Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Encyclopedia
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
based in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia. The MSO performs to more than 250,000 people in Melbourne and regional Victoria in over 150 concerts a year.
Following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008, the Orchestra has responsibility for its own choir, the MSO Chorus.
The orchestra relies on funding by the Victorian State Government through Arts Victoria, Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Federal government
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
through the Australia Council and support from private corporations and donors.
History
The MSO's first concert took place on 11 December 1906 under the baton of Alberto ZelmanAlberto Zelman
Alberto Zelman was an Australian musician and conductor, and founder of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra....
, founder of the MSO, who later became the first Australian conductor to conduct the London and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. In 1934, the MSO became one of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's radio orchestras. In 1949, the orchestra took on the new name of the Victorian Symphony Orchestra. In 1965, the orchestra's name reverted to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The MSO's longest serving chief conductor was Hiroyuki Iwaki
Hiroyuki Iwaki
was a Japanese conductor and percussionist.-Biography:Iwaki was born in Tokyo in 1932. Shortly after he entered an elementary school, he moved to Kyoto due to his father's transference. He came to play the xylophone at nine years old...
(1974–1997), who was named Conductor Laureate of the orchestra in 1989 and held the title until his death in 2006. The orchestra's most recent Chief Conductor and Artistic Director was Oleg Caetani
Oleg Caetani
Oleg Caetani is a conductor of Ukrainian and Italian descent. He is the son of Igor Markevitch and Donna Topazia Caetani, Markevitch's second wife, who is descended from a Roman family that included the early 14th-century Pope Boniface VIII. Caetani has chosen to use his mother's family name to...
, whose initial four-year contract was from 2005 to the end of 2008. In March 2008, this was extended to the end of 2010. However, his contract was unexpectedly terminated in October 2009, with immediate effect, due to artistic differences. In September 2009, Tadaaki Otaka
Tadaaki Otaka
is a Japanese-born, British-based conductor. He studied composition, theory, and French horn, at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and later was a conducting student of Hideo Saito....
had been appointed Principal Guest Conductor, to commence in 2010. However, Otaka's role was accelerated for him to assume the post in late 2009.
The MSO's Concertmaster is Wilma Smith
Wilma Smith
Wilma Smith is a Fijian-born violinist. She was born in Suva, Fiji and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. Smith joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as co-concertmaster in 2003. Prior to this she was concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra...
and Associate Concertmaster, Roy Theaker. In 1923, Bertha Jorgensen became the first female leader of a professional orchestra in Australia, and she went on to play with the orchestra for 50 years and became the longest-serving female leader of an orchestra on an international scale.
The MSO was the first Australian orchestra to tour overseas, and the first to play in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York, in 1970. Its overseas tours - the USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, Europe (2000, 2007), China (2002), St Petersburg, Russia (2003) and Japan (2005) - have gained it widespread international recognition. In January 2000, under the baton of the then Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Markus Stenz
Markus Stenz
Markus Stenz is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa....
, represented Australasia at the Festival of the Five Continents in the Canary Islands alongside other orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
. In January 2007 the Orchestra embarked on its second European tour, visiting five cities in Spain (Castellon, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Pamplona, Madrid), Paris, Berlin and Milan.
The MSO has crossed over into contemporary pop and rock music on a number of occasions. In 1986 the orchestra teamed with Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, culminating in the album Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is a live album by Elton John and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recorded at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on 14 December 1986. The concert was the last of a series of concerts done throughout the last two months of 1986...
. In 1989 concerts with John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
led to the DVD Classic Jack Live. In 2004 they performed with rock musician Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
; the DVD release of this performance reached the number one position in the UK music DVD charts. Another notable cross-genre performance was with KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
on 28 February 2003, in the so-called KISS Symphony: Alive IV
KISS Symphony: Alive IV
Kiss Symphony: Alive IV is a 2003 live album from Kiss performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra . The arrangements were made by David Campbell, who also conducted the MSO. It is the group's fourth album in the Alive series and first release under Kiss Records and Sanctuary Records...
. The MSO has also performed with Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
(2004), Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
(2006) and Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
(2008).
Notable recordings by the MSO include music of Alexandre Tansman
Alexandre Tansman
Alexandre Tansman was a Polish-born composer and virtuoso pianist. He spent his early years in his native Poland, but lived in France for most of his life...
and of Rudi Stephan
Rudi Stephan
Rudi Stephan , was a German composer of great promise who shortly before the First World War was considered one of the leading talents among his generation....
, both for Chandos, and live-in-concert performances released under the orchestra's own label MSO LIVE.
