Barry Millington (editor of The Wagner Journal, author of The Sorcerer of Bayreuth) will join us from England in a pre-recorded talk to discuss his recent research on the relationship among Wagner, painter Edward Burne-Jones, and author George Eliot. These three sensationally gifted late-18th century artists had substantial influence on each other and the age in which they lived. Millington calls it “A Collision of Like-Minded Souls.” This is a members-only, online-only event; members will receive a livestream link automatically via e-mail; no need to pre-register.
About the speaker: Barry Millington is Chief Music Critic for the London Evening Standard and founder/editor of The Wagner Journal. He is the author and editor or co-editor of eight books on Wagner, including Wagner, The Wagner Compendium, The Ring of the Nibelung: A Companion and Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, and also contributed the articles on Wagner and his operas to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. His latest Wagner book, The Sorcerer of Bayreuth, was published by Thames & Hudson/OUP in 2012. He was the founder and artistic director of the Hampstead & Highgate Festival (1999–2003), has acted as dramaturgical adviser at international opera houses, and co-founded the ensemble Counterpoise, working with artists such as Sir John Tomlinson and Sir Willard White. He was co-director of Wagner 200, a wide-ranging series of events celebrating the bicentenary of Wagner’s birth in 2013, and is known also as a broadcaster and lecturer. He organises concerts and a music appreciation series in Hampstead Garden Suburb and has belatedly begun to develop a low-profile career locally as a collaborative pianist.