Brisbane City Council offers monthly free shows for its citizens, which are always wonderfully attended.

Cate Shaw’s singing talent masters a fresh combination of Latin style, a serving of contemporary, a pinch of blues, and jazz numbers for good measure.

Cate has previously recorded for the ABC in Sydney, doing radio work with Radio National and ABC FM radio, her voice featuring in various radio serials. She worked with Armstrong’s Studios and was a session singer, performing with artists of the caliber of Rick Springfield and Robbie Porter.

Cate has been singing all her life, her talent developed early as one half of a duo with her brother, Thomas Fitzgerald. At sixteen she was offered a part in the musical ‘Hair’ with Marcia Hines. Life commitments put Cate’s singing career on hold until a sudden realisation that she needed music back in her life, and in keeping with her motto ‘Wake up! Don’t take your dreams to your grave’, she woke up.

Cate’s band Latin Blue was formed. Their debut CD was recorded with Garry Smith of Pinkhouse Productions & in December 2005, they played their first gig at Sofi´s Lobby lounge at the Sofitel Hotel. Return performances soon followed the successful launch.

In 2005 Cate featured in the vocals of ‘Shower Songs’ a sound art work created for ABC Radio National and more recently April 2009 in national program “Peggy’s hothouse”. She has performed both solo & with her band Latin Blue at venues throughout Brisbane, including The Press Club, The Brisbane Sebel, The Bank (formerly Belushi’s), with Ian Maurice at The Samford Jazz Festival, Maggie Black’s Jazz Bar and The Brisbane Jazz Club. She has also performed at many private functions.

The successful combination that began Cate’s career was reunited in 2008, with Thomas Fitzgerald, producing Cate’s recording of a vocal version of one of his compositions ‘Chika’. ‘Chika’ was released on Itunes and CD Baby in April, 2008. December 2008 Cate’s vocal version of “Chika” won a highly commended judges award in the national Musicoz song competition out of 5000 entries.

Cate has been featured on the cover of “That’s Life “ national magazine, magazine articles and many radio interviews. Her music is played on local and national abc radio, triple J and 4 zzz.

Related posts:

1. Queensland Musical Talent in Spring
2. A Cultural Conundrum – Melbourne vs Brisbane, the new Black?
3. Music that Resonates @ St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane

Amazing Grace was a movie released in Australia in July 2007. For some reason at the time I missed, it although I am not sure how.  Recently I was privileged to watch it and was very moved. It was all about the British idealist, philanthropist, and British politician William Wilberforce (1759-1833), who manouvered his way through Parliament for years endeavouring to end the British transatlantic slave trade. It starred the dashing TV hero Captain Horatio Hornblower himself, Welsh Actor Ioan Gruffudd. Wilberforce’s conversion to Christianity had happened in 1785, and led him to devoting his life to reform. He collaborated with another English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), played by Rufus Sewell, and the former slave and author Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), played by Youssou N’Dour, to achieve passage of the Slave Trade Act.  Clarkson was another active key speaker of their time against the trade. As well as the Slave Trade Act of 1807 Wilberforce survived to see the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, a few days before his death.

Wilberforce was best friend to his reforming Prime Minister, William Pitt (The Younger) played in the movie by Benedict Cumberbatch, pre Sherlock fame. He was in private a lonely, isolated figure who was the most prominent British politician of his day. He dominated Parliament for twenty years seeking to reduce the national debt, reform the government of Canada and reorganize the East India Company. He was only 24 when he became Prime Minister, an office he was to hold until 1801 when he resigned in protest after George III blocked his Bill for Catholic emancipation.

When William Wilberforce had been a teenager, slavery was a profitable business that many powerful people became dependent upon. Over 50,000 people a year were shipped across the Atlantic. He observed “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.” In the movie when trying to inspire others to follow him, Wilberforce leaped onto a table and sang the marvelous hymn to freedom, Amazing Grace. It was a power packed moment.

Pitt returned in 1804 to fight the great wars against France and Napoleon. Tragically he died in 1806 aged only 46 after suffering ill health all his life. Pitt’s main preoccupation while he was in office was the long war with France. Britain feared invasion and he organized the coalition with Russia, austraia and Sweden and greatly strengthened the British Navy.

Bills introduced into Parliament by William Wilberforce were defeated in 1791, 1792, 1793, 1797, 1798, 1799, 1804, and 1805 but he did not give up. Vilified, targeted by hypocritical allies he fought on until finally he saw it through.

This  is a very inspiring production, one that makes you pause and think about how events in history have been so much bigger than any one individual, but in the end it is the power of one that prevails. Especially if it is a social justice cause, as here, that is worth fighting for. The Slave Trade period in world history surely must be one of humankind’s most shameful, profiting from the misery of others.

Barbara Spooner, the woman behind the man in this powerful movie is played by British actress Romola Garai, who has recently triumphed in the BBC TV series ‘The Hour’. Her sensitive performance is always moving, and her face illuminating. She is the soulmate who shares his struggle and inspires him to victory.

English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), played by Albert Finney in the movie, published his memorable hymn Amazing Grace in 1779. It had a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible, regardless of the sins people commit, and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God.

Interestingly Newton had grown up a non believer, but being pressed into the Royal Navy service at the time and actually participating in the slave trade put in motion a chain of events that led him being ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1784.

Il Divo‘s rendition of Amazing Grace, this wonderful hymn to freedom is probably the most beautiful I have heard. They are a multinational operatic pop vocal group I first encountered singing live some moons ago at a fund raising event at Brisbane.  The blending of their ‘divine male performer’s’ voices is particularly poignant in the version of John Newton’s powerful hymn when they sang it in the ancient ruins of the Roman Coliseum at Pula in Croatia in 2008.

Today “Amazing Grace” is one of the most recognizable and most sung hymns in the English-speaking world. You can catch the song and the movie on iTunes.

Watch the Movie Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Cv5P9H9qU

Watch Il Divo Singing Amazing Grace

Video: Il Divo “Amazing Grace” na GenSpot.com

Related posts:

1. Franklin & Jefferson, founding the architecture of freedom
2. Inalienable Rights of Man – Charting Freedom and Liberty
3. Arts & Crafts Movement – William Morris the Art that is Life

Knight farewelling his Lady by Edmund Blair Leighton (1852 - 1922)

Dr Nicholas Perkins the exhibition curator said: ‘It’s a great pleasure to open up the Bodleian’s wonderful collections for this exhibition. They are of huge importance in telling the story of romance, and include some of the most spectacular books from medieval Europe. They have also offered inspiration to those captivated by the Middle Ages as a time of romance and wonder… the Library has nourished both scholarly and imaginative engagement with the medieval for centuries.’

Except for ‘rock and roll’ The Middle Ages at least on the surface, seems to have had it all. Art and life in the age of chivalry was all about Knights on Crusade, handsome Knights rescuing fair maidens, Courtly love, merchants at Venice and Padua involved in family feuds and matters of the heart. Then there were merry monks and monarchs, Queens locked up in towers or at court, tons of people dashing about on passionate pursuits, not to mention those languishing about in gardens of love. Then there was straight out uncomplicated sex, chastity and piety, not necessarily in that order.  Seriously, the beginning of democratic freedoms started at this time, as well as technology and developments in printing, engraving, metallurgy and designs for ships of war and firearms.

Highlights of the exhibition include: The Song of Roland – the earliest copy of France’s national epic (mid-12th century), exquisite ivory carvings from France (14th century), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – one of the most precious manuscripts of Middle English poetry. On loan from the British Library (c.1400), The Red Book of Hergest – amongst the most important books written in Welsh, containing The Mabinogion and many other texts, on loan from Jesus College, Oxford (c.1400), William Caxton’s The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye – a copy of the first book ever printed in the English language (1473/4). There is a draft illustrated page from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1946), Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Terry Jones’s own working copy of the screenplay for the film, never shown to the public before (1973).

Manuscripts and early printed books from the ‘Romanz’ period of the Middle Ages, lavishly illustrated volumes about King Arthur or Alexander the Great as well as personal notebooks and fragments saved by chance are also on show. The exhibition examines how stories from this period inspired writers and artists across the centuries, including William Shakespeare, Ludovico Ariosto and Miguel de Cervantes in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Sir Walter Scott, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris in the nineteenth century, as well as JRR Tolkien, Philip Pullman,  the Monty Python team and JK Rowling during the twentieth century.

