Late Night Jazz – Tara Minton — Royal Albert Hall

Exciting news for Melbourne born, Harpist, Tara Minton. Tara joined us in our recent Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square, and has played us with many times over the past few years. Her versatility and quality of her performance is renowned, not only is she a talented classical harpist but she is quickly making a place for herself in the London jazz scene. Brava Tara from us all at the Tait Trust

static1-squarespace

On the 6th of April, I will be celebrating the launch of my new album, “The Tides of Love” at THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL! The band and I are playing the famous Elgar Room late night jazz sessions and you’re all invited!!!

I have the ridiculous honour of being joined by:
Ed Babar – Bass
Tom Early – Drums
Duncan Menzies – Violin
Filippo Dall’Asta – Guitar
Phil Merriman – Keyboards
Lilia Ioncheva – Percussion
Tim Boniface – Horns
Serena Braida – Backing Vocals
Put it in the diary, tickets are on sale now! This is a massive celebration of an album I’m hugely proud of, but also of 6 years of muddling through and finding my way in London – and all the people who have helped me on the journey. I can’t wait to share this with you.
Tara x

240_f_30980069_twmu3ufbvkfq9icyudnitfpxf3wnszpc

Tara Minton is a jazz harpist and vocalist from Melbourne, Australia. She is joined by an incredible band of musicians from the UK and Europe to present a new studio album, The Tides of Love. The work is based on a motif of ocean tides, with themes of love, loneliness, strength and hope woven throughout.Tara’s style mixes elements of jazz, folk and soul together, with a focus on storytelling through lyrics and music. She is often compared to Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitzgerald and draws inspiration from harpist Dorothy Ashby.Tara and her band regularly perform at festivals and jazz clubs, and run workshops in jazz harp and improvisation. Tara is also the only harpist to have performed on the iconic London Eye, and was chosen to honour the great Amy Winehouse at the unveiling of her statue in Camden Market.

Source: Late Night Jazz – Tara Minton — Royal Albert Hall

Australian dancer Joshua Price wins the 2016 Genée | Limelight

We wish to offer our warmest congratulations to the young Australian dancers who triumphed at the prestigious 2016 Genée International Ballet Competition which was held in Sydney this year. For Joshua Price, Maeve Nolan, Talia Fidra & Brayden Gallucci this is a major achievement. Bravi from us all at the Tait Memorial Trust.

We are inspired to continue with our fundraising for the 2017 Leanne Benjamin Awards as financial support, such as this is, so very important to our talented young dancers.

Limelight Magazine
by Jo Litson on December 12, 2016 (just now) filed under Dance | Comment Now 

Joshua Price wins a Gold Medal and the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award. Photo © Winkipop Media, image courtesy of the Royal Academy of Dance

The final of the 2016 Genée International Ballet Competition was a night that Joshua Price isn’t likely to forget. Not only was the 16-year old Australian awarded a Gold Medal by the judges, but he also captured the audience’s heart winning the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award.

The winners and judges at the 2016 Genée International Ballet Competition. Photo © Winkipop Media, image courtesy of the Royal Academy of Dance

Held at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, the final was also live-streamed, with viewers able to vote online as well at the venue. The Genée doesn’t automatically award a Gold Medal each year, but this year Maeve Nolan, another 16-year old Australian, also won Gold. Silver Medals were awarded to 15-year old Australian Talia Fidra and 17-year old Australian Brayden Gallucci, while Bronze Medals went to Madison Ayton, a 15-year old, also from Australia, and 18-year old Hamish Scott from the UK.The Gold Medal, which comes with a $10,000 prize, is awarded when a candidate demonstrates “exceptional technical skills, an innate response to music, outstanding performance qualities and charisma”. The Silver Medal is worth $6,000 and the Bronze $4000. The judges may choose to award more than one medal in each category – as they did this year – in which case the prize money is divided between them.

—-READ MORE—-

Source: Australian dancer Joshua Price wins the 2016 Genée

Leanne Benjamin joins Prix de Lausanne panel 2017 | Gramilano

We are delighted to report that our Patron, Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, has been asked to join the jury of the prestigious Prix de Lausanne 2017. This is a great honour and acknowledges Leanne’s stature in the world of classical ballet.

