newsletter march 2018

Next RecitalSaturday14th April 2018

7.30pm‘An Evening of Song’

From ASP President, Dr Harry Cohen

An enjoyable and successful year has passed for ASP, and here we are, launching into another year of fine singing.June and I thoroughly enjoy our time with ASP, watching these young musicians develop and refine their chosen path in life. It’s irrelevant whether or not any of them become superstars, our audiences love to hear song in its finest form, that is art song – a very difficult genre to conquer. We will continue to present our excellent concerts in 2018, and if you enjoy our concerts, tell your friends, and bring them along. These young people, as well as your hard-working Committee, need your support!

2018 recital series

Please note these important dates for your diary

7.30pm Saturday 14 April Recital3.00pm Sunday 10 June Recital3.00pm Sunday 15 July Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship7.30 pm Saturday 29 September Recital

Venue: Church of the Resurrection, 105 Shenton Road, Swanbourne WA 6010

Art Song Perth proudly supported by:

From Artistic Director, Marilyn Phillips

Another year passed quickly, with a series of five excellent varied recitals, with singers from Perth, and some who had returned to Perth after overseas study and professional singing.

It’s always gratifying to welcome back singers who have been the recipients of scholarships and prizes, including the Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Scholarship, and others who have received other awards, enabling them to travel and work overseas.

Our newsletter contains letters from three past Art Song Perth singers: Bonnie de la Hunty, Louis Hurley, and Dani Sicari. All three are enjoying their time in respectively Holland, London and Manchester. They all want to sing for ASP

again – but sadly, their Christmas holidays don’t coincide with our season!

Our launch this year was successfully held with an informal presentation of songs, old and new, but particularly presenting songs by female composers. This will be a feature of 2018, to address the hidden gems of works by neglected female composers. Singers, some of whom will appear in 2018, presented a variety of song, from exquisite Clara Schumann to Cole Porter.

This year we will be holding the ERTS award on July 15th. We are delighted that eminent Perth baritone James Clayton will chair our adjudicating panel.

Variety will again be the keynote to ASP recitals in 2018. Classical song is not as dull as you thought! Perth’s liveliest and scintillating song presentations will be available to you at the Church of the Resurrection. However, we won’t be neglecting gentler lyrical song, contrast being an essential in planning and presenting recital programmes.

Our final recital of 2018 will present soprano Emma Matthews, recently returned to Perth as Head of Classical Voice at WAAPA. Tenor Paul O’Neill will join Emma. Two remarkable singers who have chosen to return to Perth to continue their careers. This will be a recital not to be missed!

Part of presenting our excellent recital programmes to you includes our social gatherings afterwards. Our excellent Committee all contribute to these informal suppers, particularly June and Harry Cohen. Publicity is looked after by Leah Guelfi and Yann Kee, and Kate Goyder designs our excellent posters. Secretary Sprice (Sheila Price) is a wizard on computer matters, and has produced this beautiful newsletter. Colin Heinzman ensures we don’t overspend, and all financial transactions have to be approved by Mr. Treasurer! Tony Kane contributes excellent repertoire suggestions along with amusing stories of musical celebrities met in his days as shop assistant at Selfidges in London. We work hard to keep ASP in communication with other musical organisations and institutions as well as the general public. Paid publicity is out of the question for small non-profit arts groups, and so we work hard to distribute our leaflets, as well as putting out publicity on social media and local newspapers.

We very much look forward to meeting you, and hopefully new friends at our 2018 concerts. Please tell us what songs you would like to hear, what you enjoy, and how we might improve any presentations for our audience. We value what you say – after all, a recital wouldn’t happen without an audience!

With warmest wishes

Marilyn

Art Song Perth Launch, 23rd March - a wonderful evening showcasing what’s to come this season……

The fabulous performers - Alessia Pintabona, Kate Goyder, Liam Auhl, Yann Kee & Leah Guelfi

Kate Goyder

Liam Auhl with his ‘little list’!

Yann Kee

Alessia Pintabona

Marilyn Phillips

Happy launch goers Pauline Handford and Alan Bittles

Judith Barrett, winner of the raffle, a 2018 season ticket with ASP secretary, Sheila Price

Louis Hurley - ERTS winner 2016

I'm currently sat in a park on a gorgeous and sunny December day here in London. Although the sun is out it's hard to find the motivation to take my hands off my warm coffee cup and keep typing - it is so cold! Whilst you are all enjoying the beginnings of another Perth summer, I thought I would tell you all what I've been up to since starting at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in September.

