Australia’s got talent in London

YOUNG Australian performing artists in the United Kingdom were celebrated at an annual fundraising event and concert on Wednesday 30 November at Australia House in London.

In the sumptuous, colonnaded main hall of the Australian Embassy, well-coiffed and well-heeled Australian expats, passionate British music connoisseurs and Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, HE John Dauth, assembled for a concert and auction to celebrate the Tait Memorial Trust’s work, its young beneficiaries and to raise money for the next wave of students.

This was the second annual Winter Prom of the Tait Memorial Trust, formed in 1992 to financially assist postgraduate Australian performing arts’ students in the UK. Previous recipients of the Trust are currently singing and performing in Australia and in the United Kingdom with groups including the BBC Scottish Symphony and in Angel Place, Sydney and Covent Garden.

Under a broad and low-hanging chandelier, the night began with Mozartian operatic snippets performed by Tait Trust beneficiaries baritone Simon Lobelson and soprano Valda Wilson. The recently-formed Tait Orchestretta, comprising young London-based Australian musicians, accompanied the singers diligently throughout under the tutelage of Trust recipient Kelly Lovelady.

Western Australian dancer Lachlan Monoghan next took the stage, tapping the way to interval. The showcase of the next generation of Australian talent also included performances by Australian classical music stars from the past and present, including pianists Antony Gray and Rosemary Tuck and conductor Richard Bonynge, who together preceded the hot hors-d’oeuvre with a swag of late 19^th Century works.

Following the performances, an auction allowed the audience had the opportunity to financially contribute to the Trust’s work while garnering not insubstantial benefits for themselves. Successfully-bid holidays in Sydney, Morocco and France, among other items, should allow the Tate Memorial Trust to welcome new artists in the coming years.