The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton - April 29, 2011

 

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Dame Elizabeth Taylor dies at the age of 79

ONLY DAME IN TOWN Elizabeth Taylor in 1985 in a suite at London’s Dorchester hotel,
where she had infamously holed up with Richard Burton in 1963, after the filming of Cleopatra.
Photo: Helmut Newton, at Vanity Fair

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, one of the 20th Century's biggest movie stars, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 79.

The double Oscar-winning actress had a long history of ill health and was being treated for symptoms of congestive heart failure.

Her four children were with her when she died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, her publicist said.

In a statement, her son Michael Wilding called her "an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest".

"We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it," he continued.

"Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts."

Dame Elizabeth's most famous films included National Velvet, Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

She was equally well-known for her glamour and film partnership with Richard Burton, one of seven husbands.

In her prime, she was arguably one of the world's greatest actresses and most beautiful women.

Her colourful private life, screen success and Aids charity work ensured she was never far from the spotlight since finding fame at the age of 12.

The peak of her film career came in the 1950s and 1960s, with four Oscar nominations in a row from 1958 to 1961.

She lost out in her first three attempts - for Raintree County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer - but triumphed at her fourth attempt with Butterfield 8.

Her second Oscar came in 1967 for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, one of 12 films with Burton.

She met the actor while filming 1963's Cleopatra - which became notorious as one of the most expensive films of all time, but which also sparked one of Hollywood's greatest romances.

Taylor had already been married four times - to Conrad Hilton Jr, Michael Wilding, Michael Todd and Eddie Fisher - before she wed Burton in 1964.

Their tempestuous relationship saw them divorce and remarry in 1975 before she moved on to further marriages with John W Warner and Larry Fortensky.

Her health problems began with a fall while filming her first hit film, National Velvet, which led to a lifetime of back problems.

A rare strain of pneumonia almost killed her in 1961 and she also battled addictions to alcohol and painkillers.

In the 1990s, she endured two hip replacement operations and another near-fatal bout of pneumonia and survived surgery for a benign brain tumour in 1997.

In 2004, it was revealed that she was suffering from congestive heart failure, with symptoms including fatigue and shortness of breath, and scoliosis, which twisted her spine.

But she continued to campaign for her Aids charity, which she set up in 1991 after the death of her friend and co-star Rock Hudson.

In addition to her four children - Michael Wilding, Christopher Wilding, Maria Burton-Carson and Liza Todd-Tivey - Dame Elizabeth is survived by 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A private family funeral will be held later this week. Instead of flowers, the family has requested that contributions be made to the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation.

British actress Joan Collins, who starred alongside Dame Elizabeth in the 2001 TV film These Old Broads, called her "the last of the True Hollywood Icons".

"A great beauty, a great actress and continually fascinating to the World throughout her tumultuous life and career. She will be missed," she added.

Singer George Michael said: "She also did a great deal in the last 25 yrs [sic] to help the world deal with the HIV epidemic. I am proud to have known her if only a little."

One-time co-star Sir Michael Caine also paid tribute, remembering her as "a beautiful woman, a wonderful actress, and a great human being.”

First published at BBC News, March 23, 2011

Piano plays a key part

Saturday October 30, 2010

Tony Magee, pianist, performer, music educator, piano tuner and retailer at a Yamaha C6 piano at DW Music, Fyshwick ACT

by Philip O’Brien

Canberrans have always had a special relationship with the piano. In fact there’s long been a feeling that there are more pianos sold in this city than anywhere else in Australia. Yet it wasn’t until recently that this was confirmed.

The Yamaha Music Australia annual national conference , held in Melbourne in July, concluded with the announcement of the national dealer sales awards for 2009-2010.

Canberra retailer Davis Wheeler Music [Ed: now DW Music] won awards for the highest piano sales in Australia, for both acoustic (upright and grand) as well as digital pianos.

Considering the size of Canberra’s population, relative to other capital cities, it’s a remarkable achievement.

And it can be explained by reasons relating to Canberra’s history and development: an interest from its earliest days, in culture and the arts; higher average incomes than other cities; excellent standards of musical education in Canberra’s schools; and the fact that a proportion of the city’s population turns over each year. As a related phenomenon, there’s also the emergence of Canberra as a focal point for heritage keyboard instruments, research and performance. But more of that later.

