Events

Richard Hageman scholar Nico de Villiers joins pianist and composer David Owen Norris for the final of three lecture recitals entitled “The songs of Richard Hageman and other screen-struck European exiles: Wilhelm Grosz, Jaroslav Jezek, Kurt Weill & P.G. Wodehouse”. 

This lecture celebrates Hageman’s career on stage and in Hollywood and its influence on his song composition.  In addition to a selection of songs by Yvette Guilbert (sung in Ezra Pound’s translations), this lecture features songs by some of the most important American theatre and stage composers Jerome Kern and German-born American composer Kurt Weill.  In addition to the presentation, exhibits from the Richard Hageman Society Archive will be on display.

Richard Hageman scholar Nico de Villiers joins pianist and composer David Owen Norris for the second of three lecture recitals entitled “The songs of Richard Hageman and other screen-struck European exiles: Wilhelm Grosz, Jaroslav Ježek, Kurt Weill & P.G. Wodehouse”. 

This lecture explores the songs that led to, and celebrated, Hageman’s career in Hollywood. In addition to a selection of songs by Yvette Guilbert (sung in Ezra Pound’s translations), this lecture  features songs by Viennese-born composer, pianist, musicologist, and record producer Wilhelm Grosz (aka Hugh Williams) and Czech composer, pianist and conductor, author of jazz, classical, incidental and film music Jaroslav Ježek. In addition to the presentation, exhibits from the Richard Hageman Society Archive will be on display.

Richard Hageman scholar Nico de Villiers joins pianist and composer David Owen Norris for the first of three lecture recitals entitled “The songs of Richard Hageman and other screen-struck European exiles: Wilhelm Grosz, Jaroslav Ježek, Kurt Weill & P.G. Wodehouse”. 

This lecture explores different aspects as a part of Richard Hageman’s song oeuvre and his colourful life, including performances of a selection of songs by Yvette Guilbert (sung in Ezra Pound’s translations) in each recital as a nod to Hageman’s early experience of touring through the United States of America and Canada with Guilbert in 1906. Included in this lecture are songs by Viennese-born composer, pianist, musicologist, and record producer Wilhelm Grosz (aka Hugh Williams) whose career traversed concert stage, cabaret and popular music. In addition to the presentation, exhibits from the Richard Hageman Society Archive will be on display.

​Siobhan Stagg - Soprano

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Nico de Villiers - Piano

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​Siobhan Stagg - Soprano

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Nico de Villiers - Piano

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Soprano Siobhan Stagg and pianist Nico de Villiers undertake a national tour of Australia, performing a narrated recital Echoed Voices that features songs by Richard Strauss and Henri Duparc, two of Hageman’s greatest influences, alongside a large number of Hageman songs.

Interspersed between the songs, Nico de Villiers illustrated the various musical and poetic parallels between the composers’ songs. Stagg and De Villiers took Echoed Voices to the Sydney Opera House, UKARIA in the Adelaide Hills, Hobart Town Hall in Tasmania, Canberra’s Albert Hall, Griffiths University in Brisbane, and the Mildura Arts Center. 

Nico de Villiers presents a talk entitled At Home with Richard Hageman at the Athenaeum Club, Liverpool 

Siobhan Stagg — Soprano

Nico de Villiers — Piano

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Although Hageman’s songs have been recorded by various artists over the years, no single album has ever been dedicated to Hageman’s songs. VOICES: Songs of Richard Hageman is the first of its kind. To celebrate this recording, Siobhan Stagg and Nico de Villiers will present a programme of songs in Hageman’s birth town. This production has been made as an initiative by and in conjunction with: the Richard Hageman Society, the International Center for American Music, the Royal Musical Association, SENA, and the Frisian Musical Archive.

Nico de Villiers (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Kathryn Kalinak (Rhode Island College) and Asing Walthaus (Leeuwarder Courant) are the authors of the first critical biography of Dutch-American composer, conductor, pianist and coach Richard Hageman (1881-1966). At the launch, each author will speak briefly about their roles in the writing of this groundbreaking book and short readings from the book. Musical excerpts will feature Hageman's works for film, orchestra and song.

The launch will be followed by an opportunity for a Q&A.