OUR NEXT EVENT - ON SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER 2024


'GUARDING THE LEGACY:
COSIMA IN BAYREUTH 1883-1906
'

 

BY ROBERT GAY
 

Cosima Wagner
Portrait by Franz von Lenbach, 1879


12.30pm:
DVD - Ring highlights from Valencia – Zubin Mehta

2.00pm:
Guarding the Legacy: Cosima in Bayreuth 1883-1906'
a presentation by
Robert Gay

Venue:
The Goethe Institut, Event Hall (upstairs),
90 Ocean Street (cnr Jersey Road), Woollahra

Tickets:
$25 members, $35 non-members and $10 full-time students

 

ABOUT COSIMA WAGNER

Francesca Gaetana Cosima Wagner (née Liszt; 24 December 1837 – 1 April 1930) was the daughter of the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt and Franco-German romantic author Marie d’Agoult. She became the second wife of Richard Wagner, and with him founded the Bayreuth Festival as a showcase for his stage works; after his death she devoted the rest of her life to the promotion of his music and philosophy. Commentators have recognised Cosima as the principal inspiration for Wagner’s later works, particularly Parsifal.


ABOUT ROBERT GAY

Robert Gay


Robert Gay has significant expertise as a music history educator and tour leader, having designed and led more than 100 tours to the great musical cities of Western and Central Europe and North America. Known for his popular music history courses, which have been offered at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Continuing Education for more than 30 years, Robert’s musical expertise extends from the Baroque period through to the great composers of the modern era. Robert trained as a lyric baritone in London and Munich, and he was also President of the Sydney Schubert Society for many years. He has been a guest lecturer for the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society (ACNC), and is regularly invited to present talks on opera and music history to organisations such as the Wagner Society in NSW.

 
ABOUT THE DVD THE VALENCIA RING - HIGHLIGHTS 
 
DVD


Zubin Mehta and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia 2007- 9.Production by La Fura dels Baus.

Cast includes: Juha Uusitalo (Wotan), Jennifer Wilson (Brünnhilde), Lance Ryan (Siegfried), Matti Salminen (Hagen).

La Fura dels Baus is a Catalan theatre group founded in 1979 in Barcelona working with contemporary theatre and opera, as well as major events such as the opening ceremony for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. In opera, La Fura dels Baus stagings are renowned primarily for their abstract stylistic settings, where acrobats and 3D computer animations play a major role. The main idea behind Fura dels Baus staging of Der Ring des Nibelungen is to show “the degradation of nature by technological man”. Director Carlus Padrissa meticulously followed all of Wagner's original stage directions with “greater freedom and adapting it to our own aesthetics” while at the same time “going back to the spirit of Wagner, to the original mysticism and symbolism”.

 
 

WAGNER SOCIETY EVENTS IN 2024

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COMING SOCIETY EVENTS IN 2024

updated 7 October

Sunday    20 October 12.30pm: DVD - Ring highlights from Valencia – Zubin Mehta                 2.00pm: Robert Gay, teacher of music history courses and leader of international musical and cultural tours, on Cosima Wagner Details Goethe Institut *
Sunday 
10 November

10.30am: WSNSW Symposium on Die Walküre - the continuing series on The Ring in the week of the SSO-Simone Young performances

Details Goethe Institut *
Saturday 
16 November
4.00 - 6.00pm: WSNSW reception for other Wagner Societies

Details

GET TICKETS HERE

The Barnet Long Room, Customs House *
Sunday 
1 December
no DVD 2.00pm: Christmas concert and party   Goethe Institut *

 

PAST EVENTS IN 2024
Sunday
11 February
12.50pm: DVD - 
SOH Opening Concert

 


2.00pm: A discussion of the Brisbane Ring, led by Helden bass-baritone Warwick Fyfe

 

Program

Photos

Goethe Institut *
Wednesday
21 February
8.00pm: German soprano Alexandra Steiner in conversation from Germany with Ross Whitelaw

Details

Photos

via Zoom from Berlin
Sunday 
10 March
12.30pm: DVD -
Erich Leinsdorf in rehearsal & performance
2.00pm: A talk by Heldentenor Simon O’Neill covering his life with Wagner

Program

Photos

Goethe Institut *
Wednesday
20 March
7.00pm: A talk on Wagner in Britain by broadcaster Christopher Cook interviewed by Ross Whitelaw

