Musicians
Tall Poppies Newsletter
A living archive featuring Australian luminaries
Dear Listeners, Dear Salon Guests,
I hope this finds you all in good health.
Thank you for your many emails. Rest assured a new series of podcasts is in production, and hopefully we can resume the Berlin salons very soon.
I had hoped our first newsletter of 2022 would be to invite you to the next Tall Poppies Talks salon, but David and I have decided it is best to wait a little longer before launching this year’s salons. However, we are delighted to announce that our next guest of honour, on March 17, will be the composer and educator, Liza Lim.
Liza, one of Australia’s most prolific composers, has created compositions for many of the world’s leading orchestras, among them the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and the SuedwestRundfunk orchestra. Her music has been featured at many notable festivals and she is currently completing a number of new works to be premiered this year. Liza is Professor of Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she runs the Composing Women Program. She is also a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin or Institute of Advanced Study. https://lizalimcomposer.com/
There are two events featuring Liza’s music coming up in Berlin.
23 March at Maerzmusik:
23 April at the Akademie der Künste, ‘Sex Magic’ with Claire Chase
You can hear Liza’s Tall Poppies podcast here: Liza Lim Composer
In other news, Principal Bass of the Berlin Philharmonic Matthew McDonald is playing in a double bass concert with other great players on 25.3. at the Boulezsaal Berlin:
Matthew will also premiere Gerald Barry’s new bass concerto with the Berlin Phil, under John Storgards, on June 2-4:
You can catch Matt’s podcast here: Matt McDonald
Dancer and choreographer Rhys Martin has been busy in Kiel, creating the choreography for the theatre’s production of Sunset Boulevard. Sadly, shortly before opening, the production was hit by COVID. TheaterKiel is trying to move the opening to February 25. But, as Rhys says, let’s see how moody the gods are. Since his podcast and salon in 2018, Rhys has retired from Berlin’s University of the Arts and now divides his time between Berlin and France. http://www.rhysmartin.com/content.htm
You will find Rhys’s podcast here: Rhys Martin
As always, composer Cathy Milliken has been busy despite the disappointment of many projects being postponed. https://www.cathymilliken.com/
Some highlights include:
-1.9.21 UA of NIGHT SHIFT with Ensemble Modern to texts by William Shakespeare and Cathy Milliken at Musikfeste Berlin.
-1.9.21 UA of the ensemble version of Opera of Objects for LUX:NM by Cathy Milliken, Vanessa Tomlinson, Erik Griswold and LUX:NM.
18.1.22 Deutschlandfunk: Bunyah radio play (direction, composition: Cathy Milliken, Dietmar Wiesner/Prix Italia 2015) featuring poetry and essays by
Les Murray
Coming up:
5.2.22 @23.03 SWR : UA Tender Buttons, verknüpft (direction, composition: Cathy Milliken, Dietmar Wiesner) featuring poetry and essays by Gertrude Stein with Dagmar Manzel, Michael Schiefel, Brett Dean, Julian Day, Vanessa Tomlinson.
7.2.22 @1.50 Arte: Dulab Al Paloma, (a film by Uli Aumüller with music by Dietmar Wiesner and Cathy Milliken and improvisations by Ensemble Extrakte).
10.3 22 London, Royal Festival Hall: NIGHT SHIFT UA of new version, with London Sinfonietta, Jonathan Stockhammer, Helena Rasker and Michael Schiefel.
Here is a link to Cathy’s podcast: Cathy Milliken
Violinist Stan Dodds has not been letting the grass grow under his feet. He writes:
“Whilst grateful that we continue to perform publicly, the constantly changing testing and vaccination requirements during the current pandemic wave mean that every two days we play a round of Russian Roulette, anxiously waiting for testing results to see whether the evening performance will go ahead or not. I was able to do all three concerts of the Sinfonie Orchester Berlin over the Christmas/New Year period, including a Beethoven 9 on January 1st, which amounted to a minor miracle. Public and musicians alike were thirsting for this work in particular, which seemed to offer some familiar reassurance in unpredictable times.
More recently I took part in a “Nonsense in Residence” Late Night concert with Patricia Kopatschinskaja, with whom I have had the good fortune to work with closely three times since December. Featuring performance pieces from Dadaist and Fluxus movements, and with chamber music works by Liget, Cage and Patricia herself. It was an exceptional evening of absurdity, very refreshing in grim times.”
You can catch Stan’s podcast here: Stan Dodds
Jazz trombonist Shannon Barnett has been working on a new CD that will be available from https://www.galileomusic.de and on all streaming platforms in February.
You can hear Shannon’s Tall Poppies podcast here:
Philosopher Peter Singer will be visiting Australia in 2022. If you want to catch his tour dates visit his website at https://petersinger.info/
Peter is a professor of bioethics, with a background in philosophy. He works mostly in practical ethics, and is perhaps best known for his book Animal Liberation and for his writings about global poverty.
Here is a link to Peter’s Tall Poppies podcast: Peter Singer
Support
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, thereby allowing me to continue my research, interviewing and production of this living archive, do drop by the Tall Poppies website: www.Tall-Poppies.com.
Here’s the direct link to the Patreon page, which makes donating to this project easy:
Here’s the direct link to the Patreon page, which makes donating to this project easy:
Wishing you all the best from Berlin. Stay safe!
Breandáin
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