The ABC Sinfonia was an Australian training orchestra established as the National Training Orchestra by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) in 1967. In 1980, the Orchestra was renamed ABC Sinfonia. [1] Based in Sydney, the 40-piece orchestra was entered by scholarship, and was intended to train music postgraduates to join the state symphony orchestras. [2] At 30 June 1984, the Sinfonia had 42 full-time scholarship holders, eight of whom were on bursaries from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and by 1986, 230 players had been members of the orchestra. [3]
The Sinfonia was disbanded in 1986, after a structural and budgetary review of the ABC resulted in the divestment of its orchestra holdings. [4]
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, AO, CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young will be the orchestra's next chief conductor when she takes up the position in 2022.
Diana Doherty is an Australian oboist, currently Principal Oboe with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
John Raymond Hopkins AM OBE was a British-born Australian conductor and administrator.
Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell, was an Australian French horn player who spent most of his professional life in the UK and the United States. He is generally considered to have been one of the world's leading horn players.
Ross Edwards is an Australian composer of a wide variety of music including orchestral and chamber music, choral music, children's music, opera and film music. His distinctive sound world reflects his interest in deep ecology and his belief in the need to reconnect music with elemental forces, as well as restore its traditional association with ritual and dance. He also recognises the profound importance of music as an agent of healing. His music, universal in that it is concerned with age-old mysteries surrounding humanity, is at the same time connected to its roots in Australia, whose cultural diversity it celebrates, and from whose natural environment it draws inspiration, especially birdsong and the mysterious patterns and drones of insects. As a composer living and working on the Pacific Rim, he is aware of the exciting potential of this vast region.
William Lovelock was an English classical composer and pedagogue who spent many years in Australia. He was the first Director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, and later became the chief music critic for The Courier-Mail newspaper while developing an independent career as a composer.
David Fung is a concert pianist.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes is a New Zealand operatic baritone.
Joseph Mozart Post was an Australian conductor and music administrator. He made an unrivalled contribution to the development of opera-conducting in Australia and was, in Roger Covell's words, the 'first Australian-born musician to excel in this genre'. As an orchestral conductor, he was judged a 'good all-round man': he was well regarded for his enthusiasm, clarity and economy of gesture, but he was not associated with inspiring or challenging musicianship. Nonetheless, his ability to take over conducting assignments at very short notice became legendary and he was often greeted with 'rave' reviews.
Ernest Victor Llewellyn CBE was an Australian violinist, concertmaster, violist, conductor and musical administrator. He was the founding director of the Canberra School of Music and is commemorated by Llewellyn Hall, the concert venue at the School.
Patrick Alan Thomas was an Australian conductor.
Dene Maxwell Olding is an Australian violinist. He has had a distinguished career as a soloist in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, performing over forty concertos in recent years, including many world premieres. He is the Concertmaster Emeritus of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, first violinist in the Goldner String Quartet, and a member of the Australia Ensemble.
David Porcelijn is a Dutch composer and conductor.
A sinfonia is any of several musical instrumental forms.
Mirrie Irma Hill was an Australian composer.
Geoffrey Payne is a noted Australian classical trumpeter. He has been Principal Trumpet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 1986, and has been a member of the orchestra since 1979. He also performs with other orchestras both in Australia and internationally, and has made a number of recordings.
Nathan Waks is an Australian cellist, composer, record producer, arts administrator and wine company owner.
Alan Holley is an Australian composer and musician.