The Opera Australia Orchestra is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017. Formed in 1967 as the Sydney Elizabethan Trust Orchestra to be the performance partner of Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet, it was known for many years as the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Now called the Opera Australia Orchestra, it has earned an […]

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with UTAS, will host the Australian Conducting Academy Summer School in early 2018. Under the leadership of Course Director Johannes Fritzsch, who begins his three year appointment as the TSO’s inaugural Principal Guest Conductor in 2018, students will benefit from rehearsals with pianists as well as at least five orchestra […]

Day 1 – Tuesday 15 November 2016 Malcolm Long AM Malcolm Long is Principal of the broadcasting, communications and digital media consultancy Malcolm Long Associates. He is a director of the communications infrastructure and services provider BAI Group. He is immediate past Chair of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and is a former […]

G Williams, W Williams, K Lidbetter Introduction Occupational noise management is an important Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) priority. Noise exposure is a significant difficulty in many workplaces and not confined to what would normally be considered noisy workplaces, such as factories and construction sites. It is also an important issue for serious consideration by […]

At a time when the Western media regularly foretell classical music’s imminent demise, the Chinese interest in Western classical music sounds like a good news story. But is this exactly the true situation? To most English-speaking communities, China remains a mysterious country. Its population is 66 times that of Australia. The dominant Han people plus […]

Thursday 26 and Friday 27 November International philanthropy expert Russell Willis Taylor, President and CEO of National Arts Strategies (2001-14) and Executive Director of the English National Opera (1997-2001) will present two keynote addresses (development and governance). Antonia Ruffell, CEO of Australian Philanthropic Services, will also be featured. See the program schedule. Russell Willis Taylor […]

  Vi King Lim Just as migratory birds return every year to warmer climes in search of sustenance, so too orchestra librarians from all over the world make the yearly pilgrimage to the largest conference of its kind to hone their professional skills and expertise. The Conference of the Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA) has […]

David Garrett surveys orchestral activity in New Zealand and Australia, comparing changes in the past 20 years In the mid 1990s I spent several months filling in as artistic manager for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, based in Wellington. I went on tour with the orchestra, to most of the major cities, and came tantalisingly […]

Just a couple of weeks after world leaders descended on Brisbane for the G20 Summit, orchestral librarians from around Australia and overseas convened for the Asia-Pacific Orchestral Librarians’ Summit 2014 on the 29th of November. The day-long event was hosted by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the ABC Building in South Bank and was attended […]

I have been involved in the Artist Development endeavours of the six professional Australian symphony orchestras (known as ‘the network’) since Symphony Australia was created out of ABC Concerts, the national broadcaster’s concert division, in 1997. During those 17 years I have observed the network’s commitment to furthering the careers of countless Australian conductors, composers […]

In recent years there has been much discussion of the orchestral business model. What is the view from the UK? Mark Pemberton, Director of the Association of British Orchestras, offers his perspective. The permanent orchestra season has, as usual, been financially a bad one all over the country. There is always a deficit, which public-spirited […]

The ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards can justly claim to be the highest profile competition for Australian musicians. Having started out in 1944 as an annual, state-based concerto competition for young performers, it boasts a long and rich history and has helped launch the careers of some of Australia’s most outstanding musical talents. Overseas […]

Orchestras and the quest for relevance. Thank you, Kate, and a special thank you to each of you for your flexibility.  Scheduling this presentation has been an enormous challenge and I am really grateful for the opportunity to be here today.  This is my second visit to Australia in as many months after never having […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.