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newsletter

Dear members and friends Welcome to Art Song Perth’s 2013 recital season, and our first newsletter of the year. As always, we have some wonderful music planned for this year, with mezzo-soprano Linda Barcan, soprano Claire Condipodero, and baritone Thomas Friberg opening the season on Friday 12 April. They will be accompanied by Marilyn Phillips. Later in the year, pianist , composer, and 2012 ERTS winner Lochlan Brown will also perform. Lochlan used the Scholarship to attend the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School in November. You can read about Lochlan’s experience there on page 4. Renowned mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell will give the final recital on 31 August. This special event is not to be missed, but please book early, as tickets are limited. See page 2 for details. It is rewarding to hear about the careers of young artists who have performed for ASP. In this issue is an update from soprano Leilah Fox. Leilah sang for Art Song Perth in 2009, and is now pursuing a successful career in Queensland. Among her many achievements, Leilah is the 2013 recipient of the Margaret Schofield Scholarship with the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust. Please enjoy the newsletter, and I look forward to seeing you at our opening recital. Dr Harry Cohen President

Number 6 March 2013

From ASP President Dr Harry Cohen

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One of Australia’s finest mezzo-sopranos, Sally-Anne Russell, will give a special recital for Art Song Perth on Saturday, 31 August. Sally-Anne has over fifty operatic roles in her repertoire and has sung in fifteen countries including the United States, Austria, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. As a principal guest artist she has sung with Opera Australia, all of the State Opera companies and all of the major Australian symphony orchestras. Recent appearances include Falstaff (West Australian Opera), Viva Verdi concerts (Victorian Opera), La sonnambula, Tales of Hoffmann (State Opera of South Australia), Das Rheingold (Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra), and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Tasmanian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras).

We’re delighted to welcome Sally-Anne to this very special event.

Sally-Anne Russell to sing for Art Song Perth

Recital 12 April Join us for an inspiring evening of songs by Debussy, Puccini, Bellini, Sibelius and Merikanto.

Featuring Linda Barcan m e z z o - s o p r a n o Thomas Friberg b a r i t o n e

Claire Condipodero s o p r a n o Marilyn Phillips p i a n o

Tickets

Members $40 Non-members $45 No concessions Tickets include a complimentary programme, glass of champagne and light refreshments. Available at recitals, or by ringing 9349 5694. Seats are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment!

Clockwise from above left: Thomas Friberg, Linda Barcan, Marilyn Phillips, Claire Condipodero

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In November last year, Art Song Perth Committee member Jill Sullivan travelled from her home in southern Queensland to attend an Art Song Canberra recital, with Helen Barnett, soprano, and Simon Kenway, piano. Following is her review. In a programme ranging from the fine nuance of French art song to the more immediate Italian songs and arias, Helen Barnett accompanied by Simon Kenway charmed the audience in Canberra on a hot Sunday afternoon. With a pleasing stage demeanour and beautifully dressed in a sky blue satin evening gown, Helen delighted visually and aurally. She was at all times accompanied securely and sensitively by Simon Kenway. The first group of five well-known songs by Fauré— Nell, Claire de lune, Aurore, Après un rêve and Mandoline—were beautifully performed, Helen’s high floating soprano weaving continuous silvery threads of sound over Kenway’s sympathetic accompaniment. Diction was clear and the text was well communicated. Fauré was followed by four songs by Henri Duparc where the high set L'invitation au voyage, was

particularly atmospheric, although La vie antérieure needed a little more warmth of tone to completely realise the full meaning of Baudelaire’s text. After interval Helen and Simon lightened the mood by launching into a set of lyrical songs by Stephano Donaudy. Then turning to the romantic era they presented Bellini’s, Vaga luna, che inargenti and L’abbandono, two songs by Puccini, the aria Sì, mi chiamano Mimì from La bohème and finally Rossini’s ever popular La promessa. Helen was clearly at home in the Italian repertoire, her vocal line clean and sparkling in the higher register, ably communicating a range of emotions. Again, a little more resonance in the lower range would have been ideal, but in the warm but clear acoustic of the Wesley Music Centre auditorium, this was only a minor concern. Overall this was a very enjoyable programme and one in which singer and accompanist rose to the considerable challenges of the recital medium accentuated by the need for last minute change when the original pianist was suddenly indisposed.

Canberra recital

About Art Song Canberra Art Song Canberra holds seven recitals a year, all on Sunday afternoons at 3:00pm. The size of audience averages 80. Canberra has a population of 380,000. Recitals are held at the Wesley Music Centre, part of the Wesley Uniting Church complex in National Circuit, Forrest. It was opened in 2002 and includes a purpose-built Music Room designed specifically for small-scale chamber concerts for instruments, keyboard and voice, for master classes, for record-ings and other musical events. It is ideal for art song. More details: http://www.artsongcanberra.org

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Pianist Lochlan Brown was the 2012 winner of the Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship. Lochlan used the Scholarship to attend the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School in Brisbane in November 2012. He wrote to Art Song Perth while attending the School. I'm in Brisbane at the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School in the second week of the three week intensive course. We're working all day, every day, with probably some of the best international artists and coaches - extremely intimidating but amazingly insightful. We're getting training and advice on so many aspects - from technique, musicianship and language to audition practice, Alexander Technique and performance psychology. It's really great to work so closely with all the singers, as this is what it's all about for me - the collaboration and communal musical spirit. Though the competitive aspect is motivating, it's so fantastic to find so many others my age who are passionate about creating amazing music.