Medieval Christianity embraced every aspect of life during the Middle Ages.  “The House of God’ was like the trinity, divided into three. It was a frontier society, fragmented, fearful and fortified against itself. Feudalism rested equally on lord and castle, peasant and hut, the monk and his church – those who prayed, those who went to war and those who worked the fields.

Europe’s social equilibrium depended on these three groups happily co-existing. Taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience helped determine a pattern for medieval living. During this period towns, in the true sense of the word ceased to exist with fortified castles and the protection of a lord under a feudal system, the only security for everyone.

During the eleventh century books about the practice of medicine by important Muslim physicians like Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE) and al-Razi (864-930 CE) were translated into Latin and brought into European universities, which had been established by the Christian church. They were used for centuries. They included an understanding of hygiene and the importance of cleanliness, which meant separate wards for different diseases. An established system of medical care was open to all. Hospitals set up in Spain by Andalusian physicians included great gardens with running water as part of their natural therapies. Doctors had a concern and care for their patients, treating them with great kindness and dignity.

Out of the carnage and chaos of the Crusades to the Holy Land all was not loss and destruction. Crusaders brought back to Europe and England positive influences such as enlightened thought in theology and spirituality; a great deal of plant material and methods of horticulture that enlivened and enlarged that known in Europe until that point in time.

There was a great deal of influence also on architecture, including the introduction of the brick and decorative brickwork into England via France, as well as into the design of churches and castles. Illumination of manuscripts was another direct result, a graphic expression of the priceless jewel contained in the Scripture of God’s revelation to man. It became considered highly appropriate to embellish books that contained his words. This also allowed for an additional, worthy thought, that of aesthetic pleasure and monks in monastic libraries kept alive the light of learning and enlightenment with their creativity.

During the twelfth century advances in philosophy and science imposed themselves and the nature of the individual was held up to scrutiny. This “Twelfth Century Awakening” refers to an outpouring of extraordinary intellectual inquiry and discovery that took place just as Cathedral schools and universities being established in England and Europe through the influence of the powerful Islamic influence on thought.

The Knight in medieval times was an absolute master of his castle, and his wife. A contemporary description gives us a glimpse of Norman knights ‘riding ‘through the meadows and gardens – happy and joyful on their horses, cavorting hither and thither. Expressing personal feelings in relation to the beauty and bountiful joys of women was the province of troubadours, who were both composers and performers of lyrical poetry. They roved about visiting castles and their communities to deliver the latest ditties in song. The themes favoured were chivalry and courtly love.

Courtly love was a cult that refined the manners of many a knight, while it encouraged marital indiscretion. It glorified the relationship of a knight to his chosen lady, which meant any lady but his wife. In the Garden of Love, knights and ladies exchanged amorous banter to the songs of a troubadour. ‘Lady take me body and heart, and keep me for your love’.

The most famous literary celebration of gardens from the Middle Ages was the Romaunt de la Rose printed in 1277. In it the lover, possibly a knight, goes in search of the desirable symbolic rose. The lover wanders into an outer garden where he is confronted by a high wall with a door in it. He cannot enter until the door is opened by Lady idleness; he enters the inner garden where the trees are set at exactly equal distances and have their tops so inter-woven that the sun’s rays cannot penetrate. He finds himself in a place belonging to the spirit to make him happy and full of joy’. In this representation Adamant the lover is being led into the garden by idleness, and narcissus is studying his reflection in the well.

The origins of courtly love can be traced to the court of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine one of the first troubadour poets as well as leaders of the first crusade in 1101. Born on the wrong side of the blanket, William was the son of his father’s third wife whom the Roman church did not recognise.  An anonymous biography written in the 13th century said of him…

‘The Count of Poitiers was one of the most courtly men in the world and one of the greatest deceivers of women. He was a fine knight at arms, liberal in his womanizing, and a fine composer and singer of songs. He travelled much through the world, seducing women’.

He was the earliest troubadour some of whose work still survives as a testimony to his romantic adventures. He loved scandal and shocking everyone but was known for being kind and generous. We could be generous too and say that he genuinely shared the love around….

This is a time when the classical revival and the new and exciting literature for leisure appeared. It was defined by the use of the Latin word Romanz, as distinct from what was known as ‘real’ literature, which was ironically written in Latin. With its captivating themes of love, ladies and passion in the courts of Europe it was not long before it became known as Romantic literature.

The exhibition at Oxford also highlights works by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343 – 1400), who is known today as the Father of English Literature and widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages.

In graphic art singers from the Middle Ages are shown often with strained expressions, their furrowed brows and exaggerated mouth positions suggest perhaps Chaucer was right when, in his fourteenth century Canterbury Tales when he described singing as being ‘intoned through the nose’.

The Book of Hours, contained ‘painted prayers’, that were appointed for various hours of the day, based on monastic practice.

For over 300 years they were best sellers, one of the most famous belonging to the Duc du Berry, a French nobleman. They are today a wonderful source for illustrative representations of gardens as well as important cultural artifacts from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

Sir Walter Scott’s stories of the knights of the crusades such as Ivanhoe helped to fuel the Gothic Medieval Revival in England during the nineteenth century. They were romantic, gallant and inspiring, influencing all aspects of design and the decorative arts. Sir Walter Scott as well as being an author had a great passion for reading at a time when libraries became an integral part of every educated person’s way of life. They offered a peaceful place for study and hours of quiet contemplation.

The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford form the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. They include the principal University library—the Bodleian Library—which has been a library of legal deposit for 400 years; major research libraries; and libraries attached to faculties, departments and other institutions of the University. The combined library collections number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to 30,000 e-journals and vast quantities of materials in other formats.

The Romance of the Middle Ages @the Bodleian Library
Opens 28th January – Runs until 13th May, 2012
Exhibition Room, Bodleian Library, Old Schools Quad, Catte Street, Oxford
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday 9.00 – 17.00
Saturday 9.00 – 16.30
Sunday 11.00 – 17.00

Free Lectures – Time: 13.00 – 13.30
Convocation House, Old Bodleian Library (Entrance Old Schools Quad)
1st February : Before Tolkien: Manuscripts, Audiences and Readers of Middle English Romance – Dr Alison Wiggins (Senior Lecturer in English Language, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow)
15th February: The Birth of Romance in England – Dr Laura Ashe (University Lecturer and Tutor in English Literature, Worcester College, Oxford) Wednesday, 15 February
7th March: Medieval Romance and the Gift of Storytelling – Dr Nicholas Perkins (University Lecturer and Tutor in English, St Hugh’s College, Oxford; Curator of Exhibition)
23rd March: Shakespeare and Medieval Romance – Professor Helen Cooper (Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Magdalene College, Cambridge)

Exhibition website: http://medievalromance.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Related posts:

1. Ragtime to Riches, Collector’s Legacy @ The Bodleian Library
2. Treasures of the Bodleian and Humankind – Cherishing Wisdom
3. Great Voices Inspiring the Ages, Antiquity to Aslan and More

Classic means of renowned excellence. The Ukrainian born award winning Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk, fits the bill like a glove. He has performed the classics in many of the great concert halls of the world, including at New York in 2005. This was when a New York Times critic said of him that he was a ‘world class pianist performing at his absolute best’. A supreme talent, Gavrylyuk was Gold Medal Winner of Israel’s Artur Rubinstein Competition in the same year and critic Lawrence Budman said “From his remarkable playing and artistic insight, it was easy to see what impressed the competition jury.” He won it, the Horowitz and Hamamatsu competitions – all by the age of 20. Since then he has played with the Russian National Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Israeli Chamber Orchestra, Kev Philharmonic, Melbourne and Western Australia Symphony and at the Moscow Conservatorium among others. “…such blow-your-socks-off virtuosity is complemented with a dark, intense, ferociously concentrated essence and nature…said Bryce Morrison, Deutsche Gramophone in June 2006

In the first concert of the Medici series Alexander Gavrylyuk will perform

Robert SCHUMANN (181- – 1856) Fantasy in C, Op 17
Claude DEBUSSY (1862 – 1918) Two Arabesques
Franz LISZT (1811 – 1886) Tarantella (Venezia e Napoli) and Dante Sonata from Années de pèlerinage
Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873 – 1943) Sonata No 2 in B flat minor Op 36

Of all of these exciting challenges the Franz Liszt pieces from Années de pèlerinage should provide some virtuosic fireworks and have many a heart racing. Composed in his maturity, Liszt the most famous technician of his day, aimed to stir emotions deep within the soul. Liszt was reacting to his travels in many new countries at the time of composing his Tarantella and Dante Sonata. He combines history, poetry, drama and harmony all in perfect tune. His lively self-expression and impressions establish a wonderful rapport immediately between the player and the audience.

