The Cult of Wagner: The Fellowship of The Ring Cycle

Neil Armfield is a leading Australian director of theatre, opera and film. He was co-founder of Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre and its Artistic Director for 17 years, during which time he directed over 50 productions.

Neil’s notable productions include Cloudstreet (toured to London twice, Dublin, Zurich, New York), Hamlet (toured Australia starring Richard Roxburgh), Diary of a Madman (with Geoffrey Rush, toured to Moscow, St Petersburg, New York), Exit the King (Sydney and Broadway, winning Geoffrey Rush a Tony), The Book of Everything (toured to New York), The Judas Kiss (toured Australia starring Bille Brown in 1999 and in 2012 with Rupert Everett) and The Secret River, adapted for theatre by Andrew Bovell.

Neil has directed for English National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Zurich Opera, Bregenz Festival, and regularly with Opera Australia, Canadian Opera, Welsh National Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. This year, he will direct Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelungen in Melbourne and Tristan Und Isolde in Washington.

Neil directed the television miniseries Edens Lost for ABC TV in 1988, which won 4 AFI awards including Best Director and Best Mini Series; 2 telemovies for the ABC in 1996 – The Fisherman’s Wake (which won an ATOM Award for Best Original TV Production), and Coral Island.

In 2005 he directed and co-wrote the feature film Candy, starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish, which screened in competition at the Berlinale and played twenty other international festivals. He won Best Adapted Screenplay at the AFI Awards and an AWGIE for Best Screenplay.

Neil has won 2 AFI Awards, 8 Helpmann Awards, and many Sydney Theatre, Victorian Green Room and Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Awards. He has Honorary Doctorates from Sydney and NSW Universities, and in 2007 was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia.

Maggie Beer’s career spans farming, food production, as well as television presenting and food writing. Her appearance on the hit ABC TV programme The Cook & The Chef cemented her place as one of Australia’s most well known food personalities, and her line of products is arguably the most highly esteemed and much loved range for Australian gourmets.

In 1973, Maggie Beer and husband Colin settled in the Barossa Valley, with the intention of breeding game birds and growing grapes. The establishment of their farm led to the now legendary Pheasant Farm Restaurant. The restaurant became highly acclaimed and was, in 1991, awarded the Remy Martin Cognac/Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year award.

With the closure of the restaurant in 1993, Maggie was free to pursue new directions, and in 1996 the Export Kitchen in Tanunda was opened.

Of all the accolades given to Maggie, being chosen as Senior Australian of the Year in 2010, and then South Australian of the Year 2011, have been two enormous highlights of a truly busy life. In addition to these achievements, Maggie was thrilled to be appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to tourism and hospitality on Australia Day in 2012.

Her appearances on television have been numerous, with the most notable being her involvement with Channel 10‘s Masterchef, setting new ratings records for the episodes she featured in. The Lifestyle Channel have also shone the spotlight on Maggie, with a Christmas Special devoted to seasonal menus and celebration.

Robyn Archer AO FAHA is a singer, writer, artistic director and public advocate for the arts. Winner of the Helpmann Award for Best Cabaret Performer 2013, and named Cabaret Icon at the 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, she currently performs highly acclaimed recitals of French, German and American song, After COVID’s multiple postponements, Robyn returned to the stage in 2021 for the 20th anniversary of Ten Days on The Island (the festival she created for Tasmania) with the feisty and moving Mother Archer’s Cabaret for Dark Times which also played the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Melbourne Recital Centre. During lockdowns Robyn contributed video performances to the Cabaret Festival and Midusmma as well as essays and podcasts for University of Melbourne and Australian Book Review. In July 2022 she premiered Robyn Archer: an Australian Songbook with a two week season for Queensland Theatre. The show was an audience and critical success and will tour in 2023: Belvoir Theatre in Sydney has announced a season October 2023 and other cities will soon be announced. Robyn has also been invited to perform at World Pride in Sydney February 2023. Robyn is recognised internationally for her expertise in the repertoire of the Weimar Republic and for many other stage successes such as A Star is Torn and Tonight Lola Blau. She has written plays including Il Magnifico, Poor Joanna (with poet Judith Rodriguez), and Architektin; plays with music including Songs From Sideshow Alley and Café Fledermaus and The Bridge, and devised cabarets featuring her own songs and writing such as The Pack of Women, Scandals and Cut and Thrust. Robyn has recorded eleven albums, most notably Robyn Archer Sings Brecht (recorded at Abbey Road with The London Sinfonietta). Her complete back catalogue (including her raucous originals) is being digitally re-released by Rouseabout Records (Undercover music) and is now available on various digital platforms. Robyn has published numerous books from The Robyn Archer Songbook to Mrs Bottle’s Burp and Detritus (a collection of her public speeches) as well as writing for the Griffith Review and the Australian Book Review. But she is equally known worldwide for her wider contributions to the arts. She was formerly Artistic Director of the Adelaide and Melbourne International Arts Festivals, creator of Ten Days on the Island for Tasmania, and creative producer of The Centenary of Canberra 2013. Robyn continues to combine advisory and mentoring roles with her own creative output. Former Deputy Chair of The Australia Council, Robyn was cultural advisor to arts and culture on the Gold Coast and chaired the Board of HOTA. She also chaired the inaugural Master of Fine Arts in Cultural Leadership at NIDA and for ten years she mentored for the European Festivals’ Association Academy Ateliers. Among her many awards, including the ABR Laureate, the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Cultural Leadership Award, the SA Premier’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the International Society for Performing Arts’ International Achievement Award and an ARIA Award for Best Soundtrack (The Pack of Women), the 2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas Dedication recognised Robyn for her contribution to the world of ideas and public life, and received the JC Williamson Centenary Lifetime Achievement Award. Robyn is an Officer of the Order of Australia, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), Officer of the Crown (Belgium) ,Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and has Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Sydney and Adelaide as well as Flinders , Canberra and Griffith Universities and the University of South Australia.

French born-Australian Julia Zemiro is an acting graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (1993) and a beloved Australian television personality. Arguably best known as the host of the long-running SBS hit TV program RocKwiz,  Julia’s success includes hosting and co-producing the hugely successful Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery for the ABC, which recently completed their ninth and final series and the Logie winning Fisk seasons 1 & 2. Her co-hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest (2008-2016) lead to an unprecedented success for SBS. She has been host for international touring artists such as documentary-maker Louis Theroux, author Bill Bryson, Stephen Fry and medical guru Michael Mosley – Australian Tour 2017. Julia was also the BBC UK choice for the exclusive Australian television interview with Peter Capaldi on his worldwide press tour for Dr Who. She also co-hosted Stargazing Live with Brian Cox for ABC/BBC for 3 years. Guest TV appearances include QI, Room 101, Agony Aunts, Thank God You’re Here, co-hosting What A Year with Bert Newton, and the title of Australia’s Brainiest TV Star. She appeared in the award winning film An Accidental Soldier, directed by Rachel Ward and the acclaimed television series Conspiracy 365. She was the Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival for 2019 and 2020. Julia is a proud ambassador for Our Watch and the Victorian Actors Benevolent Trust and is a proud member of her union the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

Peter Rose is the author of the award-winning family memoir Rose Boys (2001), which is now available as a Text Classic.

He has also published five poetry collections, most recently Crimson Crop (UWA Publishing, 2012), which won a 2012 Queensland Literary Award. His most recent novel is Roddy Parr (Fourth Estate, 2010). He is the editor of Australian Book Review.