FOUNDED 1953
President: Dame Gwyneth Jones DBE, Kammersängerin
Vice President: Sir John Tomlinson CBE
Chairman: Jeremy D Rowe B.Ed.
Other Events & Wagner Related Items
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Friday 24 February 2012 at 19.00
and Sunday 26 February 2012 at 15.00
Midsummer Opera
St John’s Church, Waterloo Road, SE1 8TY (nr IMAX Cinema)
Concert performances, sung in German, of
Wagner - Die Walküre (Acts II and III)
Cast:
Wotan - Stephen Holloway
Brünnhilde - Zoë South
Fricka - Karen Foster
Siegmund - John Upperton
Sieglinde - Deborah Stoddart
Hunding - John Milne
Gerhilde - Nuria Luterbacher
Helmwige - Nicola Wydenbach
Ortlinde - Linda Sherratt
Waltraute - Marie Degodet
Siegrune - Lynne McAdam
Rossweisse - Jane Harding
Grimgerde - Annette Dumville
Schwertleite - Siân Woodling
The Symphony Orchestra of Midsummer Opera
Conductor - David Roblou.
Advance booking (recommended) 020 7652 0070
£20, £16 (concs) and £12 (gallery pews)
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5th March 2012
RICHARD WAGNER STUDY DAYS
(IN MEMORIAM PENELOPE TURING) – RHEINGOLD
Payment by cheque to Wagner Study Day and/or electronically (details available)
This course is continuing with thanks to a generous donation provided by founder course supporter Marie Cowell in New Zealand in memory of Penelope Turing, (author and opera critic) who ran previous Wagner courses with David Stannard since 1992 at The Hill, Abergavenny and at Lodge Hill Centre, West Sussex.
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BIRMINGHAM AND WEST MIDLANDS
FRIENDS OF WELSH NATIONAL OPERA
Exploring Tristan and Isolde
with WNO Dramaturg, Simon Rees
on
Friday 9th March 2.30pm – 4.30pm
at The Pinsent Masons Suite at the Birmingham Hippodrome
Tickets are £10 from:
Dr Dorothy Tesh 20, Hillgrove Crescent, Kidderminster, DY10 3AP.
Tel 01562 753 935
email jt004i6253@blueyonder.co.uk
A Voluntary Association founded to support the work of the
Friends of Welsh National Opera (Charity Number 503538)
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Benjamin's Ring- The Story of Richard Wagner's 'The Ring of the Nibelung' for Young Readers
We are happy to announce the February publication of "Benjamin's
Ring The Story of Richard Wagner's" 'The Ring of the Nibelung' for Young
Readers", ©
2012, written by Roz Goldfarb and with drawings by Geoffrey Moss. Please view
the website for a preview of the content and drawings - http://www.benjaminsring.com
This unique book is the first to speak to today’s child of 10 – 14 and probably
to many adults. Benjamin’s Ring tells the enduring story of Richard Wagner’s
four opera cycle, “The Ring of the Nibelung” as it is seen through Benjamin’s
eyes and written for today’s young readers who enjoy action and adventure tales.
Utilizing many of Wagner’s original stage directions and his libretto, Ben’s
mother narrates the story and, importantly, answers Ben’s questions. She also
explains why Wagner's music is world famous and how opera can be a total
theatrical experience for people of any age.
Roz Goldfarb said, "According to my research nothing like this has ever been
published before. It’s my hope that it will offer the “Harry Potter/ Lord of
the Rings”/fantasy game playing audience another challenging story and
build interest in opera."
Deborah Voigt and Michelle De Young previewed the manuscript and wrote:
“I found Benjamin’s Ring to be an engaging and charming re-telling of Wagner’s
Ring Cycle libretto.”
Deborah Voigt, International Operatic Soprano
“Benjamin’s Ring” is a wonderful introduction into the world of Wagner’s Ring
cycle. It is entertaining and informative. I would recommend it for kids that
enjoy fantastical stories, but also for anyone preparing to see the Ring for
the first time. The illustrations by Geoffrey Moss are beautiful, and the
perfect accompaniment to the story”.
Michelle De Young, 3 Time Grammy Award Winning Classical and Operatic
Mezzo-Soprano
"Benjamin's Ring" is in paperback @ $12.99 and has over 20 extraordinary black
and white drawings by Geoffrey Moss. It is published by Roz Goldfarb Creative
Ventures. A copy of the cover is attached.
Contact Roz Goldfarb for more information at info@benjaminsring.com,
or rozgoldfarbcreates@gmail.com
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Friends of Welsh National Opera
Bristol and West of England
Beware of Potions
a talk by Anthony Negus on Tristan and Isolde
at the Performing Arts Centre, the Redmaids’ School
Wednesday 18th April 2012 at 7.15pm
Further details from Valerie Hampshire 01275 844401 or valerie@gordano.force9.co.uk
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Dessau Ring Cycle
The Anhaltisches Theatre Dessau is planning, for the first time, to present an entire Ring Cycle in 2015.
They are calling this the Ring of the Bauhaus city (for which Dessau is known) and it seems that this concept will inform their production.
Their first offering, Götterdämmerung will open on the 12th May 2012.
They cordially invite our members to visit Dessau and they would be delighted to assist in any way they can.