Davis Wheeler Music’s Tony Magee says, “For Canberra to have embraced the piano with such continued enthusiasm, outselling large cities such as Sydney or Melbourne, is a reflection of how culturally aware people are here.”

Magee, also an event producer, agent and pianist, has accompanied performers including Toni Lamond, Gery Scott, Stephen Pike, Ian Croker, Bronwyn Sullivan and Geraldine Turner as well as being engaged as supporting artist to Shirley MacLaine and Dionne Warwick. “As a pianist myself, it gratifies me that traditional artistic values - such as the place of the piano in the life of the city - rate so high in Canberra.”

Davis Wheeler, one of a number of piano retailers in Canberra, has been established for ten years and principally sells Yamaha pianos as well as a range of other instruments. Magee says that new upright pianos cost between $4500 and $18,000 while new grands range from $13,000 to $350,000. “Even for the cheapest instrument, that’s a big investment and it represents a serious commitment to music.”

But why are more pianos sold in Canberra than in any other Australian city? One reason may be the significant role of music in the development of Canberra. “Right from the late 1920s, music was an important way of helping Canberrans settle in this city and enjoy themselves,” Magee says. “From dances at the Albert Hall to classical concerts and live jazz, music has been a civilising influence and the piano has been a key part of that.”

Allied with a strong interest in the arts and music is the fact that Canberra enjoys the highest average income per capita in Australia. “Canberra is a well-educated city with a cultural and intellectual life that sets it apart from any other city in Australia,” Dr Geoffrey Lancaster, of the ANU School of Music’s Keyboard Institute, says. “It’s also a city with more income to spend on concert going and music.”

And that also means piano purchases.

Another reason is that Canberra has a shifting population, with each year bringing new arrivals and potential customers of music and culture. One interesting pointer to this is the number of pianos moved in and out of the city each year.

Peter and Mataina Rowzoski, of local piano firm Beethoven Piano Removals, estimate that they shift some 1500 pianos annually, ranging from upright pianos weighing 110 to 150kg to grand pianos weighing 180 to 400kg. Their busiest time is Christmas and the New Year with many of these deliveries being new and second-hand pianos purchased by Canberra families and schools.

In fact, the role of Canberra’s education system also explains the importance of the piano in this city, Magee says, who was previously also a high school music teacher and now sells and tunes pianos in local schools. “So many Canberra schools have flourishing music departments. There’s an enormous enthusiasm for music education here. Some schools also have private piano tuition as part of their curriculum. And parents are supporting that with private piano purchases.”

There’s also a large number of private piano teachers in Canberra.

Christine Faron, a performer and recording artist with national and international experience, teaches from her studio in Aranda. “Half of my students are adults who are learning for their own enjoyment.” she says, “Whether professionals with stressful jobs who want something for relaxation of retirees who have always wanted to take up the piano but never had the opportunity until now.”

One of her students is Robin Bedding, 70, semi-retired from a career with CSIRO entomology. He has had an interest in music all his life and, when he left full-time work, purchased a grand piano and came to Faron for lessons. “There might be physical activities I can’t do any more. but the piano keeps me mentally agile,” he says. “It’s an opportunity for me to do something better than I’ve ever done. Apart from family, the piano is the most important thing in my life.”

The role of the Canberra School of Music in fostering the development of piano scholarship and performance in this city is also crucial, including the influence of teachers such as Lancaster, Wilfrid Holland and Larry Sitsky. What’s interesting is that Canberra has also become a focal point for historical keyboard instruments. 

This follows the establishment of the ANU Keyboard Institute in 2004 at the School of Music, providing an Australian Centre for research into historical keyboard performance and Australian composition for piano.

Lancaster - teacher, performer and early music specialist - says that the Keyboard Institute collection is Australia’s largest working resource of historical keyboard instruments. “Already, we have 32 historical pianos, including the first piano to come out to Australia on the flagship Sirius, with a further 900 historic keyboard instruments offered to us from all over Australia.”

Many of these historic instruments have come to Lancaster from private enthusiasts, such as a piano restorer, Andrew Nolan. Recently relocated to Canberra, Nolan is, by day, a medical practitioner with Directions ACT, a drug, alcohol, support and counselling service. His piano restoring takes a lot of his spare time. “I’m interested in pianos mostly from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, hand-made from before the Industrial Revolution.” he says. “I think it’s important these instruments are kept together, preserved and used for further education, rather than dispersed as home decor pieces.”