 Leanne Benjamin in The Royal Ballet's Manon ©ROH Johan Persson, 2011
Leanne Benjamin in The Royal Ballet’s Manon ©ROH Johan Persson, 2011

This year the Tait Memorial Trust, Leanne Benjamin Awards proudly supports three young Australian dancers:

Lauren Songberg, ballet – English National Ballet School
Chloe Keneally, ballet – English National Ballet School
Rebecca Blenkinsop, ballet – Royal Ballet School

The article below was published by gramilano.com on the 30th November.

Jury members announced for the Prix de Lausanne 45th edition

dancing-basilio-during-the-lausanne-final

The jury of 2017 is composed of nine major personalities from the dance world, presided over by the ’s Director, Kevin O’Hare.

O’Hare said,

The Prix de Lausanne is a wonderful opportunity for me to see the talented dancers of tomorrow. I see it as more than a competition; it is a place where our young dancers are encouraged, cared for and given the feedback that provides the foundation for their future careers.

Each of the jurors has a link with one of the competition’s partner schools and companies, or is a former prize winner. Other aspects taken into consideration in forming the panel are having a wide geographical representation, a mix of experiences, and a representation of different styles of dance.

The jury of this edition is made up of the following members:

  • Kevin O’Hare: Director, Royal Ballet London – President of the jury (England)
  • Leanne Benjamin: Prix de Lausanne Laureate 1981 (England)
  • Paola Cantalupo: Artistic and Educational Director, Ecole Supérieure de Danse Cannes-Mougins Rosella Hightower and Prix de Lausanne Laureate 1977 (France)
  • Gigi Hyatt: Director of Education and Deputy Director, Hamburg Ballet (Germany)
  • Sue Jin Kang: Artistic Director, Korean National Ballet (Korea)
  • Goyo Montero: Ballet Director and Choreographer, Staatstheater Nürnberg and Prix de Lausanne Laureate 1994 (Germany)
  • Aki Saito: Prix de Lausanne Laureate 1991 (Japan)
  • Christian Spuck: Artistic Director, Zurich Ballet (Switzerland)
  • Stanton Welch: Artistic Director. Houston Ballet (United-States)

Shelly Power, who is the Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer for the 2017 Prix de Lausanne, said,

I am honored to present the 2017 jury who collectively bring years of experience ranging from teaching, performing, directing and choreographing worldwide. Kevin O’Hare as President and his team of jury members will open doors and make dreams come true for the talented few who are about to embark on the next and perhaps most important step of their careers.

 

Booking
Tickets for all Prix de Lausanne 2017 events go on sale 15 December 2016
on prixdelausanne.org

 

Source: Jury members announced for the Prix de Lausanne 45th edition

Helen Sherman makes Strauss debut in Der Rosenkavalier, Opera North

Lovely to hear from 2007 Tait Awardee, Helen Sherman. Helen had great success in the 2011 Cardiff Singer of the World as Australia’s representative in this career making competition. She won the third prize in the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition in 2013.
As you can see from her year in review below, Helen is now singing in the very best houses and is an international singer of repute. This recording of Vivaldi’s, Bajazet by Pinchgut Opera has just been released. We look forward to hearing more about this exciting artist.
screen_shot_2016-10-07_at_11-17-25_am__30055_std
Available now from Fish Fine Music http://www.fishfinemusic.com.au/products/PG007/Pinchgut-Opera/Vivaldi-Bajazet/CD and also at http://www.pinchgutopera.com.au/cds/bajazet
Update from Helen
2016 has been a challenging and exciting year for me. Highlights included singing Dorabella in Opera North’s revival of Tim Albery’s production of ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ and Donna Elvira for Classical Opera’s Don Giovanni at Cadogan Hall. The jewel of the year for me however, was making my Strauss debut as Octavian in David McVicar’s iconic production of ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ with Opera North. There was something quite ‘out-of-body’ about having Sarah Connolly’s name stitched into my trousers! The music in ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ is really out of this world and this production is beautiful in every way. I really learned so much from this role. We sang a show the night the divisive US election result was announced; it reminded me how truly blessed we are as musicians to be able to transcend this world and all it’s troubles through our work. It also re-emphasised to me how relevant and important music is; it proves that together we can do incredible things.