Life over here is so vastly different. This seems like an obvious statement, but I don't think I really prepared myself properly for the sheer culture shock I was going to experience. I've now been here three months and I can't tell you how many operas I've already been to see. I have been lucky to meet friends who have shown me the ropes on how to score the best student tickets at the ROH and ENO. I've been to Wigmore Hall a handful of times as well, and they often have £5 student tickets for any seat in the house. Good coffee is hard to find, but when it is good, it's really good (the trick is to find an Australian barista). The tube is often dank and warm, but super efficient, and of course there is nothing more satisfying than sitting up top on a big red bus around the centre of London.

I've just finished my first term at the Guildhall, and it has been such a blur of stress and excitement. I've had a number of performances already and have a few to look forward to in the new year. I'm currently singing a lot of Britten repertoire, but only by complete coincidence (those who know me well know that I would choose to sing Britten every day of the week if I could)! I have just recently finished a performance of Opera Scenes in which I played the Earl of Essex in Gloriana (see post show photo attached). I'm now preparing to sing Quint in a sizeable chunk of Turn of the Screw for our next set of scenes, and I'm also preparing Britten's Canticle I for a concert as part of Graham Johnson's Song Guild in February. Excitingly, I will be making my Wigmore Hall debut in January as part of a Schubert recital dedicated to his part-songs, with a few Guildhall School boys, as well as Ben Johnson, Nick Pritchard, Stefan Loges, and Graham Johnson at the piano. I'll be returning to sing there again in June as part of Wigmore Voiceworks, a programme where a few singers are paired up with fellow composers and writers from the Guildhall to create brand new works to be premiered in the great venue.

For now I am giving myself permission to have a rest and enjoy some of my Christmas break without stressing too much over learning music. My coffee has well and truly lost its warmth by now, I'm off to get another!

Louis, third from the right

I finished my two years of study at RAM at the end of June this year. It was such a formative time for me - living in a huge, busy city like London, meeting many different kinds of people and making new friends, having my eyes opened to the amazingly rich musical world in London and the rest of Europe, and learning from incredible teachers and peers, taught me so much about myself as well as singing. I wanted to stay in Europe for a bit longer after I finished, and to do one more year of study while still gaining performing experience. So I decided to undertake another year of post-Masters study, at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Netherlands. My course is an Artist Diploma in Early Music (Singing), and I specifically chose to do it here for the strong Early Music department at the Conservatory and amazingly popular Early Music scene in the Netherlands. The Hague is a very liveable city.There aren’t as many concerts and operas and things to see here as in London, but Amsterdam (and even London for that matter) is not so far away. I like the Dutch people, the food, the language (listening only - the Dutch people are far too good at English for me to get much practice at speaking it), art

history and culture, and having forests in the middle of the city and a beach close by, which I missed when I was in London. The cost of living is substantially less than London too. I am learning to cycle everywhere, and to become more Dutch in doing so in rain or shine…! The weather here is pretty similar to the UK, except that it rains more heavily when it rains. I do miss our beautiful Perth weather. There is so much music here - I am mystified and delighted by the whole country’s obsession with J.S. Bach, and fellow musicians are so keen to collaborate on chamber music together that I have quickly become quite busy with this and with school performances. In between finishing in London and starting here in The Hague, I had the most magical summer. I spent 5 weeks in Baden bei Wien, near Vienna, Austria, studying German lieder and poetry at the Franz Schubert Institut. I’ve wanted to do this course for years - German lieder is some of my favourite repertoire - and this felt like the right time for me to go. Along with 16 other singer-pianist duos, we attended a morning poetry class, 5 hours of masterclasses, and individual coaching, every day from 9am to 9pm for the five weeks... We each prepared 24 songs in great detail, so throughout the course we must have heard over 400. The intensity of this was something we all learnt to embrace after a while, and of course, we were able to wind down in the evenings with beautiful local wines at the Heurigen around town. We had some great excursions as well - hikes in the Vienna Woods, beautiful vineyards, Medieval monasteries, a cruise on (and a chilly swim in) the Danube… and several concerts to perform throughout. The list of names of master teachers was quite incredible - Elly Ameling, Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Robert Holl, Wolfram Rieger, Andreas Schmidt, Birgid Steinberger, and Roger Vignoles - as were our various musical and language coaches, and poetry seminars with Deen Larsen. Alongside this language study, I practised my German every day with my lovely host, who didn’t speak English, so it did improve a lot. It was this cultural immersion and the friendships I made with peers and coaches that I enjoyed the most. It was an exhausting trip, but just the most special experience.Life after June 2018 is still to be determined, as I am still exploring what might be possible here in Europe. But Perth will always be home, so I definitely plan to be back often at least. 

