As we look back at John Amis’ funeral on Tuesday 20th August the idea of a legacy, a tangible way to remember John has been at the forefront of our thoughts. A life, such as his is a rare occurrence and deserves our very best efforts to remember and celebrate.
For the last six years of his incredible life John Amis was a Patron and an active supporter of the Tait Memorial Trust. The Chairman, Isla Baring OAM, wishes to create an Award in his name to be called the ‘John Amis Award’.
We have created a JustGiving page in the name of John Amis which is attached to the main TMT JustGiving page. Any money donated via John’s page will go directly to fund this new award. We are delighted to report that the fund has got off to a good start with the donations made at John’s funeral and committal.
Please donate to this award using the button below.
The founding Patrons of the Tait Memorial Trust were Viola, Lady Tait AM, Dame Joan Sutherland AC OM DBE, John McCallum AO CBE and Googie Withers AO CBE.
The Tait Memorial Trust was formed in 1992 by Isla Baring OAM, in memory of her father, Sir Frank Tait and his four brothers. The Tait brothers ran the biggest theatrical group in Australia; called J.C. Williamsons, often referred to as, “The Firm”.
Manager of the ABC, Sir Frank Tait, Marion Anderson, USA Consul, Town Hall concert, Melbourne, 1962 Part of Lady Viola Tait collection
They owned theatres in all states and theatres in New Zealand,, their base of operations was Her Majesty’s ( or His Majesty’s for a period ) in Melbourne,. They employed local artists and international artists such as Pavlova, Chaliapin, Melba, Danny Kaye, Gracie Fields, Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike, Margot Fonteyn, Vivien Leigh, Percy Grainger and many more.
They maintained offices in London and New York to ensure that they could book the best talent to come to Australia, JC Williamson’s famously acquired the Australian performing rights from the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company for all of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
Dame Nellie Melba, Soprano
They put on most American musicals from Annie get your Gun to My Fair Lady. Sir Frank’s last enterprise, the crowning glory of his long career was the Sutherland-Williamson Opera Company in 1965. A company formed the previous year with no subsidy and brought opera to Australia, on tour. A true laurel in the crown of JC Williamson’s and Sir Frank Tait.
Googie Withers AO CBE & John Macallum AO CBE, Founding Patrons of the Tait Memorial Trust
Viola, Lady Tait, the widow of Sir Frank Tait, wrote, ‘A Family of Brothers’, a wonderful book and vivid account of the growth of the Tait brothers theatre business culminating in the golden days of JC Williamson’s Theatre Company and the Sutherland-Williamson Co. of 1965. Viola, Lady Tait’s zest for life was inspirational. She was a champion of new and emerging talent, adjudicating numerous scholarships and awards both in Australia and overseas. As an adjudicator for The Shell-Mobil Quest in 1950, Viola Tait was famously instrumental in launching Joan Sutherland’s career.
Lady McKell and Viola Tait at opening of the ballet, ca. 1950 Part of Lady Viola Tait collection 1850-1976. National Library of Australia Archive
It became Sir Frank’s ambition to present Joan Sutherland to the Australian public after her international acclaim. The Sutherland Williamson Grand Opera Company opened in Melbourne in 1965 heralding her triumphant return to her homeland. It was a season never to be forgotten. Joan Sutherland sang some of the best performances of her career while on this tour. She performed in five of the eight operas along with the young Pavarotti.
In Richard Bonynge’s words:
“Sir Frank Tait has done the greatest service to Australian Theatre and to the arts of anyone we know.”
Dear Friends, I really appreciate all the warm, caring and loving messages I have received in the past week. Many of you have asked for details of the funeral and memorial services.
I really appreciate all the warm, caring and loving messages I have received in the past week. Many of you have asked for details of the funeral and memorial services.
The funeral will take place on Tuesday 20 August 2013 at 11am at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate Church, Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2DQ (directions below), followed by a short service and burial in Aldeburgh on Wednesday 21 August at 12pm, at St Peter & St Paul’s Parish Church. All welcome.
Directions:St Sepulchre without Newgate is located at the junction of Holborn Viaduct and Giltspur Street. Nearest tube stations are St Paul’s (Central line) and Farringdon (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines). The church is located almost exactly opposite City Thameslink overground station.
John Amis Award
For the last six years of his incredible life John Amis was a Patron and an active supporter of the Tait Memorial Trust. The Chairman, Isla Baring OAM, wishes to create an Award in his name to be called the ‘John Amis Award’. Any money donated via this page will go directly to fund this new award.