His work involves replacing perishable parts, such as cloth and worm eaten timber, as well as making new parts for the workings of an instrument. “It’s interesting that the pianos I repair were regarded, 200 years ago, in the same matter-of-fact way as the upright pianos in family homes today.”

But those family uprights still require regular tuning. Despite the large number of piano sales in Canberra, there are only a handful of piano tuners to match. And it’s a national shortage, according to local craftsman Geoff Pogson, whose family has been tuning pianos for four generations.

“Most piano tuners are older and not being replaced by a new generation.” he says. “Canberra has five fewer tuners than a decade ago but many more pianos to service. Our guild for NSW and the ACT has 70 members of whom only 10 are under the age of 40.”

Pogson, whose grandfather Les also played piano in dance bands at the Albert Hall in the 1930s and 40s, says that the main problem is the absence of training facilities. “There’s nowhere to study piano tuning. The Sydney Conservatorium dropped its course last year.” And it’s been made worse he says, by the Federal Government reducing the number of occupations - including piano tuners - given assisted entry into Australia via the skilled migration program.

Despite this, the healthy sales of pianos in Canberra continue. “A lot of our acoustic piano sales are to families with children wanting to learn.” Magee says. “And it often happens that, when the piano gets into the household, the parents want to learn as well. So the piano becomes a very family focussed thing, something that everyone can enjoy.”

First published in The Canberra Times Panorama section, October 30, 2010

Tony Curtis dead at 85

Tony Curtis. Photo courtesy IMDb

Tributes are being paid to actor Tony Curtis, who has died at his home in Nevada aged 85.

The legendary star of films such as The Sweet Smell Of Success and Some Like It Hot was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1950s.

He died in bed at midnight (local time) in Henderson, Nevada, America's ABC reported, citing his business manager and family spokesman Preston Ahearn.

Curtis' daughter Jamie Lee Curtis praised her father, saying he left behind a legacy of great performances in movies.

Sir Roger Moore told BBC Radio: "He'll be remembered as a very good actor when people start reflecting on the amount of work he did both in drama and comedy."

"He certainly was wonderful in Some Like It Hot and he was quite brilliant in Boston Strangler and in the film that he did with Sidney Poitier, The Defiant Ones."

Curtis had a memorable role in the classic gladiator movie Spartacus in 1960 and received an Academy Award nomination for 1958's The Defiant Ones, but his career got off to a rough start.

His first starring role was in The Prince Who Was A Thief in 1951 and critics were appalled as Curtis, playing an Arabian prince, proclaimed in a thick New York accent, "Yonduh lies de castle of de caliph, my fadder!"

Still, Universal Pictures' star-making machinery and teen fan magazines managed to make Curtis a celebrity; movie-goers loved his dark-haired sex appeal and impish grin.

Within a few years, Curtis had improved enough for Saturday Review magazine to call him "a rare phenomenon, an authentic screen personality who, through hard work, has made himself into an actor of considerable subtlety and some breadth."

Two of his most enduring performances came in Some Like It Hot as he teamed with Jack Lemmon playing cross-dressers opposite Marilyn Monroe, and The Sweet Smell Of Success, in which which he played a fawning press agent.

Other notable films included Houdini, Trapeze, Operation Petticoat, The Boston Strangler, The Vikings and The Great Imposter.

Curtis made more than 140 films, mixing comedies with dramas, but part of his life was plagued by poor movies and struggles with cocaine and alcohol.

Brooklyn born

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in New York to poor Hungarian immigrants on June 3, 1925.

He quit school to join the Navy in World War II, serving on a submarine tender. He pursued acting after his discharge.

Curtis was known to be demanding at the height of his stardom and television producer Lew Gallo called him "an impetuous child".

As fascinating to fans as his performances was Curtis' private life.

He was an inveterate womaniser whose girlfriends included Monroe and Natalie Wood.

He was married six times, starting with actress Janet Leigh in a union he later admitted was partially motivated by publicity value.

After divorcing Leigh, he married Christine Kaufman, who was 17 when they met while filming Taras Bulba.

Curtis was once quoted as saying: "I wouldn't be seen dead with a woman old enough to be my wife."

