John Raymond Hopkins AM OBE (19 July 192730 September 2013) was a British-born Australian conductor and administrator.

Career

John Hopkins was born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in 1927. He was the assistant conductor of the

BBC Scottish Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional ra ...

from 1949 to 1952 and then conductor of the

BBC Northern Orchestra The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at MediaC ...

until 1957. He relocated to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1957 to succeed James Robertson as conductor of the then National Orchestra (now the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Sympho ...

). In 1959 he founded the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra. He was present for the orchestra's 50th anniversary season in 2009. As part of his contribution to youth music he also conducted the South African National Youth Orchestra. Hopkins moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1963. As the Federal Director of Music for the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

(ABC), Hopkins began a number of innovations within the ABC's Concert Music Division, such as starting an Australian Promenade (Proms) series in Sydney in 1965Sametz, Phillip: Play On – 60 Years of Music Making with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, ABC Books, Sydney, 1992. and broadcasting international avant-garde classical music. As a part of the Proms concerts, Hopkins programmed a variety of music, from the Renaissance, performed by the Sydney group the Renaissance Players,O'Sullivan, Mark: The Biggest Mind Bending Event So Far – Music Performance in Sydney 1932 – 1994, Sydney University Honours Thesis, 1994. the then rarely performed music of

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

and Sir

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, avant-garde music from overseas and Australia. The Australian composers who wrote music for the concerts included

Peter Sculthorpe Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighboring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aborigin ...

Nigel Butterley Nigel Henry Cockburn Butterley (13 May 1935 – 19 February 2022) was an Australian composer and pianist. Life and career Butterley was born in Sydney and learned to play the piano at the age of five. He attended Sydney Grammar School, but mus ...

and

Richard Meale Richard Graham Meale, AM, MBE (24 August 193223 November 2009) was an Australian composer of instrumental works and operas. Biography Meale was born in Sydney. At the time the Meale family lived in Marrickville, an inner suburb of Sydney. Meale ...

. Hopkins resigned from the Director's post in 1973 due to a number of factors, including tensions with staff within the ABC Concert Music Division. In 1974 he became the inaugural dean of the School of Music at the newly formed Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) (now the

University of Melbourne Faculty of VCA and MCM The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (formerly known as the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music) is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. It is located near the Melbourn ...

). In 1974, Hopkins led the world premiere of Peter Sculthorpe's opera/music theatre work ''

Rites of Passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

''. He was director of the

Sydney Conservatorium of Music The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and known by the moniker "The Con") is a heritage-listed music school in Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the old ...

from 1986 to 1991. He conducted the

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) is a symphony orchestra based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its principal concert venue is the Auckland Town Hall. The APO is the accompanying ensemble for performances by New Zealand Opera, NZ Opera and th ...

in 1987 in one of New Zealand's first Orchestral Composers' Reading Workshops. He was a professor of conducting at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, Faculty of VCA and MCM, along with guest conducting with community and youth orchestras until the time of his death. Hopkins died on 30 September 2013, aged 86.

Career

*Assistant conductor,

, 1949–52 *Conductor,

, 1952–57 *Conductor, New Zealand National Orchestra (now

), 1957–63 *Federal Director of Music,

, 1963–73 *Dean of School of Music,

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, 1973–86 *Director,

, 1986–91

Honours and awards

Hopkins was named an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1970.It's an Honour: OBE
Retrieved 11 June 2013 He was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2013 "for significant service to the performing arts, particularly as a conductor, to music education, and to the community".It's an Honour: AM
Retrieved 2 October 2013

Bernard Heinze Memorial Award

The

Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award The Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award, was inaugurated following the death of Sir Bernard Heinze in 1982. The award is in the form of a medallion and is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to music in Australia. The Award ...

is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to music in Australia. , - , 1991 , , John Hopkins , , Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award , , , -

References

External links

History of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, John 1927 births 2013 deaths English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Australian conductors (music) British emigrants to Australia Sydney Conservatorium of Music faculty Musicians from Yorkshire Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Order of Australia New Zealand Symphony Orchestra people 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians Classical musicians associated with the BBC