ISLA BARING has been awarded the Order of Australian Medal (OAM) general division for her service to the arts — supporting young Australian musicians and performing artists!
Isla Violet Baring OAM founded The Tait Memorial Trust in 1992 in memory of her father, Sir Frank Tait and his brothers, who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. Isla’s mother, the singer Viola Tait, inspired her to organise a fundraising concert in support of a young Australian singer, Liane Keegan, who was newly arrived in London. It kicked off with a Christmas Concert at Australia House. The concert was a great success, became the foundation of our yearly events and Liane is now singing major roles in Berlin.
The Tait Memorial Trust has since then raised more than £150,000 to help support young Australian musicians and dancers who need financial assistance while they are studying in the U.K. The Trust offers grants for study, performance opportunities to young musicians and performing artists as well as general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK. Many of the young Artists continue to achieve world recognition and perform at the Tait’s Rush Hour concert series which regularly presents emerging and established Australian talent.
Isla lives in London and France, travels frequently to Australia and other spots around the world.
The Tait Memorial Trust was formed in 1992 by Isla Baring OAM in memory of her father Sir Frank Tait and his four brothers who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. It also recognises with an annual award the major contribution of her mother, Viola, Lady Tait – who died in 2002 – as a founding patron of the Trust.
Sir Frank and Viola, Lady Tait ca. 1960
The Trust offers awards/grants for post-graduate study, performance opportunities to young Australian musicians and performing artists, and general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK. Through the Royal Over-Seas League it grants a scholarship to ‘the Australian musician showing the most promise’ in the Annual Music Competition. The Trust also grants a prize to the winner of Opera Foundation Australia’s Covent Garden National Opera Studio Scholarship. The Trust also contributes financially to the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation, Bel Canto Awards and will provide a concert platform in London to the winner.
In 2013 the Trust created a new scholarship at the Royal College of Music to be known as the ‘Tait Scholar’. In addition to this, the Trust continues to support its numerous existing awards: the Sir Charles Mackerras chair with the Southbank Sinfonia; grants to young Australian dancers with the Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School and the Rambert Dance Company; grants to singers with the Wales International Academy of Voice and a special award to a finalist in the Mietta Song Recital Award in Melbourne.
The Trust has helped many young singers, dancers and instrumentalists who have subsequently performed with British orchestras and in leading opera houses and ballet companies, including Li-Wei, Lauren Easton, Miranda Keys, Morgan Pearse, Jayson Gillham, Liane Keegan, Tristan Dyer, Benjamin Bayl, Amy Dickson, Duncan Rock, Grant Doyle, Valda Wilson, Julian Gavin, Derek Welton, Claire Howard, Kate Howden, Lisa Bucknell, Helena Dix, Elena Xanthoudakis and Joanna Cole.
To ensure its continuance the Trust arranges regular fund raising events and 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. The Tait Performing Arts Association, formed in November 2011 in Australia, the Tait Performing Arts Association supports the same ideals as the Trust. Please help us to build our new Foundation in Australia so we can work together to spread our wings and help nurture our young talent to survive in this competitive world.
Tait Brothers
In Melbourne, Australia, three years before the turn of the century, a family of five sons of John Turnbull Tait, a sheep farmer in Lerwick, Shetland who had emigrated to Australia in 1860, emerged 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 9,000 ft film on the capture of the notorious Ned Kelly Gang. The film was a sensation and was played in every 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 J C Williamson in 1920 to form the largest theatrical empire in the world, offering a constant flow of ballet, drama, grand opera and musical comedy.
They presented world famous celebrities such as Melba, Chaliapin, Flagstad, Pavlova, Harry Lauder, David Oistrakh, Margot Fonteyn, Menuhin and many others. In 1957, Frank Tait was made a Knight Batchelor by the Queen in recognition of the major contribution he and his brothers has given 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. Richard Bonynge as Artistic Director engaged a team of world renowned principals and internationally successful Australian artists. One of the principals was Luciano Pavarotti, a young tenor from Modena. The chorus was all 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 return of Dame Joan to her homeland. It was a season never to be forgotten. In Richard Bonynge’s words: “Sir Frank Tait has done the greatest service to Australian Theatre and to the arts of anyone we know.”
Sir Frank 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 Australian theatre.
Viola, Lady Tait (1911-2002)
Viola. Lady Tait
Lady Tait’s zest for life was an inspiration. These qualities remained with her always together with a remarkable memory, clarity of mind and youthful outlook. She was a champion of new and emerging talent, adjudicating for numerous scholarships and awards both in Australia and overseas. As an adjudicator for The Mobil Quest in 1950, Viola was instrumental in launching Joan Sutherland’s careerAnother of her loves was writing and researching theatre history. She amassed a formidable collection of theatre memorabilia and was the author of The Family of Brothers (1971), which chronicled the contribution of the Tait brothers to Australian theatre.
