Dear Listeners, 

September 9th was a special day for all of the Tall Poppies team as we hosted our first salon in over a year. Covid restrictions meant the number of guests we could invite was limited, but those attending brought with them mountains of enthusiasm that appropriately reignited the Tall Poppies project after the many lockdowns. 

Our guest of honour for the evening was the exceptional musician Matthew McDonald, principal bass of the Berlin Philharmonic.  You can read more about the evening in this blogpost by guest author Carola Tortie:

https://www.tall-poppies.com/the-australian-salon-tall-poppies-talk-returns/

There is also plenty of exciting news about many of the exceptional Aussies who have already been guests on the podcast.  

Philosopher Peter Singer was awarded the Berggruen Prize worth US $1-million.  This accolade is given to individuals in recognition of their major achievements in advancing ideas that shape the world. Peter will donate half of the prize money to the foundation  The Life You Can Save,  the other half of the prize money will be divided among animal welfare organisations.   https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/ You can hear Peter’s podcast here: 

Tall Poppies with Peter Singer 

Composer Cathy Milliken received the prestigious Australian Art Music Award for her work Piece 43 for Now. The work was inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43 and references the gunshots fired at Jakob Blake in Wisconsin in August 2020. It was premiered online by the SWR Symphony Orchestra in 2020. Cathy is currently completing a number of  commissions including a work for the  Zafraan Ensemble and  a new radio play together with Dietmar Wiesner called „step around“ with texts by Gertrude Stein for SWR.  She is also composing  a fanfare for the Sydney Symphony, to be conducted by Simone Young at the reopening of the Sydney Opera House after extensive renovations.  Tall Poppies with Cathy Milliken 

Author Gail Jones during the lockdown finished a new novel during. She says it’s too early for her to disclose anything about the new work, but says she is missing Berlin and hopes to return as soon as possible. 

Tall Poppies with Gail Jones 

Musician Shannon Barnett has been busy during lockdown, working on a new album to be released in November. Since the borders have opened up Shannon has appeared at several major European jazz festivals. 

Tall Poppies with Shannon Barnett

Neuroscientist Matthew Larkum explained that the lockdown gave him and his colleagues the chance to write up their many experiments. But the experiments are up and running again.  For those of you not familiar with his work, Matthew and his team at the Humboldt University of Berlin have discovered a unique form of cell messaging occurring in the human brain that’s not been seen before. Single human neurons may be much more powerful computational devices than once thought. 

Tall Poppies with Matthew Larkum 

Musician Stan Dodds has been busy conducting the final of the Clara Haskil Piano Competition in Vevey. He  has also established a new chamber music series  and  is conducting projects in Latvia and with the State Youth Orchestra in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania.  On October 3rd Stan will conduct the opening concert of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Tall Poppies with Stan Dodds 

Once again special thanks to the podcast sponsors. Your financial contribution makes it possible for this project to continue. For those of you who might be considering sponsoring the podcast and thereby allowing me to continue my research, interviewing and production of this living archive, here’s the direct link to the patreon page which makes donating to this project easy: https://www.patreon.com/tallpoppiestalk

Till next time, wishing you all the best from Berlin, 

Breandáin