Bonnie de la Hunty

Bonnie (L) and her pianist partner, Rebecca (from Wales), with Elly Ameling (C)

Dani Sicari

I’m very excited to be back in Perth visiting for Christmas! Soaking up as much sun as I can before going back to 5 hour daylight and -3deg weather!  I’ve now completed my Masters of Music and have stayed on at RNCM for the Graduate Diploma. It is essentially a year of lots of performing and lessons with minimal writing... ideal!  The Masters was fantastic and I must say I learnt a lot about what is expected of me in the profession. Very grateful for WAAPA and recital series like ArtSong that gave me learning and performing tools to prepare me for that! Always learning though!  Some highlights of the Masters were performing in the operas, performing ArtSong with the Songsters program and the Strauss Prize! Despina in Cosi fan Tutte was a bit of a turning point for me. First time doing Italian recitative, and the first time performing a substantial role. I’m thoroughly enjoying Manchester. I’ve recently just moved into a new flat with some RNCM alumni and we live next to my favourite park which now has a GOOD CAFE too!  These things are important. It’s an old church that has been converted into flats. Just beautiful! A pianist, opera singer and French horn player live in a church... sounds like it could be the start to a joke. It has definitely become second home and it feels like that whenever I return. The music scene is wonderful and travel is insanely easy! Scotland, London, Leeds and Wales... only a train or drive away.  Although it might be dark and rainy in the winter, the beautiful Christmas markets and festive ambiance makes up for it. Knowing that I can travel around Europe in the Summer without it costing me an arm and a leg is something to look forward to as well. I did that this year and it was amazing! If only coming to Aus was as simple! At the moment I’m trying to make Christmas/New Year in Perth my annual visit. Summer, Christmas and family is exactly what you want to end the year.  We have just finished Cendrillon by Massenet and I was playing the role of the Fairy Godmother. What an opera! What a role! I really enjoyed that and wish it didn’t have to end. The post show blues are strong with this one.  This month for me is learning the next opera and building up some audition/competition repertoire. We are doing Hansel & Gretel by Humperdinck and I’ll be playing the role of Gretel! I played Sandman/DewFairy (double cast with Bonnie!) when we were at WAAPA so this is really exciting!  It’s great to hear about how the music scene in Perth is going and I’d really love to be able to watch as much as I can and perform in Perth when I visit. I think that is something which is so good about Perth. A lot of our artists leave to grow at some point of their journey and can then br ing those experiences back home to inspire others. That was definitely the case when I was in uni. It was inspiring to see the older year groups grow into amazing performers and hear their stories from around the world. It changes you on stage for sure. 

Dani, fourth from right, with her fellow finalists of the Elizabeth Harwood Prize at RNCM this month. SHE WON!!! Congratulations Dani!!

Introducing Sheila Price - new ASP Secretary

Art Song Perth Constitution

In common with all incorporated associations in Western Australia, Art Song Perth was required by the Department of Commerce, Western Australia to review its constitution and ensure that it complied with the new Incorporated Associations Act, 2015.

The Department of Commerce provided a set of “Model Rules” which incorporated associations could use as a template when revising their constitutions. The Committee of Art Song Perth made a decision to adopt the Model Rules as the basic framework for the new constitution with the addition of some minor changes to suit the specific requirements of Art Song Perth.

The new Art Song Perth constitution has been officially accepted by the Department of Commerce, Western Australia as well as the Australian Charities and Not-for Profits Commission, Canberra.

The new constitution can be viewed on the Art Song Perth website www.artsongperth.org.au

I joined the illustrious Art Song Perth committee early in 2017, was officially ‘sworn in’ at the AGM and have thoroughly enjoyed my first year alongside my talented colleagues.

