WAGNER SOCIETY nsw ISSUE NO 23 CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF RICHARD WAGNER WAGNER QUARTERLY 150 SEPTEMBER 2018 Woodcut of the City of Nuremberg from the Nuremberg Chronicle 1493 QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS: HEATH LEES - THE GENIUS OF WAGNER’S MASTERSINGERS P.7 PETER BASSETT - LORTZING’S HANS SACHS AS INSPIRATION FOR DIE MEISTERSINGER P.8 COLIN MACKERRAS - DIE MEISTERSINGER IN BEIJING P.14 TERENCE WATSON REVIEWS DRESDEN P.19 The Wagner Society In New South Wales Inc. Registered Office75 Birtley Towers, Birtley Place, Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011 Print Post Approved PP242114/00002 September Newsletter Issue 23 / 150 1 Dr Antony Ernst’s Seminar on Tristan und Isolde on 5 August at the Uniting Church, Willoughby President Colleen Chesterman and Vice President Leona Geeves with Celeste Holmes at Celeste’s recital and talk at the Goethe Institut on 17 June 2 September Newsletter Issue 23 / 150 MEETINGS AND COMING EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY 2018 24 Sep – 2 Nov 4 Cycles of Keith Warner’s Ring at the Royal Opera House with Nina Stemme, ROH Covent Garden, London John Lundgren, Stefan Vinke and Stuart Skelton conducted by Antonio Pappano. 14-22 November Opera Australia’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. A co-production with Melbourne Arts Centre Covent Garden, the cast will include Melbourne Ring veterans James Johnson as Sachs, Stefan Vinke as Walter, Warwick Fyfe as Beckmesser, with Natalie Aroyan debuting as Eva. Details: https://opera.org.au/whatson/ events/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-melbourne 2019 30 Jan & 1 Feb The Bayreuth Festival in association with Katharina Wagner will present the The Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi Carsten Die Walkure in Abu Dhabi 9 Mar – 11 May The Ring at the Met New York 7 – 17 June The Ring in Kiel with Bradly Daley as Siegfried Kiel 13 – 23 June Wagner Days in Budapest. - 2 Ring Cycles. Information from Budapest www.finearttours.com COMING EVENTS 2018 - SUNDAY STARTING TIMES MAY VARY PLEASE CHECK THE SCHEDULE ONLINE FOR DETAILS DATE Some events may be subject to change and further detail in the LOCATION next newsletter 30 September 12.30pm: DVD: Wagner – a Genius in Exile 2014 film by Andy Sommer Goethe Institut 2.00pm: Brickbats and Bouquets - Bayreuth 2018 Presented by members who received tickets from the Wagner Society and attended the Bayreuth Festival 21 October 1.00 – 5.00pm: SEMINAR: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Dr David Larkin, Goethe Institut lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium, presents a seminar as background to the new ROH/Opera Australia Melbourne production on 13, 17, 19, 22 November. NO DVD 25 November 2.00pm: Concert by a special guest and outstanding young artists supported St. Columba Uniting Church. by the Wagner Society, followed by Christmas Party 53A Ocean St, cnr Forth St Woollahra Advice about changes to the Program will be emailed to people who have given their email addresses to the Society’s Webmaster; the latest updates will also be available on the Society’s webpage: www.wagner.org.au. Admission to each event will be $25 a Member, and $30 each non-Member, $10 (Full-time students) Seminar/Concert $40 (m), $45 (n-m), $20 (fts). Goethe-Institut address 90 Ocean Street Woollahra (corner of Jersey Road) DONATIONS RECEIVED SINCE Patron: Ms Simone Young AM JUNE 2018 Honorary Life Members: Mr Richard King Prof Michael Ewans Barbara Brady; Marco Belgiorno; Peter Craswell; John Fawcett; Richard Gastinea; Ray Hollings; Brett Johnson; Mr Horst Hoffman Richard King; Peter Rowe; Gary Richards Mr John Wegner AO Our thanks for the generous donations to help the Society’s objectives. Mr Roger Cruickshank September Newsletter Issue 23 / 150 3 PRESIDENT’S REPORT PRESIDENT’S REPORT The past three months have included a number of varied The Thursday night performance showed the strength events for the Wagner Society in NSW. One of the most WASO has developed in playing Wagner’s music. Stuart important was the distribution of tickets to Bayreuth to Skelton sang with great power and tenderness; in the last act members. As Bayreuth is preparing for a new Ring, 2018 he appeared without a jacket, his shirt pulled out, to remind had a limited offering of operas. Nonetheless 7 members us of his injury. Gun-Brit Barkmin sang with great strength applied for tickets and we were able to supply excellent seats and sensitivity and won the support of the audience in the to this small number from the tickets provided by the Friends role. Gubanova and Daniel were magnificent. Also excellent of Bayreuth and the Verband of Wagner Organisations. Our was bass Ain Agner, so often seen in roles such as Fafner or members were able to attend their choices from Tristan und Hunding, as the rejected King Marke. He was dignified, Isolde, Parsifal, Hollander, Meistersinger and Walkure from the tightly controlled in the face of his betrayal. There