Tall Poppies The Podcast

Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson. That Hollywood spotlight ensures that most of us know the name of these celebrity Aussies, but what about those many other Australians who have forged impressive careers around the globe? Artists, academics, sportsmen and women, scientists and no doubt many, many more professions. People like the Melbournian Barrie Kosky, who is today one of the world’s most-celebrated opera directors, conductor Simone Young, who directs international orchestras and Sydney-born singer-songwriter Kat Frankie, a popular performer at top music venues all over Germany. As a journalist working internationally for decades, I’m constantly amazed at the number of Australians – high profile or otherwise – living outside Australia – who have remarkable careers and what’s more, remarkable stories to tell. In Tall Poppies I’ll be sitting down with one of these inspiring Aussies each episode to chat about their work, living abroad and their passage to international success. Of course we will also look at how growing up in Australia influenced them in the past and even today in their work.

en-au26 Episodes

Episodes (26)

Brett Dean, Composer, Short Edition

In two decades, the musician Brett Dean has risen from being an orchestral violist who once wrote music on the side, to one of the world’s most celebrated composers.

In fact, Brett Dean’s music is championed internationally by orchestras and leading conductors, including Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Simone Young and Daniel Harding.

Tall Poppies The Podcast

en-auFebruary 19, 2018

#brettdean#australia#opera#hamletopera#composer#tallpoppies#brisbane#melbourne#berlin#berlinphilharmonic#australianyouthorchestra#queenslandyouthorchestra#

Brett Dean, Composer, Full Edition

In two decades, the musician Brett Dean has risen from being an orchestral violist who once wrote music on the side, to one of the world’s most celebrated composers.

Tall Poppies The Podcast

en-auFebruary 19, 2018

#brettdean#australia#opera#hamletopera#composer#tallpoppies#brisbane#melbourne#berlin#berlinphilharmonic#australianyouthorchestra#queenslandyouthorchestra#

#04_Simone Young - Conductor_Short Edition

There have been many highlights in Simone Young's career. Alongside conducting most of the world’s great orchestras including the London and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the City of Birmingham Symphony, and the BBC Symphony at the BBC Proms, she was also the first woman to conduct at the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic, two orchestras she regularly returns to conduct today.

In 1983, at just 22, Simone Young had already joined the staff of Opera Australia. She studied at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music prior to taking up her position with AO where she worked as a répétiteur, the title given to the person responsible for coaching singers and playing the piano for music and production rehearsals. By 1986, the young Sydneyite was conducting at the Sydney Opera House and appointed a resident conductor with Opera Australia. Among her mentors were Australian musician luminaries, the likes of conductors Charles Mackerras, Richard Bonynge and Stuart Challender.

In the late 1980s, Simone and her husband moved to Germany, where she took up a position assisting James Conlon, the conductor at the Cologne Opera. This led to further engagements, including working alongside the legendary Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. In 1998 she was appointed principal conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway.

But Australia was never far from her sights. In 2000, Simone was given what she terms one of the greatest honours of her career, when she conducted the national anthem at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Not long afterwards, she returned to take up the position of Music Director with Opera Australia, but despite these three years being an artistically rewarding period, they were turbulent years in her career. “It became obvious that I was not going to have the support that had been indicated at the start of my time that would be there,” she confided. “Then it became obvious that our ways were going to part, but the way it all happened was completely unnecessary. Deeply destructive for the company, very hurtful for me personally at the time but, once again, I focused all my energies on just doing the work,”

In 2005 Simone returned to Europe to direct one of the Germany’s major opera houses, the Hamburg State Opera, and as chief conductor of the city’s philharmonic orchestra, positions she held until 2015.

Among her recordings are the symphonies of Anton Bruckner, Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the complete Brahms symphonies.

Simone has also been a great mentor for a number of Australian conductors and singers. She says, “I think it is incredibly important for young conductors to see just how tough the working side of this job is. If you don’t want to work hard, don’t choose this profession.”

It was, indeed, in the midst of a heavy performance and rehearsal schedule in Berlin that Simone Young joined the Tall Poppies podcast. In this episode,

Tall Poppies The Podcast

en-auFebruary 08, 2018

#simoneyoung#conductor#music#australian_music#hamburgopera#operaaustralia#

Simone Young - Conductor, Full Edition

In 1983, at just 22, Simone Young had already joined the staff of Opera Australia. She studied at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music prior to taking up her position with AO where she worked as a répétiteur. By 1986, the young Sydneyite was conducting at the Sydney Opera House and appointed a resident conductor with Opera Australia. Simone moved to Germany, where she took up a position assisting James Conlon, the conductor at the Cologne Opera. This led to further engagements, including working alongside the legendary Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. In 1998 she was appointed principal conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway. But Australia was never far from her sights.

In 2000, Simone was given what she terms one of the greatest honours of her career, when she conducted the national anthem at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Not long afterwards, she returned to take up the position of Music Director with Opera Australia, but despite these three years being an artistically rewarding period, they were turbulent years in her career. In 2005 Simone returned to Europe to direct one of the Germany’s major opera houses, the Hamburg State Opera, and as chief conductor of the city’s philharmonic orchestra, positions she held until 2015.

It was, indeed, in the midst of a heavy performance and rehearsal schedule in Berlin that Simone Young joined the Tall Poppies podcast. In this episode, she recalls how her musical education in Australia and her father’s good advice prepared her for an international conducting career. Simone also confides how she plans to tackle the latest position she has added to her illustrious list of honours – that of being the Australian Nana to her two grandchildren.

Tall Poppies The Podcast

en-auFebruary 08, 2018

#02_Barrie Kosky _ Stage Director _Short Edition

There are not many stage directors in the world who, in the space of six months, have directed Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” and the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof.” But that is exactly how Barrie Kosky spent the second half of 2017. What’s more, this is a typical schedule for the energetic Melburnian.

Tall Poppies The Podcast

en-auFebruary 01, 2018