Source: Helen Sherman

Rehearsing for the Prom | Lisa Bucknell & Alex Isted

Our Winter Prom is only two days away. Here is a snippet of a piano run for violist, Lisa Bucknell; violinist, Alex Isted & accompanist, Chad Vindin, who are rehearsing Mozart’s Concertante for Violin and Viola K 364. Lisa and Alex are both Masters graduates of the Royal College of Music and have already gained impressive solo and orchestral CV’s.

240_f_30980069_twmu3ufbvkfq9icyudnitfpxf3wnszpcTickets are still on sale for our concert at St John’s Smith Square celebrating our very talented awardees who have travelled to the UK to complete their advanced musical studies. The Tait Chamber Orchestra will be conducted by Jessica Cottis.

Duncan Rock | Harewood Young Artist | English National Opera

British/Australian baritone Duncan Rock was a Tait Awardee in 2008 and a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama  and the National Opera Studio, London. He has appeared in major roles at the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Théâtre du Châtelet, Deutsche Oper (Berlin), Teatro Real (Madrid), the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Opera North, the Boston Lyric Opera and Welsh National Opera.

We are thrilled to see the great success this very talented Western Australian singer has accomplished in a relatively short time. Below is a post from the ENO website about the Harewood Young Artists programme which gave him so many excellent opportunities. This type of advanced training/on the job experience is crucial to develop a great artist.

The Dowager Countess of Harewood was a professional violinist in Sydney and has been a dear friend of the Trust’s from the very beginning. We are honoured to say she is our Patron. To celebrate her 90th Birthday we are dedicating the performance of Mozart’s, Violin & Viola Concertante with Orchestra K364  to her in our 2016 Tait Winter Prom at St John’s Smith Square. Please come if you can. Book here

ENO Harewood Artists’ Match Campaign 2016

Support opera’s rising stars and see your donation double. More here

Donate now
From Monday, 21 November, to Thursday, 1 December, 2016, donations made to the ENO Harewood Artists’ programme will matched, making them twice as valuable to ENO.


We have £70,000 ready to be matched but we need your help to reach our target and unlock these vital funds. At ENO we are committed to nurturing talent. The ENO Harewood Artists’ programme makes a crucial contribution to developing the next generation of operatic stars. The programme costs over £200,000 a year to deliver and is funded entirely through donations.
The Harewood Artists’ programme provides exceptional training and mentoring to nine of the best British or British-trained singers at the beginning of their professional careers and gives opera’s rising stars the opportunity to develop and learn whilst being cast in roles on the London Coliseum stage. Each singer undertakes a programme of vocal and language training, is coached by experts in their repertoire and receives ongoing support from members of ENO’s artistic and music staff.
Previous Harewood Artists include Sophie Bevan, Katherine Broderick, Allan Clayton, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Iain Paterson, Duncan Rock and Sarah Tynan.
This season, our Harewood Artists performances include: Mary Bevan Don Giovanni; Andri Björn Róbertsson Tosca & Rigoletto; Nicky Spence Lulu; Matthew Durkan Rigoletto & Partenope; Katie Coventry, Soraya Mafi & David Webb The Pirates of Penzance; and Samantha Price The Winter’s Tale.
Matched support is generously donated by The Shears Foundation, The Queen Anne’s Gate Foundation and Talal & Lina Kanafani. For more information or to donate over the phone please contact patrons@eno.org or call 020 7845 9331.

ENO Harewood Artists’ Match Campaign 2016

On rejections | Seraglio

A non-musical pressed blog but so relevant to us too. A very well written piece about rejection and all that entails. Jenny’s debut novel THE SECRET SON received rave reviews in Australia…a little birdie tells me she quite like Wagner after seeing the Opera Australia, Ring. Might she be tempted to write an opera libretto (See we got back to music…)

thesecret-son

Jenny Ackland is a writer and teacher who lives in Melbourne. Her first novel THE SECRET SON was published by Allen & Unwin in September 2015, and her second novel LITTLE GODS is forthcoming in 2017. LITTLE GODS has a gothic Mallee 1980s setting and is about resilience and revenge.

I’m writing this mainly I guess for any writers who might be reading. Rejections (note the plural) are part of the game. And it is a game, not a fun game or one of manipulation, but of patience, perseverance, and professionalism. Another thing: it’s a long game.

