Dear Members,
Welcome back after what I hope was a very pleasant festive season. Our year started well with a recital by Andrew Young, a baritone and recent graduate from the Sydney Conservatorium, who is joining Opera Queensland in March as a Young Artist. With his accompanist Fiona McCabe it was a most successful and enjoyable afternoon and we look forward to hearing of their future careers with great interest.
In January Barry and Jane Walters and I were invited to a farewell function for Countess Baudissin, the Director of the Goethe Institut, who has been such a great supporter of our Society. She is going to Prague where she will be responsible for a large area of Eastern Europe from Scandinavia to Warsaw. We wish her well in her new post but we shall miss her and her charm and warm smile. We were fortunate to meet the new Director, Dr Roland Goll, who assured us of his interest in our Society. We welcome him and look forward to working with him in the future.
I have had discussions with Craig Bush from the Art Gallery of NSW and a Seminar on Gà ¶tterdämmerung is tentatively planned for July at the Art Gallery. As soon as the arrangements are finalised you will be notified. Our last joint venture - Tannhäuser - was a great success and the Art Gallery is a wonderful venue.
Also at the Art Gallery are three recitals planned for this year: Ingrid Silveus and Angus Wood in May, Peter Coleman-Wright in July and, hopefully, Siegfried Jerusalem in September. The details of these recitals will be advised as soon as possible.
Please remember that our March meeting will be at the Eugene Goosens Hall at the ABC studio in Ultimo for a Wagner concert - Richard and Siegfried - given by the student orchestra from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Maestro Cillario. The concert is free and commences at 3pm but we must be seated by 2.30 as part of the concert will be a direct broadcast.
I would like to thank a past member Michael Edgelow who donated a collection of Wagner performance programs from the 1970s & 80s for our members. His generosity was rewarded as there was much interest and not one of the programs was left at the end of the February meeting.
The Committee has approved an increase in the 2000/2001 annual subscriptions to cover the GST component of costs after 1 July. Renewal forms will be mailed in March.
Two of our members, Clare Hennessy and Betty Maloney, are on the sick list and we wish them both a speedy recovery.
BARBARA McNULTY