’s Anna Bolena is Elena Xanthoudakis, last seen as Mary Stuart in 2015. Xanthoudakis has a fine soprano voice and is blessed with superlative technique and acting ability. What a performance this is! Whenever Xanthoudakis was on stage, the audience was riveted by Anne’s plight. The Act II mad scene that ends the opera, with its Home Sweet Home reminiscence, was especially poignant.

To read the full review please click here

Source: Anna Bolena (Melbourne Opera)

TAIT WINTER PROM 2016 – We return to St John's Smith Square

The Tait Memorial Trust 5th Annual Winter Prom.

: Jessica Cottis, Conductor: Colin Hattersley, Photography

Tait Winter Prom – Memories of Summer

The Tait Memorial Trust returns to St John’s Smith Square on Wednesday 30th November for their 5th annual Winter Prom. Now in its 24th year, the Trust supports young Australian performing artists who come to the UK to complete their advanced studies in music, dance and composition.

We are delighted to confirm that the Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency, The Hon. Alexander Downer AC and his wife Mrs Nicola Downer AM, have kindly agreed to be our Guests of Honour. They have been such loyal supporters of the Tait Trust, and we look forward to welcoming them on the night.

We are thrilled that Jessica Cottis has agreed to conduct and musically direct the Tait Chamber Orchestra, of young Australian musicians, and has selected the programme to showcase our award winners but also to acknowledge the tyranny of distance and the longing many of us feel for the wide open spaces of Australia.

Proudly supported by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia we invite you to join us as we explore our memories of Summer.

St John’s Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA

Wed 30 November – 7.30pm

£35, £28, £22, £15

taitmemorialtrust.org

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Memories of Summer

Tait Chamber Orchestra

Lisa Bucknell VIOLA

James Guan PIANO

Alexandra Hutton SOPRANO

Alexandra Isted VIOLIN

Katrina Sheppeard SOPRANO

Ashlyn Skye Tymms MEZZO SOPRANO

Chad Vindin PIANO

Jessica Cottis CONDUCTOR

Mozart

Sinfonia Concertante

for Violin, Viola and Orchestra K364

Wagner

Prelude and ‘Vorspiel and Liebestod’

from Tristan und Isolde

arr. by James Ledger

for Chamber Orchestra

(UK premiere)

Luke Styles

How they Creep

Bernstein

Glitter and be Gay

Barber

Must the winter come so soon

Williamson

Piano Concerto No. 2

wp14_cropped_1411 — Tait Chamber Orchestra, Tait Winter Prom 2014, St John’s Smith Square

Credits

Performers

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Miranda Keys

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The Tait Memorial Trust 5th Annual Winter Prom.

St John’s Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA

Wed 30 November – 7.30pm

£35, £28, £22, £15

Memories of Summer

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