I wrote about rejection here, for author Lee Kofman, and how me submitting a terribly-written travel article back in 1990 (and getting rightly rejected – and in retrospect it was a LOVELY ‘No’ letter, I have the feeling it came from Jonathan Green) meant that I didn’t submit anything for years. I didn’t stop writing, I’m not that precious or thin-skinned, but If I’d known then what I know now, a slow-dawning awareness that started building once I started writing seriously with a view to publication from 2008 onwards, I would have seen that not only was that piece a draft, wholly unworked and not worthy of appearance outside of my diary pages, rejection does not mean you are shit.

Now, as I am sitting with a completed second novel manuscript, the first draft of a third ready for next-stage development, and fourth in its early stages, I am so glad that not only was that pathetic travel piece denied its place in the canon lol, but also that the first few submissions I made to literary journals were nixed as well. I know now that my novels need a long, long time in the oven, with the preparation of them like one of those crazy recipes that have so many ingredients you almost decide not to cook the bloody thing, but then you think, well, give it a whirl, it’s the weekend, I’ve got the whole day, and you make the hugest mess of the kitchen, use every pot and pan, and you kind of enjoy it but kind of think ‘why am I even doing this?’ And it took me a while to realise that if I can manage my impatience by thinking ‘the thing will improve, take your time, this is nowhere near finished’ and resist rushing it to readers, an agent, the publisher, then the pressure comes off a bit.

Advice on how to attract a publisher

—–READ MORE—–

Source: On rejections | Seraglio

Jessica Cottis: “There’s still a block for women conductors” – Limelight Magazine

The conductor of this year’s Tait Memorial Trust concert on gender, education and musical styles.

It’s that time of year again in London when the beautiful concert hall at St. John’s Smith Square is taken over by the Australian, Tait Memorial Trust.

The venue will be filled with talented Australian musicians and singers, many having benefitted from a Tait music scholarship. November 30th will be an opportunity for audiences to hear a wonderful programme of music and spot the Australian stars of the future.

If you are living in London or have friends over there, you should rush to get tickets. Conducting and curating this concert will be the internationally acclaimed Australian-born conductor, Jessica Cottis. On a wet and stormy London morning we manage to Skype and I ask first about her involvement with the Tait Memorial Trust.

“I sit on their advisory board and together we make the artistic decisions for programming concerts,”

she says.

“I benefitted from a Tait scholarship myself so feel really excited to be working with students and professionals who have come up through the same route.”

—–READ MORE—–

Source: Jessica Cottis: “There’s still a block for women conductors”

Professional Ballet Dancer to Business Owner | Claudia Dean Coaches For Success | Ballet News

Former Tait Awardee Claudia Dean graduated from The Royal Ballet School in August 2011, having moved to London aged 16 to train at the Upper School in Covent Garden. She was the recipient of the Tait Memorial Trust, Dance Arches Award in 2011, and went on to be offered a contract by The Royal Ballet. In 2014 Claudia made the difficult decision to return home to Australia, we are delighted to see that this very talented young dancer is passing the baton to the next generation of aspiring dancers in her homeland. We wish her all the very best and look forward to hearing more about her work in Australia.

The article below was published by Ballet News, May 2015.

Claudia Dean | Ballet Dancer to Business Owner

Sprezzatura is the Italian word for nonchalance; the effortless art of making something difficult look easy. The sustained hard work needed to conceal the effort has been a hallmark of Claudia Dean’s training and professional ballet career.

Claudia Dean graduated from The Royal Ballet School in August 2011, having moved to London aged 16 to train at the Upper School in Covent Garden. In her native Australia she had been dancing since the age of four, and had won a number of prestigious competitions including the Gold Medal plus the Audience Choice Award at the Genée International Ballet Competition in 2009.

I interviewed Dean for my Student to Star series at the time of her graduation, a few weeks before she started work in the Company, and I asked her what she anticipated the differences might be between school and company life. She told me, “I think it’s going to be a bit of a change for me. I will be my own person having to be responsible for myself.  At school, you have teachers guiding you, although we work for ourselves, there is still a lot of extra support. Also, no uniform! I will have to decide what to wear each day which will be very different !”

—–READ MORE—–

Source: Professional Ballet Dancer to Business Owner | Claudia Dean Coaches For Success | Ballet News | Straight from the stage – bringing you ballet insights