In December 2010 the MSO performed two concerts of Disney Classics as part of their ongoing commitment to MSO Pops. These were aimed at both kids and fans of Disney, and were very well received by both MSO fans and Disney fans alike.
Chief conductors
- Alberto ZelmanAlberto ZelmanAlberto Zelman was an Australian musician and conductor, and founder of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra....
(1906–1927) - Fritz Hart (1927–1932)
- Fritz Hart, Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
(1932–1937, joint chief conductors) - Bernard Heinze (1937–1950; Sir Bernard from 1949)
- Alceo GallieraAlceo GallieraAlceo Galliera was a distinguished Italian conductor and composer. He was the son of Arnaldo Galliera who taught in organ class at the Parma Conservatory....
(1950–1951) - Juan José CastroJuan José CastroJuan José Castro was an Argentine composer and conductor.Born in Avellaneda, Castro studied piano and violin under Manuel Posadas and composition under Eduarno Fornarini, in Buenos Aires. In the 1920s he was awarded the Europa Prize, and then went on to study in Paris at the Schola Cantorum under...
(1952–1953) - Walter SusskindWalter SusskindJan Walter Susskind was a Czech-born British conductor.-Biography:Susskind was born in Prague, Austria–Hungary, now the Czech Republic. His father was a Viennese music critic and his Czech mother was a piano teacher. At the State Conservatorium he studied under composer Josef Suk, the son-in-law...
(1953–1955) - Kurt WössKurt WössKurt Wöss was an Austrian conductor and musicologist.Wöss was principal conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra from 1951 to 1954. From 1956 to 1959 he was chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra .-References:...
(1956–1959) - Georges TzipineGeorges TzipineGeorges Samuel Tzipine was a French violinist, conductor and composer. He was of Russian origin.He was trained as a violinist at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris, winning a first prize in 1926, but moved to conducting in 1931 after support from Reynaldo Hahn...
(1960–1965) - Willem van OtterlooWillem van OtterlooJan Willem van Otterloo was a Dutch conductor, cellist and composer.-Biography:Van Otterloo was born in Winterswijk, Gelderland, in the Netherlands, the son of William Frederik van Otterloo, a railway inspector, and his wife Anna Catharina Enderlé...
(1967–1970) - Fritz RiegerFritz RiegerFriedrich Edmund "Fritz" Rieger, was a German conductor.Rieger was born in Oberaltstadt, Karkonosze, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. From 1931 to 1938 he worked in Prague. In August 1941 he became director of the Bremen opera, and in August 1944 he took up the position of director of the Bremen...
(1971–1972) - Hiroyuki IwakiHiroyuki Iwakiwas a Japanese conductor and percussionist.-Biography:Iwaki was born in Tokyo in 1932. Shortly after he entered an elementary school, he moved to Kyoto due to his father's transference. He came to play the xylophone at nine years old...
(1974–1997) - Markus StenzMarkus StenzMarkus Stenz is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa....
(1998–2004) - Oleg CaetaniOleg CaetaniOleg Caetani is a conductor of Ukrainian and Italian descent. He is the son of Igor Markevitch and Donna Topazia Caetani, Markevitch's second wife, who is descended from a Roman family that included the early 14th-century Pope Boniface VIII. Caetani has chosen to use his mother's family name to...
(2005–2009) - Tadaaki OtakaTadaaki Otakais a Japanese-born, British-based conductor. He studied composition, theory, and French horn, at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and later was a conducting student of Hideo Saito....
(2009- ; Principal Guest Conductor)
APRA Awards
- 2008APRA Awards of 2008The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2008 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 16 June at the Sydney Hilton, they were presented by APRA and the Australasian...
Orchestral Work of the Year APRA AwardAPRA AwardsThe APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually....
win for 90 Minutes Circling the Earth, composed by Stuart Greenbaum and performed by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Brett Kelly (conductor), was presented by Australasian Performing Right AssociationAustralasian Performing Right AssociationThe Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
and Australian Music CentreAustralian Music CentreThe Australian Music Centre fosters the development of an Australian music community by providing specialist support to its membership of performers, composers, sound artists, educators, students, and music specialists across Australia and throughout the world.The AMC is the Australian national...
(AMC). Nominated for same award for performances of Glass Soldier Suite, Musaic and Oboe Concertante. - 2008 Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education win for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's ArtPlay ensemble touring program and music theatre project Hunger.
External links
- Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
- eMelbourne:the city past and present
- Melbourne Stage Archive, "A Century of Symphony"
- Listen to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performing Peter Sculthorpe's 'Irkanda IV' on australianscreen online