2015 Biography
The most recent biography of Charles Mackerras, edited by Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell, is available published by Boydell and Brewer.
“NIGEL SIMEONE ON CHARLES MACKERRAS”
Interview with biographer Nigel Simeone – Nov 2015
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Tristan und Isolde, SSO 1982
The below is an excerpt of Tristan und Isolde performed in Sydney in 1982, Mackerras conducting Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Rita Hunter and Alberto Remedios as Isolde and Tristan.
‘Kiri Sings Mozart’
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Recorded at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, 1990. Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Charles Mackerras conducting.
Mahler – Symphony no 4
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, live in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, September 10, 1981.
One of the most famous nights in Australian music occurred in September 1973 when Sir Charles Mackerras conducted the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the first concert to be staged in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. In front of a packed, emotion-charged house, the great Australian conductor made a triumphant homecoming in an all-Wagner concert that sent the critics searching for superlatives.
Siegfried Act 1 at ENO, February 1976
A rare performance in German!
William Mann wrote in the Times on 1 March 1976 that ’The English National Opera’s three London cycles of Wagner’s Ring ended on Saturday’ and at the end of the same review he says:
’Siegfried on Thursday had been struck by flu: the ENO’s three resident Mimes were all laid low, so John Dobson was imported from Covent Garden singing in German. Mr Weaving (also Leipzig’s Siegfried) responded to him in kind. … Also we had Charles Mackerras inspiring and controlling his forces in magnificent style: his versatile mastery is not to be underestimated but he is not a prodigy, simply a real musician. Would there were more conductors like him!’
Franz Reizenstein – Concerto Popolare
John Winther, piano, Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor, Sydney Symphony Orchestra (1978 or 79)
Charles Mackerras 