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.
Tall Poppies The Podcast
Alma Moodie Part I
This is part I of two podcasts featuring the life and music of Alma Moodie.
She was born in 1898 in rural Australia, and moved to Europe early last century. She became a student of the legendary Carl Flesch, who referred to her as his favourite student. The violinist collaborated with renowned composers, among them Stravinsky, Pfitzner and Reger, and cultivated friendships with aristocracy, philanthropists and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
Alma Moodie’s influence and fame were far reaching, well beyond her untimely death in 1943.
In this podcast we meet the Australian musicologist and historian Kay Dreyfus, who published “Bluebeard’s Bride”, a biography of Alma Moodie in 2013. More recently Kay edited “The Fractured Self”, a book featuring 270 letters from the Moodie collection. Also joining me are musicians Diana Weekes, who translated Moodie’s letters, and violinist Goetz Richter, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music. Goetz has researched and performed many of the pieces associated with Moodie during her lifetime. Two of his recordings of Moodie inspired works also featured in the podcast.
For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast, highlighting remarkable Australians making waves globally, visit https://www.tall-poppies.com/.
