News
2013 Orchestral Summit
In August 2013, Symphony Services International will be hosting the 2013 Orchestral Summit for Member and Associate orchestras. Our guest speakers this year will be Brent Assink (Executive Director, San Francisco Symphony) and Joseph LaPosta (State Operating and Major Projects Manager, AFL NSW/ACT). Their biographies appear below. Keynote addresses and workshops will be presented on [...]
Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
MCO has a core of string players drawn from Melbourne’s outstanding community of orchestral artists.
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The Problem of Popularity
by James Koehne When Donald Mitchell set out to write an appreciation of Malcolm Arnold in 1977, he felt compelled to rescue the composer from the ‘curse of popularity’. Even in his symphonies, Arnold’s music indulges in big, beautiful tunes, and this, Mitchell points out, ‘gives rise to suspicions that we’re being seduced by something [...]
2013 Finalists announced!
12 young performers have been selected to proceed to the Finals for the 2013 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards.
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2013 Symphony Australia TSO Composers’ School
Applications for the 2013 Symphony Australia TSO Composers' School (October 14-18) are now open.
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Orchestra Victoria
Orchestra Victoria makes a significant contribution to the vibrant cultural identity of Victoria
Katerina Nazarova wins 2012 YPA!
Katerina Nazarova wins the 2012 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards.
Offal? There was plenty of heart and brains on display
ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards 2012 At first glance you could be forgiven for failing to see the common link between the three 2012 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards string finalists. Katerina Nazarova (27), an Australian expat living and working in London, Anna Da Silva Chen (15) a Sydney high-school student, and Shane [...]
2012 ABC Symphony Australia YPA Grand Final
The winners of each category will now compete in the Grand Final
YPA Stage 3 Strings Final Winner
Katerina Nazarova wins the Stage 3 Strings Final in the 2012 ABC Symphony Australia YPA
Annual Report 2011
Download the Symphony Services International Annual Report for 2011. Part 1 (Report)Part 2 (Financial)
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2012 ABC Symphony Australia YPA
2012 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards Stage III finalists announced!
An international participant’s view of the 2012 Conducting Summer School
It was a timely coincidence that, a few days only after graduating from the conducting course at the Royal Academy of Music in London, I received an email from the department describing the various mastercourses organised by Symphony Services International and specifying that these were open, for the first time, to international students like myself. [...]
2012 Conductor Development Summer School
It was an extremely hot January day in Hobart that saw the coming together of eight of Australia’s and one of Europe’s most promising young conductors, to attend the inaugural Symphony Services International Conducting Summer School. Christopher Seaman, director of SSI’s Conductor Development program, was the teacher for the two weeks, and the Tasmanian Symphony [...]
Can conducting be taught?
You cannot train anybody to be a conductor, and I will say until my dying day, conductors are born and not made. - Sir John Barbirolli A technique of conducting does exist and can be learnt and practised down to its smallest details before a student first attempts to conduct an orchestra. - Hermann Scherchen [...]
2011 Orchestral Summit in Melbourne
On 2-3 November 2011, Symphony Services International hosted its second annual Orchestral Summit in Melbourne. Featuring guest speakers Paul Hogle (Executive Vice President, Detroit Symphony Orchestra) and Frankie Airey (Director, Philanthropy Squared), the event was a great success. Read below for various reports on sections of the Summit, and to view the PowerPoint presentations by [...]
2011 ABC Symphony Australia YPA winner
Nicholas Russoniello wins the Young Performers Awards with the Yoshimatsu Saxophone Concerto "Cyber-bird"
Canberra Symphony Orchestra
In 2012 the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) celebrates 62 years in our nation’s capital.
Annual Report 2010
Annual Report 2010.pdf (1.8mb) Click to download a copy of Symphony Services Australia’s Annual Report for 2010.
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The Podium #3
The April 2011 issue of The Podium (issue #3) contains the following items: Associate Profile: the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Surtitles – about our new service for surtitling Top tip: applying for an Australia Council grant A Heritage Worthy of Revival – Australia’s forgotten music – by Rhoderick McNeill Foreign Correspondence – East side story [...]
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East Side Story
Gordon Kalton Williams writes from San Francisco You’d almost expect musical innovation in the East Bay area of San Francisco. Harry Partch, who conceived music with 43 tones to the octave, was born in Oakland in 1901 and, though a hobo for much of his life, regarded the Oakland/East Bay area as his preferred stomping [...]
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A Heritage Worthy of Revival – Australia’s forgotten music
by Rhoderick McNeill None of Australia’s important composers have captured the national imagination like our sporting heroes. They are not commemorated on Australian postage stamps or our money. Nevertheless, in recent years it has been possible to hear and purchase commercial recordings of the major Australian orchestral works of our time, including music by Sculthorpe, [...]
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The Podium #2
In the second edition of the Podium (December 2010): The Accidental Necessity: ABC involvement with the Australian orchestras – by David Garrett 10% – 25% discount on hire of Symphony Services Music Library top 20s Associate Profile: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Symphony Services Music Library announces new hire charges for 2011 – better value than ever [...]
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Associate Profile: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) is the resident orchestra of New Zealand’s biggest city, and has achieved iconic status in its 30 year history. The orchestra was formed in 1980 when 19 players from the collapsed Symphonia of Auckland founded a cooperatively-run orchestra. APO is now supported by Creative New Zealand, the ratepayers of Auckland, The [...]
The Accidental Necessity: ABC involvement with the Australian orchestras – by David Garrett
Australia now has six fully-professional symphony orchestras, all of whom are Members of Symphony Services International, but their existence was not inevitable. So how did it happen? David Garrett looks at the early history and the role of some visionaries. There was no historical necessity that a broadcasting organisation, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (as it [...]
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Summit Summaries
One of the key benefits that Symphony Services International offers to its Associates and Members is annual Summits. These are get-togethers of similar people from within professional orchestras across Australia and the region. In 2010 we hosted three Summits - for orchestral librarians, Chief Executives and Artistic Administrators.
The Podium #1
The podium is our newsletter - the inaugural edition features Death and Transfiguration (the prognosis for classical music)
Oliver She wins 2010 young performers award final
New associate: Philharmonia Taiwan
Become a member of the Symphony International Family
Top Tip: what to consider when sourcing music
...and much more! Click the heading to view.
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Consultancy brokerage service
Symphony Services International introduces its Consultancy Brokerage service.
Institute of Musical Research, University of London – David Garrett
From 1-3 July 2010, our colleague David Garrett attended a conference hosted by the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, titled The Symphony Orchestra as Cultural Phenomenon. David kindly agreed to provide us with a report on the sessions he attended. The full program of the conference can be accessed at: http://music.sas.ac.uk/imr-events/imr-conferences-colloquia-performance-events/the-symphony-orchestra-as-cultural-phenomenon.html#c1420 David presented [...]
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Annual Report 2009
Annual Report 2009 Download a copy of Symphony Australia’s Annual Report for 2009.
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Annual Report 2012