For further information please visit their website www.der-ring-in-dessau.de
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Wagner Blog:
Allegories of the Ring
http://allegoriesofthering.wordpress.com/wagner-was-not-an-anti-Semite/
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THE JON VICKERS EXHIBIT
NEW YORK -- An exhibit
celebrating the career of the great tenor Jon Vickers is being planned to open
in early 2013 in Toronto, Canada. A Website for the exhibit,
www.jonvickers.org , is now available on the Internet.
The exhibit will include many fascinating photos and documents collected by
Jeannie Williams in research for the highly praised biography "Jon Vickers: A
Hero's Life" (UPNE 1999/2007). She is organizing the exhibit; a major Toronto
arts institution has agreed to present it, contingent on funding. Information on
making donations is included on the Website. A comment section offers memories
of Vickers' remarkable performances from admirers.
"I found so many great photos and other items for which there was no space in
the book," said Ms. Williams, who lives in New York. "There also will be
audio/video components, and we hope to have showings of the only documentary
made on Mr. Vickers, "A Man and His Music," created by Richard Bocking for the
CBC."
The Advisory Panel for the exhibit includes Martin Bernheimer, Pulitzer
Prize-winning critic; Dr. Frances Henry, president, Toronto Wagner Society;
tenor Ben Heppner; William Littler, Toronto Star music columnist; Ezra Schabas,
music author and administrator; and Nathalie D. Wagner, president, Wagner
Society of New York.
Ms. Williams was interviewed on the CBC Radio 2 program, "Saturday Afternoon
at the Opera," hosted by Bill Richardson and featuring four Vickers operas in
July, with commentary from major music figures including Sir Colin Davis,
Marilyn Horne, Mignon Dunn, Gwyneth Jones, Sherrill Milnes and Lotfi Mansouri.
"Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life" was called "among the most impressive books I
have ever read about an individual singer" by the New York critic Peter G.
Davis. "A vivid portrait of the most exciting tenor in the second half of the
20th century," Andrew Porter wrote in Opera magazine. The book was reissued in
paperback in 2007.
Mr. Vickers retired in 1988, and will turn 85 on Oct. 29, 2011.
Contact:
Jeannie Williams
jfidelio15@aol.com
212-721-5332
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Furtwangler Recordings
The president of the Venezuelan Wagner Society has launched a new website for selling downloads of new masterings, with much improved sound, of Furtwängler's finest interpretations, mostly dating from the war years.
The recordings available at this time include the Bayreuth 1943 Meistersinger, as well as the Meistersinger Prelude from 1942 and Tristan Prelude and Liebestod (Orchestral version) also from 1942.
These new masters are receiving glowing reviews. We thought they might be of interest to you.
The link is: www.furtwanglersound.com
Asociación Wagner de Venezuela
Tels: +58412-3212808
asowagner@gmail.com
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Leipzig Wagner Festival events
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The Mastersingers News
The Mastersingers news is that the Aldeburgh weekend was a great artistic success: Rachel Nicholls who had a public masterclass with Dame Anne Evans has subsequently been engaged to sing Brünnhilde at Longborough for their Ring in 2013. It was good to see Magdalen Ashman back in action after a major operation. Magdalen has been awarded a Susan Chilcott Scholarship and is receiving other support: http://www.royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/?page=index.html&id=113
Photos of the Aldeburgh weekend are on the MS website http://www.mastersingers.org.uk/Alde2011.php?z=40&a=53
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SEATTLE RING 2013
Outline details have just been released:
Cycle #1: August 4, 5, 7, & 9; Cycle #2: August 12, 13, 15,
& 17: Cycle #3: August 20, 21, 23, & 25
Conductor: Asher Fisch, Director: Stephen Wadsworth,
Brünnhilde: Alwyn Mellor, Siegfried: Stefan Vinke, Wotan:
Greer Grimsley, Fricka: Stephanie Blythe, Siegmund: Stuart
Skelton, Sieglinde: Margaret Jane Wray, Alberich: Richard
Paul Fink
Tickets to the 2013 Ring will be available for
purchase to donors to the Ring fund in spring 2012
and the public in fall 2012.
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www.wagnerheim.com
"Dr. Roger Scruton introduces Paul Heise’s monumental quest to grasp the conceptual unity of Richard Wagner’s music-drama, The Ring of the Nibelung, at www.wagnerheim.com, where Mr. Heise has made it available free so that it can be read in its entirety. This is the most sustained effort to grasp Wagner’s tetralogy as a whole (libretto text, plot, and music) in the literature. Its central argument is that Wagner’s gigantic tetralogy is an allegory representing the conflict between man’s quest for power through acquisition of objective knowledge, and man’s counter-impulse to affirm his transcendent value in religion, morality, and art.
Mr Heise hopes you will find this website enlightening. It contains the most complete account of Wagner’s employment of musical motifs (178 numbered motifs) for conceptual purposes, and the most extensive (chronological) anthology of Ludwig Feuerbach’s relevant writings, and Richard Wagner’s writings and recorded remarks (1,151 numbered extracts), currently available. Visitors to www.wagnerheim.com are encouraged to participate in the discussion forum to debate Wagner-interpretation and the plethora of issues raised by Wagner’s artistic and philosophic legacy. Your friend from Wagnerheim, Paul Heise"
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The Wagner Society is a registered charity (Number - 266383)
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