Behzod Abduraimov is from Uzbekistan and winner of the 2009 London International Piano Competition aged 18 years. Since then his career has taken off like a rocket. It includes signing an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics. The London Daily Telegraph’s critic described his winning performance of Prokofiev’s Third Concerto as the “most enthralling roller-coaster ride … imaginable. Recalling it my knuckles still go white.” Renowned already for his willingness to take on technical challenges such as works composed by Liszt and Saint-Saëns, Abduraimov is a very refined showman. He made his debut when he was only eight with the Uzbek State Symphony Orchestra and has not looked back since. He has toured with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and given recitals in London, Brussels and Milan, as well as Germany and North America. He will present

Guiseppe Domenico SCARLATTI (1685 – 1757) Four keyboard Sonatas
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (Bap 1770 – 1827) Sonata No 7 in D major Op 10 No 3
Johannes BRAHMS (1833 – 1897) Variations on a theme of Paganini, Book 1
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835 – 1921) Danse macabre arr. Liszt/Horowitz
Franz LISZT (1811 – 1886) Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude Mephisto Waltz No 1

Like Gavrylyuk, Abduraimov also loves technical challenges. He will play the completely diabolical Paganini Variations, which should see many sitting on the edge of their seats as he is well up to the task.

Piers Lane almost needs no introduction, he is so well loved and admired at Brisbane town, and in Australia where he regularly performs to sold out seasons. Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music his successful international concert career must certainly keep him on his toes. His is a most wonderful sophisticated maturity of style.

His legendary status has been earned through a continuing celebration of Polish composer Chopin, whose works he innately understands and brilliantly interprets. He presents them like rare jewels to be treasured. As well as Chopin he will also perform works by Liszt, the composer seemingly linking this series together. He will present

Frédéric CHOPIN (1810 – 1849) The Complete Waltzes
Franz LISZT (1811 – 1886) Two Arabesques
Jardins sous la pluie
Reflets dans l’eau
L’isle joyeuse
Franz LISZT (1811 – 1886) Venezia e Napoli, S162

The Debussy gems are a homage to the French composer, who developed a musical language of his own. A central figure of European music at the turn of the 20th century Debussy also enjoyed celebrating ‘conversations at the piano’ with Ernest Guiraud his teacher. The piano language of Piers Lane, like Debussy’s, is most eloquently spoken

Eldar Nebolsin will close the 2012 series in November.

Known to ‘caress the keys’, Nebolsin has appeared with leading orchestras around the world and has collaborated also with some of the world’s most renowned chamber musicians. His program includes

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (Bap 1770 – 1827) Sonata No 4 in E flat major Op 7
Frédéric CHOPIN (1810 – 1849)Andante spianato and Grande polonaise brillante
BEETHOVEN/LISZT Song from An die ferne Geliebte
SCHUBERT/LISZT 3 Lieder: Das Wandern, Wohin, Der Mu?ller und der Bach
Franz Peter SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828) Fantasia in C major, Op 15, D 760 ‘Wanderer’

In an interview with Naxos he revealed that his love for passionate, magical Romantic music began when he was very young.  Its constant colour and emotion touched his heart and stirred his desire to play.

Expressing his thoughts and feelings as his fingers fly across the keyboard, the reality of his performances are that he is able to explore the exquisite harmonic dimensions of what is a sublime realm of music.

His choice of Schubert’s Fantasia to end the program will provide a memorable finish to a wonderful series of amazing music presented by great musicians.

The four movements are played through without a break from fanfare to finale. This was one of the pieces of music composer Franz Liszt most admired, and he transcribed it for piano and orchestra and two pianos.

Schubert was a musician’s musician. In 1905 Duncan Edmondstoune in his publication about the life of Schubert remarked that Schubert himself had said about his Fantasia that “the devil may play it“, referencing his own inability to do so properly.

Ann Thompson has in true "Medici' fashion gathered a wonderful group of sponsors around her to support her 10th Anniversary concert series

Ann Thompson OAM, Director of Medici Concerts has worked tirelessly to bring this splendid program to fruition. She is celebrating twenty years of providing wonderful musical experiences to thousands of people.

This is a recital series for all those who love the beauty and challenges provided by great composers for great musicians. It is also for all those seeking to know and understand just how much they have contributed to the social and cultural growth of many nations. Today fine classical music such as this is treasured by millions in both western and eastern cultures. It is not just about the notes or the playing,  which do matter, but also the harmony they can provide.

Great concert series like these provide a continual opportunity to bring together many different people from all walks of life and all backgrounds. They celebrate and encourage communication and intercultural conversations and also help contemporary citizens to better understand the nature of cultural difference; to grow an appreciation and respect for many cultures, so that we can all learn how to better deal with our differences and with each other.

Bravo Ann, what a fabulous anniversary series you have put together – it has been very well done and deserves to be sold out.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

MEDICI CONCERTS

2012 International Piano Masterworks Series

ALEXANDER GAVRYLYUK Sun 12 Feb 3pm ——- @ $62 ——- @ $55
BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV Sun 18 Mar 3pm ——- @ $62 ——- @ $55
PIERS LANE Sun 12 Aug 3pm ——- @ $62 ——- @ $55
ELDAR NEBOLSIN Sun 25 Nov 3pm ——- @ $62 ——- @ $55

www.mediciconcerts.com.au

BOOKINGS

Mail: Medici Concerts PO Box 3567 South Brisbane 4101 Phone: qtix 136246 (Mon-Sat 9.00am-8.30pm)
In Person: QPAC Cnr Melbourne & Grey St South Brisbane (Mon-Sat 9.00am-8.30pm)

SUBSCRIPTIONS

4 Concerts——- @ $210 Adult
4 Concerts——- @ $190 Concession

Related posts:

1. Medici Concerts – The Magic Continues on A Night in Vienna
2. Reading, TV and Music Choices for Festive Season 2011/2012
3. The Golden Hands of Nikolai Demidenko – Poet of the Keyboard

One of the enchanting figures on the Chinoiserie Style Pavilion in Sansouci Park at Potsdam. Johnn Gottfried Büring was the architect and it was built between 1755 and 1764 by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1712-1786)

What is Art Deco
Art Deco (1920 – 1940) is a design style that reached the apex of its popularity between two global conflicts, World War I and II. It borrowed from virtually all the design styles of the past in order to fashion the future. It was the perfect expression of Paris during the 20’s to the 30’s and embraced every area of design and the decorative arts including architecture, interiors, furniture, jewellery, painting and graphics, bookbinding, costume, glass and ceramics. It was all about glamour. It was also about completing a deeply felt need for a style that would never be threatened by change. Its protagonists wanted to ward off the threat of a civilization dominated by either industry or technology, or both. The idea was to integrate contemporary living with art and turn life into art and for a while they succeeded.

Chinoiserie, More than Fantasy and Fashion
During the eighteenth century in Europe and England all things Chinese had assumed incredible proportions as fashionable society sought to transmit their ideas about the magical land of Cathay through a multiplicity of imagery. It manifested itself in intimate interiors where mirrored rooms reflected scenes of frivolity well. It draped itself delightfully with sumptuous silk textiles that recorded scenes of fashion and folly. The admiration of all things Chinese also led to the ultimate crossing over of cultural influences. On the scale of things a very few people in England and Europe had ever seen someone who was Chinese so their vivid imagination took over and, when combined with a great layering of charm, Chinoiserie was a style that was very fetching.

Jane Austen, more than the cultivation of the mind?
While her only known image may seem to reveal otherwise, there was nothing really plain about Jane Austen 1775 – 1817. Her novels, which have become classics in their own right, allow us today to share the memory of the robust society in which she lived and its privileges of rank. It was a colourful, turbulent and seemingly romantic world in the process of rapid evolution. The English provincial life, as led by Jane Austen and some of her heroines, was one of quality and modesty. A cultivated ambiance of politeness, with a keen though delicate sensibility was well balanced by common sense.

