Melba CEO, Maria Vandamme
RICHARD BONYNGE TRIBUTE DINNER
ANZ Chambers 4 May 2010

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I HAD GROWN UP LISTENING TO RICHARD BONYNGE'S SUPERB RECORDINGS, and was over the moon when I had the chance to record his Australian Opera Performance of Tales of Hoffman as an ABC producer in 1983. We didn’t know at the time that it was going to be cancelled on the night due to industrial action....I was walking down the stairs backstage - when lo and behold, coming the other way was the conductor with the matinee Idol looks - I gasped and did a double take. He probably thought I was a singer on the make. Later on, when I was taken to his dressing room, Richard gallantly brushed aside the introduction with “Oh Maria and I have already met” I melted, and have been smitten ever since.

After that experience it became an idee fixe to work with Richard again. I had to wait 16 years but finally an opportunity presented itself.

In 1999 I left the nurturing bosom of Auntie and set up Melba Recordings in order to produce the documentary on Massenet – a composer Richard specially loves– he narrates the film, and we also made a CD of Massenet’s music with Ros Illing. Six records in The Richard Bonynge Edition followed, and as you can imagine I am exceedingly proud of them.

You will all take home a copy of our film on Jules Massenet when you leave this evening.
It is a joy working with Richard because of his passion for making records. Richard has always championed singers and helped them get recordings. He knows how important it is for musicians to be recorded. He knows it is vital for their careers, to assist them promote themselves. Artists like Joshua Bloom Benjamin Martin and Rosamund Illing deserve the opportunity of making great recordings – Joan Sutherland and Nellie Melba are immortal because of their recordings. But opportunities for artists are very limited because making recordings is an expensive business which needs to be subsidised. The funds we raise from events like tonight, and other events we hope you will support will go towards recordings we want to make with Joshua Ros and Ben – need I say more? These recordings MUST be made! These artists deserve the opportunity of appearing on great recordings!
I invited Richard’s friend and collaborator Moffatt Oxenbould to speak tonight but sadly he was unable to come – he sent me some fond reminiscences .

When Richard Bonynge returned to Australia in 1965 as Artistic Director of the Sutherland-Williamson Grand Opera Company, his advance reputation had come principally from magazine articles portraying him as a Byronic Svengali figure who had moulded his wife into the acclaimed prima donna. The stories were generally positive but contained implications of – how can I put this - a volatile temperament.

So when he arrived in Melbourne to commence rehearsals for this much-anticipated season, those lucky enough to be members of the company were excited, but a little wary to have him as the artistic leader of the ambitious undertaking.

The reality was completely different. Richard Bonynge was certainly magnetic and glamorous, but there was no assumption of arrogance or superiority in the rehearsal room. He was just excited and enthusiastic. He found time to talk with most of the “local” members of the company, gradually building a true ensemble from a disparate group of colleagues –all inspired and encouraged by the stupendous artistry of Joan Sutherland – the star who was to shine over the shared journey.
All were caught up in a bubble they knew would ultimately burst. But while it remained intact, they were surrounded by incredible singing, and a shared sense of purpose that stemmed from genuine passion for the art of opera and the pursuit of quality. Australia was the beneficiary of these endeavours. Young singers hitherto nervous of aspiring to an uncertain operatic career were inspired to take a chance.

Nine years later Richard Bonynge returned to Australia – to conduct Contes d’Hoffmann in the Sydney Opera House.

Richard had just concluded a wildly successful run of performances of Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His extraordinary knowledge of the piece itself, its history and the social and artistic context, was remarkable and revelatory. Richard was able to display, with unpretentious humility but authority, what is perhaps his greatest quality – an absolute love of singers and singing and an unassailable belief that the theatre is a place of magic where the ordinary can become sublime – simply being able to make music and theatre in the company of like-minded companions is a privilege that he has never underestimated or undervalued. Whether it’s the premiere of a new production or the fifteenth performance in a long run, his genuine enthusiasm is undimmed and his visits to dressing rooms prior to performances have the same anticipation of the shared excitement of doing something wonderful together.

For Opera Australia he has conducted more than fifty operas – For Melba Recordings he has recorded six discs with notable Australian performers Rosamund Illing, Cheryl Barker, Elizabeth Whitehouse and his beloved Deborah Riedel. His significant international recording career includes more than 50 complete operas as well as the three great Tchaikovsky ballets, three Delibes ballets and countless relatively unknown ballets.

Richard has always been an extraordinary “encourager” of talent and is happiest when passing on his expertise, experience and immense specialist knowledge to young and not so young artists.

The occasion of Richard Bonynge’s 80th Birthday in September gives us all an opportunity to celebrate his immense personal and professional achievement and the significant contribution he has made to our own appreciation and understanding of the arts and artistry that have been – and remain - his inspiration.
 


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