History
The founder of the Albert Street Conservatorium Orchestra was musician and conductor Alberto Zelman. This orchestra gave its first concert on 11 December 1906. 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. [2] In 1927, the Albert Street Conservatorium Orchestra combined with the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra to form the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. [3]
In 1934, the MSO became one of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's radio orchestras. [4] In 1949, the orchestra took on the new name of the Victorian Symphony Orchestra, reverting to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1965. Following the re-structure of the Australian Broadcasting Commission into a corporation, in 1997 the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ABC. It became an independent company when the six Australia state orchestras were divested from the corporation in 2007. [5]
The MSO's longest-serving chief conductor was Hiroyuki Iwaki (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, Sir Andrew Davis, was appointed in June 2012. Davis gave his inaugural concerts as the MSO's chief conductor in 2013, having made his debut with the orchestra in 2009. [6] The MSO also works with principal conductor-in-residence Benjamin Northey, principal guest conductor Xian Zhang and guest conductors like Thomas Adès, John Adams, Tan Dun, Markus Stenz and Simone Young.
The MSO was the first Australian orchestra to perform overseas (New Zealand, 1965), and the first to play in Carnegie Hall, New York, in 1970. [7] Its overseas tours – the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, Europe (2000, 2007, 2014), 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, the MSO 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. 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.
Sir Andrew Davis took up his duties as chief conductor in 2013. During his tenure, the MSO made its debut at five of the classical music festivals, including The Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival. [8] In July 2015, the MSO extended Davis' contract through 2019. [9] Davis concluded his MSO chief conductorship at the end of December 2019. [10]
Dr Sophie Galaise was announced as Managing Director [11] in January 2016. In 2021 Dr Galaise was recognised by Musical America as one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year, [12] and in 2022 she was acknowledged by the Asia Society Australia as a Melbourne Asia Game Changer. [13]
In April 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of live performances, the MSO management was forced to temporarily ‘stand down’ MSO musicians and some administrative staff. In addition to the Australian Government’s JobKeeper program, the MSO Board pledged $1 million to support musicians and staff. [14] In December 2020, the MSO launched its on-demand digital streaming platform, MSO.LIVE, which broadcasts performances to audiences at home. [15] [16]
Jaime Martín first guest-conducted the MSO in June 2019, and returned for an additional guest-conducting appearance in February 2021. In June 2021, the MSO announced the appointment of Martín as its next chief conductor, [17] and Martín led his first performance as chief conductor at Hamer Hall in February 2022. [18] In March 2024, the MSO announced the extension of Martín's contract as chief conductor to 2028, with the addition of the title of artistic adviser. [19]
In November 2022, the MSO announced a partnership [20] with the London Symphony Orchestra. The agreement between the two orchestras enables cross-cultural collaboration between the two countries and includes reciprocal touring in Australia and the UK, facilitating emerging artist exchanges and co-commissioning performances and activities, including digital innovations, such as LSO Live and MSO.LIVE. [21]
The MSO's recent discs include Strauss' Four Last Songs , Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra [22] on ABC Classics. On the Chandos label the MSO has recently released Berlioz' Harold en Italie with James Ehnes and Ives' Symphonies No. 1 and No. 2, both led by Sir Andrew Davis. [23]
Israel-Gaza 2024 controversy
On 13 August 2024, the MSO cancelled Australian-British pianist Jayson Gillham’s performance, to which tickets had already been sold. MSO said the reason for the cancellation was the pianist's remarks made prior to his performance of a musical piece, which he dedicated to the more than 100 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in the Hamas–Israel war in Gaza. In his remarks, Jayson Gillham said that the killing of journalists in Gaza by Israel was a war crime and that "a number of these have been targeted assassinations of prominent journalists as they were travelling in marked press vehicles or wearing their press jackets”. [24] MSO said that Gillham's remarks "were made without authority and went beyond the remit of his contract". [25]
The cancellation was seen as highly controversial because the same pianist also performed a song by György Ligeti, where he noted that Ligeti was from a Holocaust-surviving family and he spoke about the political background of the piece, as witnessed by Palestinian-Australian writer and composer Nahed Elrayes. This part of Jayson Gillham’s concert did not attract any attention and was not seen by MSO as being "made without authority and going beyond the remit of his contract", whilst similar action with regards to 100 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel was censored by MSO. [25]
MSO censorship of Jayson Gillham attracted wide condemnation from the Australian public and from the musicians of the MSO. The Australian Music Students’ Association launched an open letter and said it was “intensely disappointed” and strongly condemned the decision. Erin Madeley, the chief executive of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, expressed in his statement that Gillham had been treated "appallingly", that the decision caused enormous hurt and distress to Jayson, and was disrespectful to his fellow musicians and to journalists in Gaza.
Later, MSO rowed back on their own decision to cancel the performance, admitting that cancelling the concert was "an error", and confirmed that the pianist performance was now cancelled due to "safety concerns". The nature of the safety concerns was not revealed and hence it is not clear if there were (or there are) any safety concerns in the first place. [26]
The musicians of the MSO have passed a vote of no confidence in its board, citing that the scandal had brought the orchestra "into disrepute" and highlighted "years of unresolved concerns". Despite the reversal of the decision, musicians at the MSO voted to remove the leaders of the orchestra. [27]