If you would like to watch more videos just bookmark our link http://www.youtube.com/user/carolynmcdowall

Carolyn McDowall, Writer in Residence, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

Related posts:

1. CIVILISED: At the Beginnings of Art
2. Editorial – Muse News October 2010
3. The Culture Concept Circle

In society collectors over the centuries have come from all walks of life and all backgrounds. Their motives have varied greatly, although they all have in common that fervant desire to preserve and protect the art and literature of the past in many shapes and different forms. There is the dilettante, the learned connoisseur, the curio hunter all of whom have hoarded their treasures; some in secret while others place them on display to enhance their self esteem. Many however have valued their privacy, and it is only after their death that the full extent of their holdings become clear. Currently on display at the Bodleian Library at Oxford in England is a selection showcasing the largest donation of material it has ever received. It is open FREE to all those who can get to Oxford before the 29th January. The display has been chosen from an extraordinary collection of rare musical works, verse and ephemera, which weighed some 20 tonnes and took two chartered aircraft to carry. It has traveled from the basement of a ‘shabby’ house in Chicago to the rarified atmosphere of the conserving libraries at Oxford in England.

Its benefactor, Walter Newton Henry Harding was born in south London in 1883.  He became an English emigré, the son of an East End bricklayer who migrated with his family to America when he was four years old. He grew up to be a ragtime pianist in a time when this original musical genre was enjoying its peak of popularity (1897 – 1918). This was when one of its main protagonists, composer and musician Scott Joplin penned his great hit the Maple Leaf Rag, which after that time heavily influenced the arrangements of melodies, harmonic progressions and metric patterns by other composers.

From 1909 – 1914 Harding was playing in silent cinema, and later became an organist playing at various churches and his masonic lodge in downtown Chicago. His was seemingly an ordinary life. The family timber framed home tucked away in an urban location, became a repository for his collection of printed music, verse and drama. His passion for collecting new no bounds, despite his very limited means. He preserved a legacy of popular music and verse from the 17th and 18th centuries, during a time when they had no value, to a time when they have become a rich irreplaceable music and cultural resource. His collection was meticulously indexed, despite Mr Harding not having had an academic or musical education. Forming the collection seems to have been all about his own sense of homelessness; of being displaced from his English homeland and from the culture that was his heritage. It contained opera and musical comedy scores, English art and popular songs, French songs and American popular sheet music from the 1790′s through to the 1960′s. For the Bodleian, and the rest of us, Harding’s collection is now a valued legacy.

Gathering all these rare and wonderful works together gave Harding a reference point, one that no doubt helped him to make sense out of the story of his own life. He gathered together the largest collection of popular songbooks before he died in 1972, leaving them to the Bodleian library, despite having never visited Oxford.

Clive Hurst, Head of Rare Books, Bodleian Libraries, said ‘…we hope that his story will inspire similar generosity in others to support our libraries.’

On the 18th January display curator Dr Abigail Williams will present a talk and a voice and violin Duo Alva, a short concert of music from works in the collection. This will include a parlour song by Walter Harding entitled ‘All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go’.

Despite the collection having arrived in 900 crates 20 years ago Dr Williams said recently: ‘…his legacy is still living and we have only just begun to uncover the riches in this varied and unusual collection’.

Walter Harding’s collection constitutes a remarkable resource for scholarship in many fields, including the art of collecting.

DISPLAY
Until 29 January 2012 Mon-Fri 9.00-19.00; Sat 9.00-16.30; Sun 11.00-17.00
Bodleian Library Catte Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG
ADMISSION FREE

TALKS AND MUSIC
18 Jan 2012 5:00pm-7:00pm
Divinity School and Convocation House, Bodleian Library
Tickets free. E-mail – with Subject line: HARDING MUSIC – rsvp@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or phone 01865 277000 to reserve tickets.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford form the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. They include the principal University library—the Bodleian Library—which has been a library of legal deposit for 400 years; major research libraries; and libraries attached to faculties, departments and other institutions of the University. The combined library collections number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to 30,000 e-journals and vast quantities of materials in other formats. For additional information see www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Ref: Press Release Bodleian Libraries : JStor American Sheet Music in the Walter N. H. Harding Collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University – Jean Geil – Notes Second Series, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Jun., 1978), pp. 805-813

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1. The Romance of the Middle Ages @the Bodleian Library
2. Treasures of the Bodleian and Humankind – Cherishing Wisdom
3. Bodleian Libraries Deliver C12 Hebrew Code of Law Digitally

Riveting reading, reading aloud to kids, cooking together, considered DVD watching and beautiful music listening experiences are all great can-do activities for the holiday season, as are long walks each day. All of these will be sure to keep you entertained and help recharge the body’s batteries,  refresh the spirit, the mind, the body and the soul.

2012 in Australia will be the National Year of Reading, promoting the positive benefits of literacy skills to the public at large. It is a collaborative project of Australia’s public libraries, government, community groups, media and commercial partners and the public. A staggering statistic revealed on their website is that 46% of Australians are unable to read a newspaper, follow a recipe or make sense of instructions of any kind. So the campaign next year is about promoting literacy, which we support wholeheartedly at The Culture Concept Circle.

Reading aloud to children is vital. The earlier children are exposed to the reading experience the greater the possibility they will enjoy it both at school and in life. Our list of children’s books contain choices from birth to young adult readers. All have been nominated, or have won awards through The Children’s Book Council of Australia. The family that cooks together seems to be a latest trend and it is good to know great chefs are producing cook books for families. We have included a few as well. Whether you read a book that is printed, or download ebooks to your computer, Kindle or iPad is not the issue. What is important is taking in the words.

For adults the Festive season is the time to enjoy some great escapist thrillers and entirely switch off. It is good to mix it up however and challenge ourselves, and our intellects. Reading current essays and journals, whose writers tackle sensitive issues about protecting the environment, ensuring sustainability and addressing societal concerns provides a balance. Pushing our own boundaries is good for all of us. Books suggested are available at www.bookoffers.com.au, an Australian on line searching tool you can use/bookmark to find the cheapest price on any book or ebook.  The DVD’s are available at the ABC Shop and Music choices can be downloaded from iTunes or purchased through www.fishrecords.com.au.

BOOKS 4 ADULTS

Notebooks by Betty Churcher

Discovering works of art with Betty Churcher is a positive, completely wonderful and transforming experience. Her favourite artists have that je ne sais quoi, or indescribable intangible quality that makes them both very attractive and enormously appealing, as they simulate the artists reality of their world in constant flux. Notebooks has proved so popular it has already been re-printed three times in 2011, the year it has been published.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography – Walter Isaacson

An extraordinary book, which gives us a unique insight into the life and thinking of the man who single-handedly transformed and helped make the modern world.  From bestselling author Walter Isaacson the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is an amazing account of Jobs’ professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson conducted with Jobs, as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, this is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation

Women’s Stuff by Caz Cooke

The essential guide to life for women aged 18 to 108. With the best info, independent advice and great fun this is THE book every Australian woman truly needs if they want to know anything about everything from confidence, body image, eating, health, hormones, bosoms, hairy bits, love, heartbreak, to sex, mental health, wrinkle creams, cosmetic surgery, friends, sleep, home, false eyelashes and menopause. Best of all, there’s no fibs, fantasy or fakery. It also includes more than 2,000 illuminating, amazing, hilarious and heartbreaking quotes from real women who shared their own secrets and stories.

The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin

On last year’s list but one to revisit. This is an extraordinary tale, beautifully crafted and terrifically told of an epic quest undertaken by Canadian rock critic Eric Siblin. It is a great book about the search for a Baroque masterpiece, a score specifically written for the cello. Eric Siblin had an epiphany of sorts when he attended a recital of J S Bach’s six Cello Suites, falling completely under the spell of this classic musical masterpiece. He decided to go on his own journey to learn all about the works and their composer and to record his findings. By all accounts he certainly got more than he bargained for.

Smut by Alan Bennett

This contains two ‘unseemly stories’ that concern women in middle life; Mrs Donaldson, whom sex takes by surprise, and Mrs Forbes, who is not surprised at all. The stories are naughty, honest and very funny. British playwright Alan Bennett has been a leading dramatist since the 1960′s and this is the latest in his ‘small collection’ that last year included his other brilliant offering, The Uncommon Reader.

Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic

A book that no creative mind should be without – Hegarty on Advertising contains more than four decades of wisdom and insight from one of the world’s leading advertising men. The book is packed with anecdotes and insights, from advice on the elements of advertising, pitching and the effects of new technology, to the personal story of John Hegarty’s career from his early days at Saatchi and Saatchi and the global force that is Bartle Bogle Hegarty today.

Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn

Shifting alliances at home and abroad, ruthless accumulation of capital and endless court intrigues form the backdrop to a chilling and enticing portrait of Henry VII. He was the founder of the Tudor dynasty that created a centralised English state. Well written and well researched, the book helps us understand why Shakespeare decided to give this Henry a miss. It would have been difficult to prettify him. According to some English critics The Royal National Theatre should seek to remedy the omission rapidly: Winter King has a very contemporary feel.

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht

Deeply engaging Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under forty, has spun a timeless novel, weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation. In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Like many of the heroines of the Victorian novels she favors, Madeline Hanna, Brown University class of 1982 English major, must choose between men: the hungry wanderer Mitchell Grammaticus or the brilliant but troubled Leonard Bankhead. Madeline goes with the latter, sidelining her own intellectual pursuits in favor of riding a manic depressive’s roller-coaster through the dawn of semiotics, post-structuralism, identity politics, and psychopharmacology. A coming-of-age novel that’s as unapologetically erudite as it is funny, fun, and profound.

Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite

Written largely from material obtained from Soviet archives, this account of a winter nightmare explains why the Afghans hate being occupied and each chapter offers a warning to the Nato occupiers of today.

Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens

As a political, cultural, and literary critic, Christopher Hitchens really stands alone. This is demonstrated by his major collection of mostly recent essays and reviews, covering a range of topics, from America’s founding fathers to the state of the English language. You don’t always have to agree with this fearless author and polemicist to appreciate his erudite mind. Last year, his prolific career was derailed by a grim cancer diagnosis. His Vanity Fair essay on losing his “writer’s voice” as cancer attacked his vocal chords is a must. The anthology collects some of his best recent work. It is unapologetically candid, wryly humorous and keenly insightful, the essays examines such cultural icons as Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, Thomas Jefferson, Ezra Pound, Abraham Lincoln, George Orwell, and even Harry Potter in the context of contemporary events, weaving history and present together as he reflects on the most pressing political and social issues of our time.

Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James

The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons, the heir and the spare in the Pemberley nursery, Elizabeth’s beloved sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live within seventeen miles. The ordered and secure life of Pemberley seems unassailable, and Elizabeth’s happiness in her marriage is complete. But their peace is threatened and old sins and misunderstandings rekindled on the eve of the annual autumn ball. In a pitch-perfect recreation of the world of Pride and Prejudice, P.D. James elegantly fuses her lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen with her talent for writing detective fiction. She weaves a compelling story, combining a sensitive insight into the happy but threatened marriage of the Darcy’s and the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted detective story.

Related posts:

1. Carolyn’s Reading Choices for the Holidays 2010/2011
2. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
3. Festive Season Fancies – From Christmas Day to New Year 2012

French pop singer Sébastien Izambard, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, American tenor David Miller and Swiss tenor Urs Bühler - Il Divo

The evolution of opera in Europe from its earliest beginnings to its heyday was a passionate pursuit of many people. It changed dramatically as it developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, responding to the times, people’s preferences and earth shattering events. Following World War II in the twentieth century, the son of an Italian émigré from Philadelphia, Mario Lanza (1921-1959) became the most famous tenor in the world, performing operatic music on film to the delight of millions of people. His passion spawned a generation of new singers, including members of the Three Tenors Placido Domingo (1941-) and Jose Carreras (1946-), who together with Luciano Pavarotti generated an even greater interest in opera world wide. They sang among the ancient ruins at Rome on July 7, 1990 – the eve of the FIFA World Cup Final, inspiring another generation of opera trained singers. This included four pop/opera crossover singers, who were united in 2002 by TV executive Simon Colwell to become Il Divo. Colwell certainly knows a good tenor when he hears one, understands what entertainment is all about and, that people really want to hear great voices singing great music.

Every year since 1999 in Australia, an outstanding advocate of music is invited to present The Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address. In 2011 Artistic Director for Opera Australia Mr Lyndon Terracini was invited to honour this, one of Australia’s great international composers. Raising many eyebrows with some remarks Mr. Terracini declared “There is a very passionate small group of people who can sometimes appear to be members of a club who feel that their views are the only opinions of real importance and that presenting what they want to see is the role of “their” opera company. “All of Sydney is talking about it” one of them said to me recently, referring to a particular production that, while being successful artistically, had experienced very poor attendances.

Artistic Director Opera Australia, Lyndon Terracini

I pointed out that only slightly more than 4,000 people had bought tickets for the production that this particular person was referring to and on last count there were a lot more than 4,000 people living in Sydney… “well all of my friends have seen it” was the response… and here you have the fundamental problem…. everyone at my “club” has seen it and bugger those who aren’t members of my club. That sense of patrician entitlement is not only at odds with what we regard as the Australian way of life, but it is also completely at odds with contemporary Australia” said Mr Terracini.

Not wanting people to take your words out of context Mr Terracini I have included a link to Opera Australia and added the address in PDF format at the bottom of this post to be downloaded. Your wake up call will surely embolden many to step up behind you. A neo-Renaissance is surely the way to go for opera, but without the ‘grand manner’ of the baroque perhaps more high-art meets the new hegemony of a fluid, ongoing contemporary society, one that values excellence and actively supports sharing the love around. Your courage, strength, sense of purpose and goal for that of ensuring opera, will be made much more accessible with your ‘Big Bold and Beautiful Program’ to be delivered from 2012 is admirable. How good is it also to know Opera Australia in 2013 will produce German composer, conductor and writer Richard Wagner’s huge operatic and very influential masterpiece, Der Ring des Nibelungen – usually abbreviated to The Ring.

If members of the infamous ‘arts club’ are interested in safeguarding the future of opera in Australia and, if they are genuine, they will step up to help you by challenging themselves first and then getting behind you Mr Terracini. They will dig deep to help you find the way forward and generously sponsor opera’s accessibility to the wider public by relieving the pressure from government. In the future governments will focus much more on health, education, science, technology, urban planning and investment in the environment, while trying to keep a balance with the ever expanding creative industries that they know are transforming everyday life.

Opera reflects the classical maturity of contemporary society while expressing its attitudes and philosophies, its fashions and passions^

The very essence of opera is that the music is integral to the story, not just incidental as in a ‘musical’ or a play with music. Early music operas are different to those produced during the second half of the nineteenth century, a time of working class militancy and organized socialist movements, built on the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. They contrasted greatly with the reality of intense and systematic discrimination between sexes and other cultures. Yet it is often described as a ‘golden age’?

To gain an appreciation for any culture and its art forms people have to be exposed to it, preferably one on one. If that’s not possible education is the next best thing. Perhaps the Renaissance Art Exhibition currently at The National Gallery of Canberra will be timely in helping to inspire and expand interest in the arts, as its advertisers suggest?

Greek philosopher Aristotle believed education about music should be introduced to the very young, because it had the power of forming character. If ever a discipline integrated the unconscious and emotional aspects of the mind with the intellectual and physical movement it would be music. Its choice is deeply personal, particularly with opera. This was reflected beautifully in the reaction of a Pretty Woman (actor Julia Roberts) when she was taken to the opera for the first time. Her whole story was about embracing great change.

At dinner recently with a young woman, who had just graduated music school was an enlightening experience. She let us all know she will be playing in a symphony orchestra soon. She also let me know she had fabulous teachers at university who brought the music alive and make it relevant to our time when I asked her about the music she liked, which included opera. Now she wants to have other young people engage with it as well, so she has become a teacher at a girl’s school, where she will no doubt imbue them with her enthusiasm for all sorts of classical music, because she has the passion and courage of her convictions. Spreading the word is also about the power of one.

If we were being truly multi-cultural in Australia then surely adding Chinese Opera to performances Opera Australia presents, would be a good thing. It would certainly deliver a mark of respect to a people and culture that has contributed much to Australia and her growth.

Inter-cultural conversations and cross -cultural dialogue, whether delivered in words or through music, is all about inventing the future of our global community, one in which we have respect for each other, each other’s ideas, traditions, arts and cultural concerns.

Just as today Western society is being educated about Eastern cultures in their turn the East are embracing knowledge of the West. The Internet has opened up the world invoking great and rapid change, as people in repressed societies find out that while a democratic society might be imperfect in many ways, it does have many benefits.