Her last book, Dames, Principal Boys and all that: A History of Pantomime in Australia (2001) was lavishly launched at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, the home of the Tait-Williamson empire. When Viola’s death was announced the illuminated sign outside the Theatre read “Farewell Lady Tait, Star”.
Isla Baring OAM
9 JUNE 2009 — AN HONOUR RECOGNIZES THE TAIT TRUST
ISLA BARING has been awarded the Order of Australian Medal (OAM) general division for her service to the arts — supporting young Australian musicians and performing artists!
Isla Violet Baring OAM founded The Tait Memorial Trust in 1992 in memory of her father, Sir Frank Tait and his brothers, who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. Isla’s mother, the singer Viola Tait, inspired her to organise a fundraising concert in support of a young Australian singer, Liane Keegan, who was newly arrived in London. It kicked off with a Christmas Concert at Australia House. The concert was a great success, became the foundation of our yearly events and Liane is now singing major roles in Berlin.
The Tait Memorial Trust has since then raised more than £150,000 to help support young Australian musicians and dancers who need financial assistance while they are studying in the U.K. The Trust offers grants for study, performance opportunities to young musicians and performing artists as well as general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK. Many of the young Artists continue to achieve world recognition and perform at the Tait’s Rush Hour concert series which regularly presents emerging and established Australian talent.
Isla Baring is proud to be founding patron of the London Lyric Opera now in their fifth year and founded by James Hancock. The London Lyric Opera is a young company with ambitions to fill a niche in the UK opera scene by producing high quality concerts in the United Kingdom.
Isla lives in London and France, travels frequently to Australia and other spots around the world.
Darling John died peacefully last night at the Chelsea and Westminster – I was with him at the time.
His last two months have been a struggle – Scotland for a month, then in London for 5 weeks. The doctors and nurses gave him wonderful care and support.
I will miss him enormously, but shall remember all the wonderful times we shared together with so many of our dear friends, and so grateful for the music which brought us together. As Humphrey Burton says, “the very spirit of music…unforgettable and irreplaceable”.
John Preston Amis ( 17 June 1922 – 01 August 2013)
Australian pianist, Primavera Shima, has been the recipient of major prizes and awards in numerous national and international competitions. The Tait Memorial Trust are delighted that Miss Shima has agreed to play in our Tait Winter Prom and will open the second half of the concert with a Schumann Romance and, for the first time in the UK, Guido Agosti’s thrilling transcription of a suite from Stravinsky’s ever-popular ballet The Firebird.
Most recently, she won the first prize in the Cecile Edel-Latos Competition in Chatou, and reached the keyboard finals in the Royal Overseas League Competition in London where she received the Overseas Award and the Tait Memorial Trust Scholarship. In 2010, she became the first ever dual recipient of the Sterndale Bennett Prize and the Scholarship since its inception 140 years ago. The same year, she received the Managing Director’s Award in the Jaques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition. She won the first prize in the Werner Baer Memorial Award in 2004, and in 2009, reached the semi-finals of the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition with an Encouragement Award. After being selected as one of the state-finalists in the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Award in 2001, she performed an hour long live programme on the 2MBS-FM. In 2011, she reached the semi-finals for both the Pancho Vladigerov International Piano Competition in Bulgaria, and the 5th Campillos International Piano Competition in Spain.
Primavera performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 with the East-West Orchestra at the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, under the baton of Henryk Pisarek. She made her Paris debut at the Salle Cortot in 2012.
Primavera gained a first class mark for her final recital and received her Bachelor’s Degree with Honours from the Royal Academy of Music in London. Previously, she studied at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, and the Juilliard Pre-College in New York. Her teachers have included John Perry, Margaret Hair, Elizabeth Powell, Herbert Stessin, and Ian Fountain. She has also participated in Masterclasses given by Marc Durand and Lev Vlassenko. She is currently studying at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris under the direction of Marian Rybicki.
Delighted to hear that Tait Memorial Trust awardee, Helena Dix is to sing the title role in Cristina, regina di Svezia at Wexford Festival Opera Performances on the 25th, 28th, 31st October and the 3rd of November 2013.
Soprano, Helena Dix to sing the tile role in Cristina, regina di Svezia at Wexford Festival Opera 2013
Having won the Wagner Society’s 2012 Bursary Competition, Helena Dix has begun to establish herself as one of the UK’s up-and-coming Wagnerian sopranos.
