New Events

WAGNER'S BIRTHDAY LUNCH, FOLLOWED BY "RICHARD WAGNER AND THE TEPLITZ MYSTERY" by PETER BASSETT

Saturday 18 May 2024 at 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm

The annual lunch to celebrate the birthday of Richard Wagner will be held in the beautiful Heritage Room of the Story Bridge Hotel, Main Street Kangaroo Point, at 12:30 pm on Saturday 18th May. The Heritage Room can seat 50 guests (max) and is on the first floor via a lift from the side street. The price will be $70 pp for two courses – main and dessert – and the Menu is: Main Course (alternate drop) – Grilled chicken supreme on a warm kipfler, green bean and chevre salad with slow roasted tomato & chicken jus (gf). Grilled fish of the day on baby chats with steamed new season asparagus, saffron beurre-blanc & salmon pearls (gf). Dessert (alternate drop) – Story Bridge Hotel Pavlova with fresh summer berries, double cream, passionfruit glaze and fresh mint (gf). Warm apple and rhubarb crumble with vanilla bean gelato and local strawberries. Only the second dessert is not gluten-free. Pay separately for drinks at the bar set up for our use. 

Lunch will be followed by a short walk to the Queensland Multicultural Centre for a presentation at 3:00 pm by Peter Bassett of “Richard Wagner and the Teplitz Mystery”. The usual meeting charges apply: $15 for members and $20 for guests. If you are unable to attend the Lunch but would like to come to the Talk at 3:00 pm, you are most welcome to attend the Talk alone. Please book for the Lunch and/or the Meeting by advising our Secretary Alpha Yap at alphayap60@gmail.com and transfer payment to the Society’s bank account: Bank of Queensland, BSB 124-021 A/c No. 2261-2919 and add your name and Lunch and/or May.

Johanna Rosine Wagner and Ludwig Heinrich Christian Geyer (d.1821). Until he was fourteen, the composer was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer.

RECITAL BY THE WINNER OF THE WAGNER SOCIETY ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD, DALLAS TIPPET, AT 4MBS FM STUDIO

Saturday 15 Jun 2024 at 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Recital by the winner of the Wagner Society Encouragement Award, baritone Dallas Tippet. At 4MBS FM Studio, 384 Old Cleveland Road, Coorparoo (program to be advised).

Dallas Tippet was born and raised in Brisbane. He started his classical training at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University thanks to his singing teacher in High School, Tenor Mattias Lower, who remains his teacher. Mattias convinced him to give classical a go and, ever since, he has fallen in love with opera, art song and the performance of classical music in general. He received the Elizabeth Muir Undergraduate Award in his first year (2019) which motivated him more to perform this as a career option. He completed his Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the end of 2022, and is due to complete his Graduation Certificate mid-way through 2024, and he plans to finish his Master’s course half way through 2025. After that, Dallas hopes to start performing overseas, or at least outside of Brisbane – preferably at a German conservatorium that will take him, or possibly at the Royal Academy of Music in England.

Dallas’s teacher Mattias Lower will be accompanying him, and the program will take the form of a discussion interspersed with the following musical items:

O du, mein holder Abendstern – from Wagner’s Tannhäuser

Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen – from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt

Lieben, Hassen, Hoffen, Zagen – from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos

Träume – from Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder

VIDEO OF WAGNER'S LIFE FROM THE DRESDEN UPRISING TO HIS TIME WITH MATHILDE WESENDONCK IN SWITZERLAND

Saturday 20 Jul 2024 at 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

This meeting will feature an extended extract from Tony Palmer’s 1983 film on the life of Richard Wagner. The original film was nearly 8 hours long (and a shorter 5 hour version was later released) as well as a 9 hour mini-series in 10 episodes. The film was enthusiastically received by critics at the time for both the beautiful cinematography (filmed on authentic locations in Germany, France and Switzerland) and the quality of the cast. Narrated by Andrew Cruickshank, the cast includes Richard Burton as Wagner, Gemma Craven as his first wife, Minna, Vanessa Redgrave as Cosima, Ekkehard Schall as Franz Liszt, Marthe Keller as Mathilde Wesendonck, and Sir John Gielgud, Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Ralph Richardson as King Ludwig’s advisers. This afternoon we shall be showing an extended extract pertaining to a decisive period of Wagner’s life, from his revolutionary activities in the Dresden uprising through to his exile in Switzerland and his relationships with Otto and Mathilde Wesendonck.

'THE WESENDONCK LIEDER', PRESENTED BY SOPRANO REBECCA CASSIDY WITH STEPHEN EMMERSON, AT QMC KANGAROO POINT

Saturday 17 Aug 2024 at 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Mathilde Wesendonck (1828-1902) whose maiden name was Agnes Luckemeyer. She took the name Mathilde to please her husband whose first wife and elder sister were both named Mathilde.

A performance of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder by soprano Rebecca Cassidy with Stephen Emmerson. At the Queensland Multicultural Centre, Kangaroo Point. Mathilde Wesendonck wrote Five Poems for a Female Voice, which were set to music for piano accompaniment by Wagner in 1857-58. He subsequently orchestrated Träume (‘Dreams’) – a study for Tristan und Isolde, and the other songs were later orchestrated by Felix Mottl.

AN AFTERNOON AT THE MOVIES. CINEMA SHOWING OF ACT 3 OF 'THE MASTERSINGERS OF NUREMBERG'.

Saturday 21 Sep 2024 at 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm

The unforgettable quintet in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, in the Glyndebourne production with Michaela Selinger as Magdalene, Topi Lehtipuu as David, Gerald Finley as Hans Sachs, Anna Gabler as Eva and Marco Jentzsch as Walther von Stolzing.

A private cinema showing of Act 3 of ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg‘, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and directed by David McVicar, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and The Glyndebourne Chorus. Other principal singers are Johannes Martin Kränzle as Sixtus Beckmesser and Alastair Miles as Veit Pogner. The showing will be in the Elizabeth Picture Theatre, 179 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, followed by a reception in the beautiful adjoining reception room with Prosecco and French Cake. Sponsored by Richard Hartley. Timing to be confirmed.