An all-new National Cultural Policy, currently being put in place by the Australian government, will hopefully be part of informing change. Recently the Australian Minister of the Arts said in an address to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School 2011 Graduation Ceremony

“I am looking to work with these training bodies through our new cultural policy and in particular, the development of the National Schools Curriculum. A curriculum, which places arts as one of the key learning disciplines… because the skills gained across the arts and creative industries are crucial to the innovative and flexible thinking needed in a 21st century economy”.

Innovative and flexible are the key words. Difficult to believe though that the Australian government has taken so long to catch up with what the rest of the western world seems always to have known about the benefits of studying the arts and classics. But there it is.

Diva Divine, American born Greek soprano Maria Callas (1923-1977) who kept the home fires burning as everyone recovered from World War II. Her voice was surely from heaven.

You will have no doubt offended many members of the ‘arts club’ you talk about, Mr Terracini with your words. And you are right. People with this attitude do exist and like to believe they are above everyone else in society. They also seem to believe they are not accountable to it, which is the scariest part. They have done their best to keep opera, one of the great forms of human expression “in house” for a long time. I for one can understand your frustrations and have felt them too, having spent three plus decades of my life hoping they would raise their gaze a little and see out and into the rest of the world.

Understanding why they take the stance they do has always been important to me. Human identity has so many dimensions, including time and place. Music is a key aspect in the formation of identity and community. We remember many of the events of our life by what songs are being sung at the time.

Following World War II European families, including grandmothers, grandfathers, cousins, aunts and uncles were all migrating to America and Australia. The older members kept the stories of their life at home in Europe alive through music, because it reminded them of when they were so happy and times were good. And we cannot blame them they all had a really horrible time.

Music from home became part of their survival mechanism, one they tried to pass on. I know this because I worked with many people who came to Australia in the two decades after the war on social profit committees at Sydney between the 70′s and the 90′s. They told me a great many stories that today most people would not deal with.

Vienna, the interior of the Opera House

Very often some of their children, and definitely their grandchildren were born into this different world and subsequently wanted more. This was about generational change and, appropriate. There had been a considerable shift in thinking from being in ‘survival’ mode during the war to embracing ‘self expression’ in a climate of peace. What their grandchildren and other people wanted out of life post-War was very different. It was hard for many of them to take this on board, having suffered so terribly.

It would be fair to say there is no right way or wrong way of looking at things, just different ideas in different places brought about by different times.

It has been my experience people club together through fear. After all many who migrated lost either some family members, or all of them. So dreadful. They lost their homes, their possessions, country of origin and cultural connections. Wounds like this run very deep and it takes a long time for them to heal. The only thing they could do was to hang on to the music. It was the only thing left that would rest their mind, feed their spirit and nurture their soul. Over the years music from the opera helped them to keep going. So it’s no surprise they wanted to just keep it close.

We also need to remember though that there are a minority of people among the ‘arts club’, who did not have these experiences and patronize everyone else and the public, because they have other fears and agendas.

Sydney Opera House, home for Opera Australia

Today as we move into the second decade of the 21st century the time is ripe for action, because many of these people are better placed to face their fears. It doesn’t mean their fears are not still relevant, but like the rest of us there is a point where they have to come to terms with them or life ceases.

We cannot build a bright future for the next generation on a rocky foundation, one of hurt and anger. However we can build social capital by using our intellectual capital. The last thing we want is to drift slowly into a genteel style of arts poverty in Australia.

Opera Australia as you pointed out receives the biggest grant of money from the state and national governments, and yet only reaches very few people on the scale of things. $20 million dollars of government funds is gleaned from taxes paid by Australian citizens to support it. As you also pointed out in your address, when you took over the opera company audiences for some operas were only reaching 4,000 people.

You were right, this fact is truly a scandal.

Michael Lewis and Jacqueline Mabardi in Opera Australia's Macbeth. Music Composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901). It is a terrific opera, fast paced and full of good tunes. It is faithful to Shakespeare's powerful tragedy, which includes ambition, treachery, madness and mass murder. Pic: Jeff Busby

The ‘creative class’ of the last decade worldwide has transformed everyday life, helping to build and grow community spirit, attracting new investment and contributing much to local and national economies.

This has required technological infrastructure, a diversity of talent and above all, tolerance, persistence and endurance.

I learned to love opera music as a child watching Mario Lanza on the big screen. Many a world famous opera singer said his example was why they wanted to pursue opera as an art form.

Economies thrive when they are driven by inventiveness. But a truly creative society is not merely a game of solitaire any more, it is one played by a team, which requires both energy and awareness.

All types of creative industries increasingly are vital to our success as a national economy, and integral to extending the breadth and depth of our society and its cultural development. And so the funds allocations will change. They must provide the citizens who contribute so much with value for money.

Next year you have said Mr Terracini Opera Australia will play to 500,000 people with a program that will be popular, not populist.

If you expose people to the brilliance of opera singing there will be those who will then beg, borrow or steal to purchase a ticket to experience a real night at the opera.

After all some pay huge sums to see rock stars, you just have to get them to ‘grow’ their taste for other forms of music. Then they will want the real experience, just like that enjoyed by a really Pretty Woman.

Opera is about the people and for the people, all of them. The Operapolitan Team retained by Brisbane City Council (2006-2008) to present music to people in places where they gathered, gained a huge amount of feedback. They told us they really loved opera, but couldn’t afford the high prices to attend or, to buy the posh dresses they felt they had to wear when they went. This was because they were also very aware of the ‘disapproval’ of the so-called ‘arts club’. And it kept them away. It’s not that they did not like opera music, they did and loved it, but they felt (feelings are important) that they and their contribution was not wanted or worse still, not relevant.

It seemed to me at the time very sad that Opera had got away from being about the music of the people and instead become a backdrop for a stage on which others performed for their own benefit and hidden agendas.

Andrew Pryor Tenor, Christian Gante Pianist, Shaun Brown Baritone, Liza Beamish Coloratura performing for Operapolitan 2006 - 2008, an initiative of Brisbane City Council taking Opera to the People in the Queen St Mall, Westfield and Retail First Shopping Centres. The sponsor was Theme and Variations Piano Services, who supplied the Steinway Grand

How good is it to hear you are going to make Sydney Harbour a backdrop for an exciting presentation of La Traviata – that “Pretty Woman’ would be pleased. Change is about enabling and emboldening an expansion of knowledge and ideas about how arts, manufactures, commerce, ideas and music are integral to a cities growth and can contribute to it.

Raising an awareness of how the arts in all their forms will contribute to our very special cultural diversity and can only but benefit society as a whole. Perhaps if we start singing the old Labour political tag tune “It’s Time” to encourage arts ‘patricians’ in Australia to throw open their doors and let the ‘plebeians’ in it may help. If they don’t well, they really could sign the death knell of the music they profess to care about.

Opera is the music of love and life and the last thing we want is that it becomes irrelevant. It is an elite form of art and long should it remain so. No one wants that more than me. But it should never be elitist. In such a progressive society as Australia change is constant and people need to embrace it. There’s a great many Mr Terracini, who would gladly help, as well as give you three cheers for stepping up and taking the lead in changing opera culture in Australia – it is not just all about having the vision, but about taking the action. Go well.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MR LYNDON TERRACINI’S PEGGY GLANVILLE-HICKS ADDRESS 2011

* Maria Callas

^Carolyn McDowall, Operapolitan 2006=2008

Definition of OPERA – Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 4th edition By Michael Kennedy and Joyce Bourne Copyright © 1996 Oxford University Press By permission of Oxford University Press

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1. Showcasing Opera: Taking the Music of Love & Life to People
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A Celtic hero, Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance by Brian McEvoy

The Celts were, and are, exceedingly fond of gatherings, which I think is such a lovely word for bringing people together to celebrate a culture, whose origins go back into the mists of time. If you have any Celtic connection no matter how small, get out and get into it and, you will find that celebrating life with the Celts can be an amazing experience. If you grew up with a proud Scottish grandmother as I did then you will know the emotive responses to the words, the legends, the dances, stories and songs of the ancient Celtic race, because they stay with you the whole of your life. It is very hard to stop your foot tapping when you hear Celtic music, or control your urge to want to sing out loud when traditional songs are sung.

Throughout history the Celtic culture, wherever it found itself, met the challenges of each age heroically, despite many tragic occurrences. Through its deities, mythology and language today it expresses unyielding hope in the song and dance forms that celebrate the richness of its cultural heritage. In antiquity Celtic tribes and groups could be found from the British Isles and Northern Spain as far east as the Black Sea coast and Galatia in Anatolia. Some were absorbed into the Roman Empire as Britons.

