One of life's great contributors, Bernie Curran seemed to have lived at least three lives - as a rugby player, as a scholar and as a philanthropist, in addition to leading a rich family life.
I knew him primarily as a lover of the Arts, in his role as the chair of our Twilight Musical Dialogues (TMD) Committee.
A Classics scholar with a love of rhetoric, he was fascinated with the idea of "dialogue", coming from (the typically) two players interacting in a sonata. He understood how this notion extended to the interchange between performers and audience. He welcomed the idea that the series would involve a lot of the wider community, with themed concerts that they could contribute to musically, gastronomically or culturally.
Bernie suggested another dialogue, between those more experienced and those less experienced and so we had a young player mentored by, and performing alongside, professionals in each concert.
This was also the case with developing young music administrators from regional areas. As well as watching the expert committee he assembled, observing Bernie the humanist, the strategist, and the natural and just leader, inspired and informed Pippa Van Helden and Hannah Caterer, who have gone on to be employed by the Brandenburg Orchestra and Tamworth Regional Conservatorium of Music respectively, with Dr Bernard Curran AM proudly on their list of referees and remaining an enduring role model and source of advice.
Of Twilight Musical Dialogues, Bernie wrote "It gave huge pleasure to the citizens of Newcastle, who craved for the musical experience and pleasure of the Opera House but could never afford it. It gave young musicians a chance to meet and play with professionals at the height of their talent and power in music.
And it gave young musicians, the professionals of the future, the opportunity to learn at great depth, that while music can lift the hearts and minds to the heaven, it has its own way of reminding us that we are human beings who rejoice in community and care for one another."
In addition to being a natural communicator, Bernie's training as a Classics scholar made him a superb orator. His introductory welcomes often exceeded our time limit as he was so in his element.
With instruments getting cold as we waited backstage, we wondered how Mary, his wife and assigned speech time-keeper, may be looking at him. I usually couldn't resist peeking at them once I started playing and would see an inwardly triumphant grin from Bernie and a knowing, capitulating look from Mary.
In emotional moments in the concert, tears would stream down his face, for his was a big and open heart. He personally greeted every guest to the concert at the door, relished being the raconteur and even, with a twinkle in his eye, stepped up into the role of auctioneer to fundraise for our next series by auctioning works from Elena Kats-Chernin, penned in our presence, from notes nominated by the audience.
A consummate gentleman, he could compassionately connect to anyone and everyone, across every imaginable demographic and age group, with his singular talent from making people feel valued.
His time management was a mystery to me; he always made time for you, even though invariably when I called him, he was between appointments: finishing a swim at the Merewether Baths, going to the Newcastle Club to create an Art Prize, to support a rugby game, to speak at a UON Alumni event, to join others to explore his latest philanthropic endeavour and most often, to spend time with family or friends.
He had an enormous affection and respect for Indigenous people. In one of our Quirindi concerts, he talked about the song-lines of the region in his introductory welcome and this prompted him to excitedly tell me about the water diviner he had employed and his latest learnings in Indigenous astronomy.
Bernie shared with me, that his study of Classics prepared him for life's challenges more than anything else. His outer actions seemed to stem effortlessly from his inner belief system. In his TED talk 'Kalos kai agathos' (the good and the beautiful), he enthuses about bringing together Arts, sport, scholarship, and community building. For him, they were all indelibly inter-related.
As TMD committee member (and friend to the Currans) Marilyn Sainsbury reflected, "it was his love of rhetoric and his exercise of the Socratic method which energised the spoken word that made the message so human yet philosophical. His approach is rare in this time and yet he was so influential and inspirational."
In the same TED talk, Bernie describes running up and down the 67 steps by the Merewether Baths after his morning swim. He described that when you run upwards, it is as if you run up to the sky.
Keep running Bernie; keep reaching for the sky knowing that your legacy, inspiring us to be the best people we can be, is embedded in all of us who have been in your presence and are richer for it.
We are now left with one internal dialogue; the voice that celebrates the masterclass in living that was Bernie Curran's magnificent life and the other voice, that sorrows for the enormous void left.
Knowing him has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.