Australia-born Helena has had a great deal of success in competitions, most notably representing Australia in the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. Helena was also runner up in the prestigious Herald Sun Aria, a finalist in the McDonalds Aria held at the Sydney Opera House and won the Nino Sanciolo scholarship to further her studies in Italy. Helena has been successful in many competitions in London and competed in the finals of the ‘Songmakers Almanac’, the Opera Rara Bel Canto prize, Blyth Buesst Opera Prize, Clonter Opera prize and the Richard Lewis competition.
Helena’s operatic repertoire includes Flowermaiden, Parsifal for English National Opera, Rosalinde, Die Fledermaus and Hanna Glawari, The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera where she has also covered Frasquita, Carmen and Karolina in The Two Widows, Fiordiligi, Cosi fan tutte, Donna Anna, Don Giovanni and Nella, Gianni Schicchi for The Opera Project, Li-Li Greed for the Glyndebourne Young Artist Project and Musetta in La Boheme for Opera Novella. She has also covered the title role Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera. Other roles have included Felice School for Fathers, Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte, Title role Thais, Cio-Cio San, Madama Butterfly, Elvira, Ernani , Violetta, La Traviata and Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon.
Helena is in high demand on the international concert stage. She has sung with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah, receiving critical praise for her performance, and returning as soloist in several performances of Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor and Carmina Burana. Recently, she returned to Australia to sing as a guest artist at Opera in the Alps and give a series of recitals including one for The Melba Trust at The Kooyong Tennis club.
In London her concert engagements include Handel Messiah, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle Mozart Coronation Mass in C, Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Oratorio de Noel by Rheinberger, Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio, Brahms Requiem, Richard Strauss Four Last Songs, Mendelssohn Elijah, Beethoven 9th Symphony, Mozart Exsultate Jubilate, Faure Requiem, Britten War Requiem, Orff Carmina Burana, Haydn’s Creation and Verdi Requiem for which she is always in demand. Helena has performed in many of the UK’s leading venues, including The Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Cadogan Hall, Westminster Abbey, St. James Piccadilly, St John’s Smith Square, Dorchester Abbey, St.Paul’s, Ripon, Guildford and Gloucester Cathedrals. Her credits with orchestras include the RPO and she has sung under the baton of conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Simone Young, Matthew Willis, Giuseppe Finzi and Mark Wigglesworth.
Since having won the Wagner Society’s Bursary Competition, Helena has performed in the 2012 Bayreuth Stipendiatenkonzert at the Festspielhaus for members of Wagner’s family and recently sang in Karlsruhe as part of the International Wagner prize. She gave a concert of Strauss Lieder with the Music Camp Orchestra and then went on to perform Strauss’ Four Last Songs at Cadogan Hall.
Upcoming engagements include her ongoing contract with Lübeck as Elettra in Idomeneo ,the Title role in La Gioconda in Vallodiad, Erste Dame in Magic Flute at the Tobacco Factory, Verdi requiem at The Royal Albert Hall, Strauss Songs at St. John’s Smith Square and Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with Northampton Symphony.
John Amis has lived a life surrounded by the greats of modern British music. At Dulwich College, South London he was close friends with the satirical/ witty composer, Donald Swann. In his professional life Britten, Tippett and Walton, to name a few, were his friends and contemporaries. He followed and nurtured their careers, wrote about their work, broadcast about them on BBC radio and on BBC television, the justly famous, ‘Music Now’ brought his wit and comprehensive knowledge into the nation’s living rooms.
John is now 91 and is very ill. Thankfully he is being visited by many of his old friends and colleagues, his reaction to them is lovely to witness. Isla and all of the members of the Tait Memorial Trust pray for a swift recovery and ask that you join us in asking for John’s health to be restored to him so he can continue the active life for which he is so famous.
This is a recent portrait of John Amis by the celebrated Australian artist, June Mendoza. This is the John that many of us have come to know and love. We so want him to return.
If you would like to send a personal message to John or wish to pay him a visit please use the contact form attached
A clip of John from the May 1971 BBC broadcast of ‘Music Now’. A special programme made about the premiere of the new Benjamin Britten opera made for Television and commissioned by the BBC, Owen Wingrave.
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![Lady McKell and Viola Tait at opening of the ballet, ca. 1950 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.7 x 15.2 cm. Part of Lady Viola Tait collection [picture]. 1850-1976.](http://taitmemorialtrust.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/nla-pic-vn3600854-v.jpeg)