The oldest evidence of their existence in archaeological terms comes from Hallstat nearby to Salzburg in Austria, where excavated graves of chieftains have revealed treasures from the Iron Age around 700 BC. This was when the Celts controlled trade along the Rhône, Seine, Rhine and Danube rivers. While some countries around the world remain Celtic, others are peopled by only pockets of Celts.

Today they try to remain individual, while sharing a common ancient Celtic ancestry. Consequently they have a common musical heritage, although no one is really sure what it is. This is because over a long period of isolated evolution, each community of Celts has developed a distinctive style and characteristics of its own. Discovering the secrets of iron was of great importance and it pervaded every aspect of their life linking them to the supernatural force watched over by their priestly class, the Druids. According to Roman author Pliny the Elder nothing was more sacred to the Druids than mistletoe, an ancient symbol of fertility that was also considered an antidote to poison. Kissing under the mistletoe is a tradition that emerged out of early rituals and mythology, although the details remain lost in the mists of time.

The Celtic Cross of Avalon

The Celtic cross, is a powerful symbol of its meeting with Christianity containing an ancient pagan symbol, the wreath a symbol of victory.  Emerging out of central Europe the Celts migrated through Gaul (France) to Britannia, where they laid down solid foundations. That is until the Romans, Vikings and Normans set out to wipe them out. Those that survived retreated into Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the Isle of Man and Brittany,  where the natural topography of the land allowed them to defend themselves.

Celtic Cross on the facade at St John's Cathedral Brisbane, blessed by Dean David Thomas

In popular legend St Patrick (387 – c493) is said to have introduced the Celtic Cross to the Irish. Although there is no documentary evidence of it at that time. When I was living at Brisbane in the Turret of St Martins House in the precinct of St John’s Cathedral between 2000 and 2005, it was wonderful to be on hand to kiss the Celtic cross blessed by the Dean, before it was hoisted into place on top of the facade of the Gothic revival designed St John’s when it was nearing completion after 100 + years of construction

St John’s Cathedral at Brisbane was designed by English architect John Loughborough Pearson late in the nineteenth century. At that time Celtic symbols were very much part of the Gothic Revival architectural movement in England. It was led by architect/designer Auguste Welby Pugin, who also designed the Houses of Parliament at London. J.B. Pearson was an avid disciple and follower of Pugin and his work. As the cross was Celtic and also because the Oxford Movement had taken the Anglican church back to its ‘catholic’ roots, it was very appropriate to incorporate it into the design of St John’s. The design of the cross itself is a combination of a simple Christian cross with a round wreath in memory of Jesus’s sacrifice. The wreath, prior to the birth of Christ, had been given to victorious athletes in the pagan states of ancient Greece and Rome as a prize.  In the Christian world hanging a wreath on a cross at Easter in remembrance gradually, over the centuries came to represent his triumph and victory over death, as well as the promise of a new life to come.

Reynolds, Kelly and O'Connor saying Good Morning, from Singing in the Rain

Life is lovely in Brigadoon...

Whenever I went to visit or stay with my grandmother when I was growing up she always had me sing for her Scottish poet and lyricist Robbie Burns famous song Ye banks and braes o’ bonnie Doon. It, and Danny Boy were her first and foremost favourites. That is until 1954 and the Hollywood musical Brigadoon burst onto the big screen. Although the critics didn’t like it the public did and she and I went together. She loved the musical score and the dancing and didn’t stop talking about it for weeks afterward, even years. Starring Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse and Van Johnson her favourite songs included  “I will Go Home with Bonnie Jean” and “Almost Like Being in Love”. 

Highlander playing the pipes in a glen, shades of Brigadoon

My Nan, as we called her, loved the pipes and if there was a Highland Marching Band playing anywhere we always went to watch and listen. A member of the Clan Campbell, she wore her tartan on special occasions.

When you and I were Young, Maggie was the Scottish song my mother liked to sing and play on the piano about her own mother. Her favoured rendition was by Irish singer John McCormack. The week before she gave up her spirit aged 93 in 1999, my mother sang it for me from her hospital bed one last time. It was a very difficult moment.

On my mother’s father’s side they were Scottish, Irish and Spanish and on my father’s families side they were Cornish. So one could say I am a Celt through and through, including that part of Spain some of my mother’s family came from.

In Portugal and Brittany in France (Gaul) pockets of Celtic peoples still celebrate life and their cultural heritage and music festivals are a regular occurrence. When I was in my formative years during the 50′s my family would go to the movies regularly on a Friday night. My favourite movies were those that included tap dancing, a performance art form that crosses all cultural divides with its influences from the Juba dancing of Africa, English clogging, Irish step dancing, Scottish reel, plus the fire of Spanish flamenco. All these have cultural connections.

It was great in those days as you often got to see old pre-war tap dancing movies as a second feature. So I also remember the outstanding dancing talent of Eleanor Powell tapping up a treat solo, or with Fred Astaire in Broadway Melody 1942. And how could anyone who saw them dance together could forget Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, as they were dancing and singing in the rain. After that it was always a Good Morning.

Eighteenth century Jacobite glasses for toasting the king over the water, or sea

Nan used to immerse my brother and I in tales of her mother’s Scottish homeland. We could vividly imagine the highlands covered in the soft flowering lilac coloured heather. We could see the stone castles and keeps set on the side of lochs and sitting prettily in a glen, just from her vivid description of them. It was all amazing really because she hadn’t been there herself, such was the power of her own mother’s retelling of the stories that she passed down to us.

We would sit and listen eyes wide open as she told us all about England’s “Glorious Revolution” of 1688-1689, a period of great strife. It had its origins in 1669, when James II, the Roman Catholic son of Charles I of England, fled the throne of England replaced by the Protestant monarchy of William III of Orange and his wife, Mary, James II’s daughter.

The inglorious defeat of James by William was something the Stuarts did not take lying down.  James II’s grandson, Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie failed, despite substantial, if often furtive support from the “Jacobites”, who championed their cause. Jacobite societies had to be secret since they were officially banned.

Nevertheless, they met frequently and, over a bowl of water, toasted “the King,” using glasses engraved with Jacobite symbols. The toast was well understood as a tribute to the “King over the sea,” or James III, as James Edward Stuart styled himself.

God bless the King! (I mean our faith’s defender!)
God bless! (No harm in blessing) the Pretender.
But who Pretender is, and who is King,
God bless us all! That’s quite another thing!

Traquair House, in the borders of Scotland

When I went to Scotland  for the first time I just had to visit Traquair Castle on the banks of the Tweed River in Scotland. It became the home of the Earls of Traquair and is still lived in by their descendants, the Maxwell Stuart family. It is the oldest inhabited and most romantic house in Scotland. By tradition a loyal Jacobite, the Fifth Earl of Traquair, is associated with one of the most romantic episodes in the history of the house; the closing of the Bear Gates.

One late autumn day in 1745 he wishes his guest, Prince Charles Edward Stuart a safe journey and gave him a promise that the gates would not be opened until the Stuarts were restored to the throne of England. That means the gates have remained closed ever since.

It was extraordinary to go there and see if for myself after hearing the story for most of my young life. It was a connection to a culture and tradition that transcends both time and space.

Today Wales is considered perhaps the most modern Celtic nation, and their people are renowned for a rich heritage in voice and music. The Welsh eisteddfod, a festival of literature, music and performance still continues at home as it does in many other parts of the world where Celtic people form themselves into societies and interest groups to preserve the very best aspects of their culture.

In Scotland and Ireland the wearing of the kilt, the involvement of children in its step dancing traditions and a sense of fierce national pride is still very much in evidence. Belonging to a clan and attending gatherings is part of a way of life that is both comforting and uplifting.

My Nan (Clan Campbell) died before my children were born between 1968 and 1973. And although my mother tried to give my three sons the sense of their tradition as they grew up, it was a very different world to the immediate post war period I grew up in when people were, understandably revisiting and clinging to tradition. It was all about a sense of security. Whereas our lives had been survival, there’s was to be all about self-expression.

As my sons were growing up we entered a whole new era of world politics and cultural divides. This new world grew to the pulsating  rhythms of rock and roll and a whole new genre of pop music, which inevitably for them growing up with it, won out. In the 90′s when Mel Gibson was at the height of his popularity as an actor his portrayal of William Wallace in Braveheart (1995) wearing blue woad on his face and wearing his kilt on a horse, helped bring the Celts back into contention on the world stage.

