Wagner Society of Washington to Present

Famed Canadian Wagner Expert Iain Scott

On Thursday, October 18^th, The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. will continue its “Year of Die Meistersinger” events when it gives Washington music lovers their second opportunity to hear one of Canada’s leading experts on Richard Wagner’s operas, Iain Scott of Toronto. Iain Scott, a frequent broadcaster, has titled his lecture Baptism of the Morning Dream: The Quintet from Die Meistersinger. Music lovers will remember Mr. Scott’s brilliant Wagner Society lecture of February 2000 on Tannhäuser. Mr. Scott’s presentations will be at 7:30 P.M. at the George Washington University, Funger Hall, Room 103. It will be free to Wagner Society members and to the public who are cordially invited to attend.

Like other noted Wagner experts such Fr. Owen Lee, Wagner Society Chairman James K. Holman, and Washington’s beloved opera lecturer Saul Lilienstein, Iain Scott’s very favorite opera is Die Meistersinger. With others, Mr. Scott believes that the “Quintet” from Act Three is one of the highest points of civilization and will share his reasons for that opinion in his talk on October 18th. Iain Scott will illustrate his talk with audio and video excerpts from some of his favorite performances of the great Wagner masterpiece that is being put on this year both at the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera.

Iain Scott is a frequent broadcaster about opera. He appeared for seven seasons as a panelist on the Texaco Opera Quiz from the Metropolitan Opera. For the last seventeen years he has been a guest quiz panelist and commentator on the program Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and has been a regular commentator on other national C.B.C. opera programs. Mr. Scott is also a frequent lecturer in the U.S. and Canada and annually teaches two courses on opera at the University of Toronto. He often writes program notes and magazine articles about opera, his favorite subject. Mr. Scott is a member the Board of Directors of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and of the Music Faculty Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Toronto.

The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. is a private, non-profit organization established for the study and enjoyment of Wagner’s art.

The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C., P.O. Box 33051, Washington, D.C. 20033

Telephone 301.907.2600, Facsimile 301.907.8671