Details

Photos

via Zoom from England

Sunday  
21 April

POSTPONED

12.30pm: DVD - Weber’s Euryanthe (3 Acts) + discussion of production

POSTPONED

  Goethe Institut *
Sunday 
19 May
2.00pm: Concert with soprano Valda Wilson, bass baritone Eugene Raggio and pianists Katherine Day & Thomas Johnson 
followed by Wagner’s birthday celebration

Program

Photos 1 & Photos 2

Goethe Institut *
Sunday 
16 June
12.00pm: Special Bloomsday live zoom at the Goethe Institut - American music critic & author Alex Ross talks from Los Angeles about Joyce and Wagner.

1.15pm: AGM [only financial members may vote]

2.00pm: DVD - Christian Thielemann My Richard Strauss   

Program

Zoom photos

AGM photos

Goethe Institut *
Wednesday 26 June 12.00pm: Talk via zoom by Chairman, Wagner Society of Southern California, Dr John Mastrogiovanni on Parsifal: The Will and Redemption

Details

Photos

Zoom
Sunday 
14 July
12.00pm:  DVD - Richard Strauss Gala from Dresden  2.00pm: Conversation with award-winning Australian baritone Simon Meadows, exploring his career and experiences in the music industry.

Program

Photos

Goethe Institut *
Sunday
28 July
12.00pm: DVD - The Ring without words Lorin Maazel   2.00pm: On the 20th anniversary of the SOSA Ring, conversation with production & set designer Michael Scott-Mitchell and lighting designer Nick Schlieper about the Adelaide Ring

Program

Photos

Goethe Institut *
Sunday
18 August
12.00pm: DVD - Lotte Lehmann Master Classes Vol. II 2.00pm: 'Love, Law and Power in Die Walküre' by Dr Antony Ernst, director, dramaturg, lecturer and arts administrator, and Director of the Royal Danish Orchestra

Program

Photos

Goethe Institut *
Sunday    29 September 12.30pm: DVD - Richard Strauss and his Heroines         2.00pm: WSSA President Dr Geoffrey Seidel on 'Lola Montez - From Saxony to Sydney via Saxony'

Program

Photos

Goethe Institut *

 

*Venues:

Goethe Institut
Event Hall (upstairs)
90 Ocean Street (cnr Jersey Road)
Woollahra NSW

St Columba Community Centre
53A Ocean Street (cnr Forth Street)
Woollahra NSW

The Barnet Long Room
Customs House
45 Alfred Street
Circular Quay
Sydney CBD 

WELCOME TO THE WAGNER SOCIETY IN NSW

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Our members are lovers of the music and operas of Richard Wagner and also support Wagnerian productions in Australia and emerging Wagnerian performers from NSW.

Why not become a member?
Apart from joining a group of fellow Wagnerians, there are many benefits. As a member, you can:

  • attending a variety of events each year at a reduced rate, including talks, seminars, concerts and films, with outstanding presenters and exciting performers, and with afternoon tea following each event - events are held most months usually on a Sunday starting at 2.00pm and normally at the Goethe Institut, 90 Ocean Street, Woollahra, Sydney. In addition, DVDs of Wagner operas or related areas are often shown before talks (but not before recitals or concerts). Click here for the current program.

  • attending a champagne celebration of Wagner’s birthday and a Christmas Party;

  • meeting and getting to know like-minded Wagnerians;

  • enjoying the fellowship of our extended network of music/theatre lovers when attending performances in Australia and overseas;

  • receiving four issues of the Wagner Quarterly per year as well as regular e-news and emails;

  • accessing the Society’s website with its list of events, photo gallery, views and reviews about Australian and international Wagner productions, all previous events, and much more, as well as the For Members Only section which includes all previous Quarterlies;

  • having the opportunity to access tickets for the annual Bayreuth Festival; and

  • knowing that you are helping to support emerging Wagnerian or potential Wagnerian performers from NSW as well as productions of Wagner in Australia.

Subscription rates and how to pay them plus the online New members application form are all available here.

If you have any enquiries about membership, please email your question to contact@wagner.org.au

 

herehttps://wagner.org.au/media/10-march-2024-heldentenor-simon-oneill-his-life-wagner