Wallace’s famous inspiring speech in defiance of tyranny stimulated a desire it seems to know what once was, in order to drive forward the impetus for what is yet to be.

Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance leading the Celtic charge Photo by Brian McEvoy

My sons were in their early 20′s by then and I was still searching for an opportunity to give them at least some understanding of the beauty and power of the traditional heritage to which they belonged. So it was with some excitement I discovered a pending visit to Sydney by Irish superstar dancer Michael Flatley and his dancing troupe. We all met one evening at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, because by now they were all well out of home forging a life on their own. They were agog when they found out I was taking them to see a show about Irish dancing, but they didn’t protest too much or for too long, mainly because there we so many pretty red headed girls milling nearby. My family has always admired Titian locks.

When we settled into our seats, at what was to be an incredible concert, we looked out onto a sea of red hair everywhere, a sure sign it was a true Celtic occasion. Then the lights went down, the music thundered out and the Lord of the Dance flew through the air to land tapping his feet at a rate that seemed inconceivable. It was quite literally breathtaking. Flatley and his troupe gave a knockout performance, which for us all is now a treasured family memory.

Flatley  broke his own record for tapping the following year in February 1998, by achieving 35 taps per second and that to me still seems miraculous.  But it is there in black and white on his website. He also received the Guinness Book recognition in both 1999 and 2000 for being the highest paid dancer, earning $1,600,000 per week and for having the highest insurance premium placed on a dancer’s legs at $40,000,000. It was all quite simply CELTIC WOW.

Lovely Brisbane born Australian soprano Mirusia performed in a concert called Scotland the Brave, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Scotland, before she left to perform overseas with Andre Rieu. I was pleased to have been there to see her perform before she left to build her brilliant career.

In the decade 1999 – 2009 producing musical events at Brisbane and working with such talented ‘Celtic’ performers as mezzo soprano Kathleen Procter Moore and sensational coloratura Liza Beamish was a joy.

Duo Diva, Kathleen Procter Moore with Liza Beamish sharing a Celtic heritage

They shared my love of having a Celtic heritage and, when they performed as Duo Diva, there was sure to be a Celtic segment of songs. As a result there was, quite often, not a dry eye in the house. Kathleen, a Scot through and through with a lovely lilt in her voice to match has left her Celtic Footprints everywhere.

In America there is a group of five Irish guys and one Scot call themselves Celtic Thunder. They have gradually taken each state they perform in by storm. Although they are singing popular covers songs as well. When they appear on stage in customized suited kilts to sing Ireland’s Call the audience goes wild. Check their coming shows on their website

Catrin Finch, Queen of Harps

In Wales, the home of the Celts, there is the Queen of Harps herself, Catrin Finch. Her website says that she has an interest in Welsh mythology and traditional Welsh music.  Her performance playing Palladio on composer Karl Jenkins 60th birthday in 2008 gained world wide acclaim.

Watch the video or check up on Catrin’s whereabouts on her website

Then if we want to bring it into a pop idiom there is Cold Play, whose new single Paradise sounds as if it grew out of a highland gathering.

That incredible man with the feet of flames, Michael Flatley, after a successful return from early retirement on Dancing with the Stars in America in 2008 has made a comeback with his show the Celtic Tiger and you can see that his style of step dancing is certainly destined to make you fit.

Even the Greeks have claimed a connection to the Celts.

On Britain’s Got Talent, when Stavros Flatley and his son took to the stage mixing levity with cultural creativity, the audience and judges were left speechless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gHvATmUsSg

The Celt’s aren’t a coming, they have always been here.

They are a pretty passionate bunch too, so if you are contemplating getting among them, watch out you might find yourself singing and dancing before you know it.

Enjoy

In Australia contact Celtic Council of Australia if you want to find out about the next Celtic gathering.

Celtic Countries:
Scotland
Wales
Ireland
Isle of Man

Celtic Regions:
Cornwall (County of England)
Brittany (Part of France)
Nova Scotia (Province of Canada)

Non-Celtic Countries with pockets of Celts:
Spain
Portugal
England
France
United States
Italy
Canada
Australia
Argentina
New Zealand

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

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Croatian Cellists Luke Sulic and Stjepan Hauser - 2Cellos

Along with a passion for early music is the enjoyment and love of music written for my favourite instrument, the violoncello. Often shortened to Cello. I would ride through storm and tempest to attend performances played by renowned modern cellists such as Steven Isserlis and Peter Wispelway, especially when they perform with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Over the centuries the instruments that have been played and the voices that have either sung, or narrated to music, have been a powerful force affecting the lives of many people.  English actor Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of 1938 about an invasion of the world by aliens, against a backing of a music show terrified millions. In more recent times Elton John’s rendition of the poignant song Candles in the Wind at Princess Diana’s funeral touched the hardest heart.

Music expresses emotions and ideas in significant forms with rhythm melody, harmony and colour elements contributing to creating an art of sound. It can have both darkness and light, as opposing forces in its make up, highlighting its ability to represent both evil and good. It creates camaraderie, and has been proven to have many therapeutic qualities, including providing an atmosphere wherein calm can prevail in a very busy world.

More recently I have enjoyed the innovative brilliance of the acclaimed 2Cellos, Croatian musicians Luke Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, who performed with Elton John on his 2011 tour.  If you haven’t caught up with this divine duo yet, now’s the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UyEtlJfG_Q

When it emerged during the seventeenth century from a more modest position among a group of instrumentalists, the art of violoncello playing became valued first in Italy, which became overpowered by the love of opera, while Germany and France went on to cultivate its solo playing as the art form.

If you want to understand the style of music originally designed for the cello as a solo instrument, The Cello Suites is an extraordinary tale, beautifully crafted and terrifically told of an epic quest undertaken by Canadian rock critic Eric Siblin. a great book about the search for a Baroque masterpiece, a score specifically written for the cello.

It seems Eric Siblin had an epiphany of sorts when he attended a recital of J S Bach’s six Cello Suites, falling completely under the spell of this classic musical masterpiece. He decided to go on his own journey to learn all about the works and their composer and to record his findings. By all accounts he certainly got more than he bargained for. Along the way he unravels three centuries of mystery, intrigue, history, politics and passion and his compelling work is part biography, part music history, and part literary mystery as it follows three diverse trails on an ever evolving story.

The first is a dramatic narrative featuring eighteenth century composer Johann Sebastian Bach and his missing manuscript; the second traces the journey of Spanish musician Pablo Casals and his rise to fame playing the suites; and the third is Eric Siblin’s own discovery of, and infatuation with the transcandental quality of the music itself.

“It was a powerful experience for me,” he said. “It was like being struck by lightning in a musical way.”

His journey takes him from the back streets of Barcelona to a Belgian mansion, and bombed-out German palace.

He has interviews with renowned modern day cellists Mischa Maisky, Anner Bylsma, and Pieter Wispelwey. He digs into archives, follow festivals, attends conferences, and investigates certain cemeteries.  He also takes cello lessons himself all in pursuit of uncovering the mysteries that continue to haunt this piece of music more than 250 years after the composer’s death.

He turned up some fascinating details about Bach….”His life wasn’t as deadly dull as most people imagine it to be” said Siblin. Up until he was ten years old Johnann Sebastian Bach was taught by his father, however following his death in 1695 he and his brother Johann Christoph studied organ in Ohrdruf and he also developed an interest in organ building.

He was a Court Composer at Weimar for two ruling Grand Dukes 1708 – 1717 and then, at Cöthen for a youthful Prince Leopold.  He wrote works for small court orchestra, including toccatas, capriccios, fantasias, fugues, variations, suites, sonatas, and miscellaneous shorter pieces for teaching.

Bach’s six acclaimed Brandenburg Concertos were dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721.  In 1723 he was employed as Cantor for the Choir School of St. Thomas in Leipzig where he was given responsibility for the music at five principal city churches. This is the period when he composed a huge amount of choral works and also took charge of the University Collegium musicum. His collected works were first published by the Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society), 1851-1900 using the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Thematic-Systematic Listing of the Works of J.S. Bach) devised by Wolfgang Schmieder.

The rendition of 2Cellos ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ by Guns N Roses is so awesome it has to be seen to be believed. Bach would have surely approved of these boys and their magical music making on the violoncello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYEgwwCYWw

Carolyn McDowall The Culture Concept Circle 2009 – 2011

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