One of our coaches, Philip Mayers, who grew up in Brisbane, but has since spent much of his life in Germany has been a particularly significant influence. I'm becoming increasingly inspired by German lieder after observing his coaching and watching him perform. I would love to bring more of this amazing music to my friends in Perth in the intimate setting it was composed for. I have been offered the assistant repetiteur position with WA Opera for the 2013 La Traviata season, where I will be working closely with Marilyn Phillips and Joseph Colaneri. Beyond 2013, I am looking for opportunities to study piano and languages in Germany and Italy - eventually working towards my goal of vocal coach and operatic conductor. Lochlan has since been awarded the Bendat Scholarship with West Australian Opera’s Young Artist Program. Together with other young Artists Sarah Guilmartin and Caitlin Cassidy, he will be going to New York in September for a two week residency with Joseph Colaneri.

Lochlan Brown attends the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School

Jenna Robertson wins prestigious award

Soprano Jenna Robertson was recently announced 2013 Outstanding Young Professional Woman in the Women in Resources Awards, presented by the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME). Jenna graduated with a Masters of Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and joined Shell as an Operations Process Engineer at Fife Natural Gas Liquids plant in Scotland. She then worked on Shell's Sakhalin Project, becoming Commissioning Process Engineer on the Onshore Processing Facility in Sakhalin, Russia. Jenna moved to Perth in 2008 joining Chevron Australia in the Gorgon Project Operations team as a Process Engineer. She worked in the areas of process safety management, process control and simulation and was project manager and lead engineer for the Gorgon Operator Training Simulator project, presenting this at Chevron's international engineering conference in 2011. Jenna is

currently working as Chevron's LNG Operations Business Improvement Coordinator, setting up benchmarking and continuous improvement for Chevron's LNG assets Gorgon and Wheatstone Jenna performed as an Emerging Artist for Art Song Perth in 2009, and has worked in numerous opera productions over the last few years, including leading roles.

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Soprano Leilah Fox performed for Art Song Perth in 2009. In 2011, she moved to Brisbane to undertake training with dramatic soprano Lisa Gasteen. Since moving to Queensland Leilah has completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Opera and is currently completing her Master of Music Studies in Opera. In 2012 Leilah was the winner of the Elizabeth Muir Memorial prize, the Wagner Society Encouragement Award, and was a recipient of the Owen Fletcher Post-Graduate award. She also attended the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, to which she was awarded a full scholarship. Leilah is the 2013 recipient of the Margaret Schofield Scholarship with the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust. Leilah recently wrote to Art Song Perth. I finished my post graduate semester in opera in 2011, very happy with how things had gone and how much progress I had been able to make with my singing over a relatively short period. I was asked to rejoin the Conservatorium in 2012 and continue my vocal studies as a student of the Masters in Opera course here. That was just the beginning of a very good decision for my own personal journey. This year has flown by, with many small victories keeping the wind at my back and my aims and goals in sight. Earlier in the year I competed in the Elizabeth Muir Memorial Prize, and was stunned when I was awarded the scholarship of $1500. I think it was the first competition of any kind that I have ever won, and I received some very encouraging comments from the adjudicators, which was a very needed and appreciated boost. I decided to continue my work and then audition for the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, an amazing program that I had a slim hope of being accepted into. I sang on the end of a flu, as we all sometimes must, and thought to myself when I left that if nothing else, it had been a great learning experience. A while later, however, I received email advice that I had been successful in my application to the Opera School, and that scholarships were still being decided amongst the panel, and I would soon be advised of the outcome of this. I was so happy to be accepted to the school that I did not give this particular statement much more thought until I received a letter of congratulations advising me that I had been awarded a full scholarship to the Opera School, and that I would not need to provide any fees for the three week program! I was and am overwhelmed by this, which to me is a big win as it is so unexpected, and helps me to continue here, knowing despite the nostalgia of living away that I have made the right decision for my own personal pursuit of performance. More recently, I won the Wagner Society encouragement award for most promising artist, that includes a recital I will present for the Wagner Society of Queensland later in the year. Also this year I am finishing my Masters in opera and am a scholar with the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust for 2013. I am the recipient of the Margaret Schofield Memorial Scholarship, with the total scholarship worth for the year exceeding $30,000! This is an amazing award and I was over the moon to find out I had been successful. Things are going really well for me at the moment, and I plan on another very big year ahead.

A winning year for Leilah Fox

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ART SONG PERTH Postal: 34B Bilinga Road Westminster 6061 | Telephone: 9349 5694

Email: admin@artsongperth.org.au | http://www.artsongperth.org.au Join us on facebook.com/artsongperth | Follow us on Twitter @ArtSongPerth

Art Song Perth is proudly supported by:

The Anglican Parish of Swanbourne—Mt Claremont

Recital dates 2013 Friday 12 April at 7:30pm

Sunday 9 June at 3:00pm

Sunday 21 July at 3:00pm

Saturday 31 August at 7:30pm

Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship Saturday 5 October at 7:00pm Applications close Friday 6 September

Tickets Members $15 Non-members $30 Concessions $20 Full-time students $15 Membership Single $30 Double $50 Concession $15 Full-time students are eligible for the concession price.

Venue The Church of the Resurrection 105 Shenton Road (cnr Shenton and Derby Roads) Swanbourne 6010

Notice of Annual General Meeting Notice is hereby given that the 22nd annual general meeting of the Lieder Society of WA Inc. (trading as Art Song Perth) will take place on Saturday, 23 March 2013, at 2:00pm in the coffee lounge at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, on the ground floor, near the Main Entrance.