I started my career as a geophysicist after completing my physics degree at Exeter University in south west England in 1981. Since then I have had a very varied career dipping in and out of the oil industry via a stint at the London Stock Exchange, retraining in arts and entertainment management and working as a relocation agent in London and now here in Perth helping corporate executives and their families in all aspects of settling into this wonderful city. My husband and myself have had the opportunity to move with our work including four great years in Norway and three years in Melbourne in the mid 90s which whetted our desire to eventually live here full-time which happened in 2004 when we decided to call Australia home.

From childhood, throughout my working life and during all the moves, my passion has been a love of music and music making, in all its genres. It has been the most enjoyable portable hobby and I thank my very patient piano teacher who inspired a young six year old that making music is fun! I moved on from the piano to the flute and singing and haven’t looked back.

I have been very fortunate to have had some wonderful musical opportunities from being principal flautist in my university orchestras (it’s a wonder any physics got done at all!) to singing with numerous choral groups including the London Symphony Chorus, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and, of course, the WASO chorus where I met the irrepressible Marilyn Phillips! She got to know me pretty quickly as I was accompanied to rehearsals for sometime by my guide dog puppy in training, Amy. Amy was impeccably behaved, not phased at all by all the sound and even responded to the odd ‘stand’ from Marilyn directed at us humans! Unfortunately, Amy did not make the grade as a guide dog, but she did stay with us and will be 9 next month. Soon after becoming ours, she accompanied us on a three year posting to Scotland which she loved, as you can see from the photo here taken at the top on Bennachie, in Aberdeenshire.

I still sing with WASO and with Marilyn’s choir, the Phillips Chorale as well as some smaller ensembles. I am continually in awe of the talented young singers I am now involved with via Art Song and I am very much looking forward to our new season.

Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship Fund

The purpose of the fund

The purpose of the fund is to support the continuing education of young and emerging artists in the field of art song.

All donations to the fund will contribute to the Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship, an annual scholarship awarded to a singer or accompanist showing outstanding potential for further study in Australia or overseas.

More details about the Scholarship, including entry criteria are available at www.artsongperth.org.au/scholarship.html

Evelyn and Ralph Thompson

Evelyn Thompson was a dedicated organist, choir director, accompanist and teacher of piano and singing. She and her husband Ralph worked tirelessly for the promotion and training of young musicians. The annual scholarship is dedicated to their memory.

To donate

Please complete the online form which can be found at www.artsongperth.org.au/donate.html and use one of the following payment options

Payment options:

EFT

Account name: ERTM Scholarship Fund, BSB: 302-162, Account number: 0888337Please write your name in the transaction description

Cheque

Cheques should be made payable to the “ERTM Scholarship Fund”

Cash

Cash donations may be made at any recital.

Tax deductibility

The Lieder Society of WA Inc. (trading as Art Song Perth) is endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient. It is registered with the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission. Donations above $2 are tax deductible. Receipts will be provided for all donations

Previous winners of ERTS, Louis Hurley, Carly Power and Corinne Cowling

ART SONG PERTH MEMBERSHIP - PLEASE JOIN US!

By becoming a member of Art Song Perth, you assist us to present our annual recital series, support our performers, and contribute to the musical life of WA.

Benefits

Members of Art Song Perth receive: • Tickets to recitals at concession prices (members pay $25 compared with $35

for non-members) • A regular newsletter containing information about artists and events

Membership fees

Annual membership fees are:

Single Membership $25

Double Membership $40

Concession / Full Time Student $15

Concessions

Please note that to be eligible for the concession price, you must hold one of the following cards:

Pensioner Concession Card; Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Pensioner Card; War Widow or Veterans’ Affairs Card; Health Care Card (does not include Commonwealth Seniors Health Card). Seniors Card holders are not eligible.

How to become a member

Please complete the membership form (available at www.artsongperth.org.au) and forward with payment to: The Treasurer, Art Song Perth, PO Box 4440, Myaree WA 6960

OPTION 1: Payment by cheque Payable to The Lieder Society of WA lnc and sent to the above address OPTION 2: Payment by Direct Credit (EFT Payment)           Lieder Society of WA (BSB: 306-053, Acc No: 4175446).            (Please include your name in the bank transaction document)

OPTION 3: Cash payments can be made at all Art Song recitals