Stars of the opera, orchestral and music industry worlds turned out on Tuesday 25 May to honour the life and work of Sir Charles Mackerras in an event hosted by Southbank Sinfonia to mark the launch of their new ‘Mackerras Chair’.
Renée Fleming, Felicity Lott, Lesley Garrett, John Tomlinson, Tony Pappano and Edward Gardner were just some of the guests to hear Sir Charles conduct Southbank Sinfonia, Britain’s orchestra of young professionals, in a concert of music by Mozart and Humperdinck with soloists Rebecca Bottone and Caitlin Hulcup.
Introduced by SbS patron James Naughtie, the evening at Australia House, London, also featured the comic genius of Barry Humphries in an address to his long-time friend.
The new Mackerras Chair is kindly supported by the Tait Memorial Trust. Each member of SbS receives a bursary (which the chair sponsorship covers) to enable talented young professional musicians to benefit from the orchestra’s extensive professional development programme regardless of their financial circumstances.
Photo: Sir Charles with conductors David Corkhill and Nicholas Cleobury (Simon Annand)