His sixth wife, Jill Vandenberg, was 45 years younger than Curtis.

Curtis' children included actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who was estranged from him for much of his life, and he admitted he was a failure as a father.

As his acting career waned, Curtis concentrated on painting and in 1989 he sold more than $US1 million worth of his art in the first day of a Los Angeles exhibition.

"Painting is more meaningful to me than any performance I've ever given," he told an interviewer.

Curtis eventually moved to Las Vegas.

In 1989, he released an exercise videotape for people past age 50.

He operated the Shiloh Horse Rescue and Sanctuary, a refuge for horses that were abandoned or abused, on the California-Nevada border with wife Jill.

- Reuters

First published at ABC News, September 30, 2010

The piano tuner - Nada Jasz

Saturday October 30, 2010

 by Philip O'Brien

Reprinted from The Canberra Times, Panorama, October 30, 2010

Lynn Redgrave dies aged 67

Lynn Redgrave, who has died in New York, aged 67. Photograph: Evan Agostini/AP

Death of actor nominated twice for an Oscar comes a month after that of her older brother, Corin Redgrave

The actor Lynn Redgrave has died, her family said. She was 67.

Her publicist Rick Miramontez said she died on Sunday night at her apartment in Manhattan.

Often viewed as an introspective and independent player in her family's acting dynasty, Redgrave became a 1960s sensation as the freethinking title character of Georgy Girl, which won her nominations for an Oscar as well as a Golden Globe award.

"Our beloved mother Lynn Rachel passed away peacefully after a seven-year journey with breast cancer," said her children in a joint statement.

"She lived, loved and worked harder than ever before. The endless memories she created as a mother, grandmother, writer, actor and friend will sustain us for the rest of our lives. Our entire family asks for privacy through this difficult time."

Her death comes a month after the death her older brother, Corin Redgrave, and a year after her niece Natasha Richardson died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident.

The youngest child of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, Redgrave never quite managed the acclaim or notoriety of elder sister Vanessa, but received further Oscar nominations for Gods and Monsters, and Tony nominations for Mrs Warren's Profession, Shakespeare for My Father and The Constant Wife.

In recent years, she also made appearances in the television shows Ugly Betty, Law & Order and Desperate Housewives.

"Vanessa was the one expected to be the great actress," Lynn Redgrave told Associated Press in 1999. "It was always, 'Corin's the brain, Vanessa the shining star, oh, and then there's Lynn.'"

The film director Michael Winner, who cast Lynn Redgrave in one of her first movies, said she had been "a joy".

He said: "She was a phenomenal actress, she could do comedy, tragedy – anything really – with absolute ease. I cast her in her first film as an extra in Shoot To Kill in 1960. Even then you could see she had a bubbly quality. I couldn't at the time have predicted she would go on to have the huge success she did though."

Others expressed sadness at the news of her death. Sir Michael Parkinson said: "She was maybe the jolliest and most likeable of all the family. She was a lovely, funny, open character, she was very easy to get on with. She was a good actress, but being a Redgrave I suppose she couldn't help it – it's in their blood, in their marrow. She had a great comedic talent."

First published at The Guardian, May 4, 2010

Up close and musical - Steinway grand piano #1 (1836)

Tonight is the night for piano aficionados to get up close and historical with a replica of the first Steinway grand piano ever made.

Modelled on Heinrich Steinway’s original design, built in 1836, this replica of his magical #1 piano was meticulously created by Belgian master piano builder Chris Maene.

Experts were brought in to X-ray the #1 so that wood from the same forests could be used.

Tonight, Larry Sitsky and Arnan Wiesel will perform on the new instrument and afterwards audience members are invited to tinkle the keys - as close as one gets, since the original Steinway #1 is with Steinway & Sons New York and cannot be touched or played by anyone.

At 7pm in Rehearsal Room 3, ANU. Phone 1300 199 589 or email jessica@exclusivepianogroup.com.au  

The event is free.

Published in the The Canberra Times Panorama, March 6, 2010

Ed: Also at the event were a Steinway Square piano from the late 1800s, an 1877 Steinway concert grand and a modern Steinway D concert grand. I was allowed to play the 1877 grand, performing themes from the third movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

from The Canberra Times, March 3, 2010

The Chris Maene Steinway #1 replica, completed in 2008