was a Castorf Ring. Those who have been in touch have been very moment’s silence at the conclusion before the audience leapt positive, particularly recent members Georgina Carnegie and to their feet with enthusiastic applause. Mandy Shaul who have been delighted by the experience. On Friday night the Western Australian Wagner Society hosted In June we welcomed Celeste Haworth, a mezzo-soprano from celebratory drinks in the Concert Hall foyer, attended by both Sydney who has degrees in music from Sydney and Vienna Asher and Stuart. Asher praised the work of his orchestra and who was most recently a principal soprano at the State and could not resist showing us all the wooden holztrompete, Opera in Wiesbaden. She described her career in Europe and which had been specially made for these performances and sang beautifully. But it is apparent that many members are which rang out in the second act. The WASO brass section also away in June, so attendance was small and we will return to the has a beautiful set of German-made instruments. committee decision to not have a meeting that month. A second performance took place on the following Sunday. In early August, the always popular Antony Ernst, now Nobody who attended these performances would regret it. director of the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen, gave In this newsletter NSW Wagner Society members have given a seminar on Tristan und Isolde. An enthusiastic audience their views, all very positive. filled the Willoughby Uniting Church to listen to him. We have much to look forward to in the next three months. He emphasised the importance of the relationship which In September we will have a feedback session from those overwhelms the two characters, pointing to the und which members who are attending Bayreuth. Some members are links the characters so strongly, between the focus on Isolde going to the Keith Warner Ring at Covent Garden, with Nina in Act 1 and on Tristan in Act 3. In Act 2 und establishes the Stemme and Stefan Vinke as the leads, and we look forward intensity of their passion. As usual, volunteers from the Society to hearing from them as well. In October David Larkin provided a range of delicious contributions for afternoon tea, will provide us with an introduction to Die Meistersinger von much enjoyed by us all. Nurnberg, which many of us will be attending in Melbourne in November. And we expect to have a very special guest for Antony’s eloquent discussion of Tristan und Isolde was our Christmas celebration. particularly appreciated by the large number of members th who travelled to Perth for WASO’s celebration of its 90 I would like to thank new Committee Member Lis Bergman anniversary with two performances of this opera. The NSW is assisting Jenny Edwards with the web-page and e-mails to Wagner Society and many of our members had contributed members. to support Stuart Skelton in the role of Tristan, and we were warmly welcomed because of this. Sadly, Dutch soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek withdrew because of illness two weeks NOTE FROM THE EDITOR before, but WASO found an excellent replacement in Gun- Brit Barkmin, singing Isolde for only the second time. Dear members, I hope you enjoy this September Small, intense and with a voice of great depth, she was a Meistersinger edition and like the more substantial articles strong replacement. Asher Fisch supported her sensitively and reviews that I have included. I invite to you to send particularly during the Lieberstod, me articles for future issues, especially your thoughts on the various Wagner productions around the world The performances and two associated events constituted a that many of you have attended this year. Thank you festival. On the night before the first performance, Asher to members Minnie Biggs, Esteban Insausti, Mailis Fisch, using the piano to illustrate the points he was making, Wakehamn and Terence Watson who have contributed described his passion for Wagner’s music and underlined its wonderful reviews. Special thanks to Peter Bassett, originality, its power and musicality. He then interviewed the Heath Lees and Colin Mackerras from other Antipodean two experienced singers performing Brangane (Ekaterina Wagner Societies who have allowed me to republish their Gubanova) and Kurwenal (Boaz Daniel), whom Asher had very interesting articles.nts. I appeal to all members to known before both had left Israel as young men seeking submit articles or reviews. careers in music). It was a bravura lecture and identified Mike Day many aspects of the opera, its power and brilliance. 4 September Newsletter Issue 23 / 150 REPORTS ON MUSICAL EVENTS AND MEETINGS REPORTS ON MUSICAL EVENTS AND MEETINGS 17 JUNE MEETING AUSTRALIAN To a final question regarding young upcoming singers, MEZZO-SOPRANO CELESTE HAWORTH Celeste suggested that they learn French, Italian and German, and go overseas, as there is no way to learn, and Following a brief introduction by Leona, Celeste sang an no set path to learning how to sing.