The Honourable Richard Alston
*
TONIGHT IS A
VERY SPECIAL NIGHT in the relatively brief history
of the Melba Foundation, whose core business is
producing world class classical music recordings by
Australian artists. I am delighted that some many of
Melbourne’s leading lights and serious music lovers are
here with us in these beautiful heritage chambers, for
which we thank the ANZ Bank and its trustees most
sincerely.
Of course, we
are particularly fortunate to have with us tonight one
of Australia’s most loved sons, the internationally
acclaimed conductor, Richard Bonynge, whose imminent
80th birthday and enormous contribution to the world of
opera and ballet we honour this evening - and who,
together with his wife, the legendary Dame Joan
Sutherland, have been fantastic supporters of Melba from
the beginning. Richard will say a few words later on,
and we will also be privileged to hear some wonderful
music, about which Maria will tell you more a little
later.
I also need to
say a quick word about Maria Vandamme, the creator of
Melba, a peerless record producer and someone with a
perfect pitch ear for fine music - and as those of who
have had any dealings with Maria will know - an
irresistible force of nature. Woody Allen once said
“90% of success in life is just turning up”, but Maria
never just turns up – the secret of her, and Melba’s,
success, and what inspired me to become involved, is her
bulldog spirit and her absolute commitment to
excellence. Her dream is to transport a small but
beautifully formed Australian label on to the world
stage, to compete proudly with the leviathans of the
recording industry, and outshine them in terms of
quality and the total musical experience. No one else in
this country is committed to giving crucial
international exposure to brilliant young Australian
performers, just beginning their international careers.
What Maria, and
Melba, have achieved, particularly in the last few years
is simply extraordinary. As one of our board members,
Terry Lane has written, Melba has brought together
conductors of international renown and singers of
outstanding talent - and the critics have responded
rapturously. Only a few months ago, the prestigious
Gramophone (publication?) said of Turbulent Heart: “On
every count, this is a magnificent release, not least in
highlighting the outstanding work being done by this
distinguished Australian label”.
Barely six
months ago, the US Classical CD Review said of The
Gallant Bassoon: “warmly recorded with the sonic beauty
we have come to expect from Melba” and, a little
earlier, of Helene:”another class act from Melba”.
Web La Opera of
Spain said of my favorite recording Cherry Ripe: “a
beautiful disc – Melba clearly takes great care not only
with the quality of its recordings, but with the
presentation of its products”.
And it is
not just the music - The US Absolute Sound magazine said
of Sublime Mozart: “As is typical of this label, the
packaging is lavish”, and the Historic Brass Society
praised Back from Oblivion’s “gorgeous recording
acoustics”.
It is very
fitting that we should have taken the name of Dame
Nellie Melba, one of the world’s most famous and best
loved opera sopranos. Her heyday was in the decades
leading up to WW1, before the era of film and television
stars and mega sportsman and the fleeting cult of
celebrity. In her time she was a superstar - one of the
very brightest in the global firmament. She was one of
the most celebrated coloraturas – her beautiful singing
and her commanding stage presence both dominated and
popularized opera, long before the Three Tenors were
thought of.
Most of us are
lucky if we get our 15 minutes of fame – Nellie had
almost 50 years. Not even the immortal Don Bradman had
two distinct foodstuffs named after him – Melba toast
and Peach Melba. I often drive past Dame Nellie Melba
Park, in the suburb of Richmond, where she was born.
More than eighty
years after she finally retired in 1928, we still hear
the expression “more comebacks than Nellie Melba”. But
before she hung up her voice for the last time she sang
at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra in 1927.
Though she spent
many years overseas and made Covent Garden her own, she
was enormously proud of being an Australian, adopting
the name of her home town at the outset of her career.
Above all, Melba
personified excellence. Melba Recordings, and the human
dynamo, Maria Vandamme, live by one of Dame Nellie’s
most famous catchphrases: “It’s got to be perfection for
me “. At her peak she commanded higher fees than the
great Caruso. She came from the backblocks of provincial
Australia to conquer the operatic world, just as our own
Dame Joan Sutherland was to do half a century later.
Melba was larger
than life – her scandalous liaisons would have had
today’s tabloids and the paparazzi in permanent
apoplexy. She embodied many of those attributes we now
recognize as essential for prolonged success – enormous
dedication to, and unabated enthusiasm for, her chosen
career; an unbounded faith in herself; phenomenal
powers of concentration, and an irresistible
determination to succeed - she put her whole life’s
work into her music.
She did not
need a business manager – she managed herself. Her voice
of gold may have put her on the throne at Covent Garden,
where she reigned for almost forty years, but it was her
relentless tenacity of purpose that kept her there. She
reminds me of Andy Grove, one of the founders of Intel,
whose autobiography was entitled “Only the Paranoid
Survive”.
She also had a
healthy respect for money and her own worth. In fact it
is said that, guided by Baron Alfred de Rothschild, she
made more from her investments than her singing, despite
the fact that for many years she waged a personal
vendetta against the Tax Man – how very Australian!
So now you have
heard the two Melba stories.
The Melba
Foundation is committed to maintaining the highest
levels of excellence – For young Australian artists to
have successful national and international careers it is
essential for them to make quality recordings. – To an
artist a record is their calling card, their permanent
legacy – a vital piece of infrastructure for a solo
career. Their records are also the crucial means by
which the wider community can access and enjoy forever
the best Australia has to offer.
There is no good
reason why artists should have to go off shore to get
recorded, especially when world class production
facilities are available here. But they will only be
permanently available if community leaders like you are
prepared to get behind us in this vital project and
become patrons of the Melba Foundation. I’m sure you all
appreciate that in order for a small recording company
with a large ambition to succeed in the long term, early
stage government funding is necessary but not sufficient
– governments rightly expect recipients of taxpayer
largesse to demonstrate community support. It is
therefore crucial that Melba is able to rely on the
continued generosity of many of you here tonight. I hope
you will feel proud of what the Melba Foundation, in
Dame Nellie’s home town, has already achieved and how
much more with can do with your generous assistance. In
order for a civilised society to flourish we need to
nurture our very own home grown talent, especially when
it has already demonstrated excellence to the world and
is passionately committed to continuing to do so.
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