Tall Poppies The Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode of Tall Poppies: The Podcast, host Breandáin O'Shea sits down with a new generation of Australian musicians making their mark abroad. Violinists Leanne McGowan, Josephine Chung, and Harry Ward, three remarkable artists who left Australia and found a new creative home in Berlin. From the Curtis Institute to the Karajan Academy, from the Mahler Chamber O...

Send us Fan Mail Tall Poppies: The Podcast announces a special episode dropping on June 21st Far from Home, Close to Music, features Josephine Chung, Harry Ward and Leanne McGowan - three exceptional young Australian violinists, all living here in Berlin For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast , highlighting remarkable Australians making waves globally, visit https://www.tall-poppies.com/ .

Send us Fan Mail “I’m very happy I came from Australia. I think it gives you a down-to-earth outlook. Living here in Vienna, you encounter many people who are quite privileged, having grown up in musical families and playing in string quartets since they were little. I envy them, but I wouldn’t trade my own start for anything.”   Join us as we explore the extraordinary career of Hector McDonald, o...

Send us Fan Mail The poets Matthew McDonald and Alice Miller join Breandáin O'Shea to talk about  poetry and ponder music's curious relationship with the spoken word. For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast , highlighting remarkable Australians making waves globally, visit https://www.tall-poppies.com/ .

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail This is the second of two podcasts featuring the life and music of Alma Moodie.  Moodie was born in rural Australia, but moved to Europe early last century and eventually 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 friendsh...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode of Tall Poppies, The Podcast Breandáin meets the composer Liza Lim. She is Professor of Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she also runs the Composing Women Program. Liza has created compositions for many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and the SuedwestRundfunk Orchestra and her music has...

Send us Fan Mail In this edition, Matthew tells Breandáin about his journey from Canberra to becoming a principal player with one the world’s most prestigious music ensembles. He reflects on the effects the current pandemic has had on musicians and shares a hilarious story about taking a swim at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on his way to perform a Mahler Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra For...

Send us Fan Mail Away from the challenges the world is facing during this pandemic, we are also living through another one of the greatest of scientific endeavours – that is - the attempt to understand the most complex object in the universe, the brain. Researchers are devoting massive amounts of time and energy to exploring what brains do and new technology is enabling them to both describe and m...

Send us Fan Mail Stanley Dodds grew up in Adelaide and has been a violinist with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra since the early 90s. He is also a conductor and frequently directs ensembles of the Berlin Philharmonic and in 2014 was appointed Principal Conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He is dedicated to working with youth and amateur orchestras and is in charge of the Berlin Philharmo...

Send us Fan Mail Gail Jones one of Australia's most celebrated writers who has a special place in her heart for Berlin. At home, her work has received several major accolades including the 2019 Australian Prime Minister's prize for literature, while abroad Gail's fiction has been translated into fifteen languages and long-listed for esteemed prizes, such as the Man Booker Prize and...

Send us Fan Mail Not many opera singers could match the achievements of the Australian soprano, Joan Sutherland. Her brilliant career stretched over four decades and the legendary singer was celebrated in opera houses and concert halls around the world. Yet, despite her worldwide fame and the many international honours she received during her lifetime, Joan Sutherland remained unaffected by it all...

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast, the extraordinary jazz trombonist Shannon Barnett joins Breandáin to talk about her phenomenal career in music, the challenges she continues to face as a female musician and about the inspiration she finds through teaching the next generation of musicians. For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast , highlighting remarkable Australians making waves globally, v...

Send us Fan Mail Adam Elliot’s films have been featured at hundreds of festivals and have received numerous awards, including an Academy Award for his film, “Harvie Krumpet”. Adam calls his films “Clayographies,” and by that, he means clay-animated biographies. Their themes are bittersweet and often venture into domains that many filmmakers might normally shy away from. While being hilarious and p...

Send us Fan Mail Tall Poppies Postcard with Poet Robert Gray Over the next few weeks, “Tall Poppies: The Podcast,” will feature a series of 10 minute excerpts from archived interviews with renowned Australians. We are calling these, Tall Poppies Postcards. The first features the Australian poet, Robert Gray, an outstanding landscape poet and alongside Les Murray, has been one of the most significa...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Breandáin O'Shea meets the Sydney-born painter Heather Betts, who has been living in Berlin, since 1984. She is a graduate of Sydney’s Fine Arts Institute, she also studied viola at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Heather moved to Berlin with her husband musician, Brett Dean. Heather has had over forty solo exhibitions, as well as numerous group exhibition...

Send us Fan Mail Soprano Siobhan Stagg studied at Melbourne University and later at the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff. Her many accolades include first prize at the 2014 International Mozart Competition. She is a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and frequently been a guest at many other opera houses, including London’s Royal Opera House, the Dutch National Opera...

Send us Fan Mail Cathy Milliken has been an artist many young Australian musicians have looked up to when they have travelled abroad to continue their studies in Europe. A renowned oboist, composer and music educator, Cathy has held key positions with two of the world’s leading music ensembles, Ensemble Modern and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Breandáin caught up with Cathy in Berlin, where s...

Send us Fan Mail Breandáin caught up with the renowned Melburnian, Peter Singer, in Berlin at the presentation of the 3rd annual “Peter Singer Award,” an accolade given to those working on strategies to relieve the suffering of animals. Much of Peter Singer’s career has been devoted to social and political causes, most notably animal rights, but also famine and poverty relief, environmentalism and...

Send us Fan Mail In this edition, Paul Kildea talks about his latest book, "Chopin's Piano, A Journey Through Romanticism," and rising to the challenge of finding the right words to describe music. He also recalls the time in his life when the adjective – Australian - was not a positive one and shares his insatiable passion for Australia. “I have always tried to work out a way of co...

Send us Fan Mail The Tall Poppies podcast this week features dancer and choreographer, Rhys Martin, who hails from Newcastle, New South Wales. A graduate of Sydney University, Rhys initially studied literature and fine arts. He began his career in the theatre with Sydney’s pioneering underground company, “One Extra Dance.” In this Tall Poppies’ episode, Rhys recalls his encounters in the 1970s wit...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Kat Frankie tells Breandáin about how an idea becomes a wide-ranging musical composition and how she enjoys the creative process a little more than performing. We also sample a little of Kat's latest album, "Bad Behaviour". Find out more at http://tall-poppies.com/ For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast , highlighting remarkable Australians...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Tall Poppies Kat Frankie tells Breandáin about how her ideas becomes wide-ranging musical compositions and how she enjoys the creative process a little more than performing. We also get the chance to sample some of the music from her latest album Bad Behaviour. Find out more at: http://tall-poppies.com/ For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast , highlighti...

Send us Fan Mail 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. For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast ,...

Send us Fan Mail 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. For more episodes of Tall Poppies: The Podcast , highlighting remarkable Australians making waves globally, visit https://www.tall-poppies.com/ .