The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in

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 me ...

. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on funding by the Victorian State Government and the

Federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

and support from private corporations and donors. It is supported by

Symphony Services International Symphony Services International, formerly known as Symphony Australia, is a centralised organisation formed in 1997 for six Australian symphony orchestras: Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland, Sydney, Tasmania and Western Australia. The orchestra ...

. Sophie Galaise joined the MSO as its first female Managing Director in 2016. Its current Chairman is David Li.

History

The founder of the

Albert Street Conservatorium The Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music was a school of music located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. During its early days it was closely associated with opera diva Dame Nellie Melba, after whom it was later named. In 1994 it became af ...

Orchestra was 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. In 1927, the orchestra combined with the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra to form the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 1934, the MSO became one of 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-own ...

's radio orchestras. 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. 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 (conductor), was appointed in June 2012. Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts as the MSO's Chief Conductor in 2013, having made his debut with the orchestra in 2009. The MSO also works with Principal Conductor in Residence Benjamin Northey, Principal Guest Conductor Xian Zhang and guest conductors like Thomas Adès,

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

Tan Dun Tan Dun (, ; born 18 August 1957) is a Chinese-born American composer and conductor. A leading figure of contemporary classical music, he draws from a variety of Western and Chinese influences, a dichotomy which has shaped much of his life and ...

, 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. 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 The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

and

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. 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 became Chief Conductor in 2013. During his tenure, the MSO made its debut at five of the classical music festivals, including

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

and the Edinburgh International Festival. In July 2015, the MSO extended Davis' contract through 2019. In April 2018, the MSO announced that Davis is to conclude his MSO chief conductorship at the end of December 2019. In April 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of live performances, the MSO management stood down the MSO musicians and selected administrative staff into 'hibernation' status. In December 2020, the MSO launched its on-demand digital streaming platform, MSO.LIVE, which broadcasts performances to audiences at home. 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, and Martín gave his first performance in the role at Hamer Hall in February 2022. The MSO's recent discs include Strauss' ''Four Last Songs'', ''Don Juan'' and ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' on ABC Classics. On the Chandos label the MSO has recently released Berlioz' ''Harold en Italie'' with James Ehnes and Ives' Symphonies No.1 & 2, both led by Sir Andrew Davis.

Chief Conductors

* Alberto Zelman (1906–1927 at

Orchestra) * Fritz Hart (1927–1932) * Fritz Hart, Bernard Heinze (1932–1937, joint chief conductors) * Bernard Heinze (1937–1950; Sir Bernard from 1949) * Alceo Galliera (1950–1951) * Juan José Castro (1952–1953) * Walter Susskind (1953–1955) * Kurt Wöss (1956–1959) * Georges Tzipine (1960–1965) * Willem van Otterloo (1967–1970) * Fritz Rieger (1971–1972) * Hiroyuki Iwaki (1974–1997) * Markus Stenz (1998–2004) * Oleg Caetani (2005–2009) * Sir Andrew Davis (2013–2019) * Jaime Martín (2022–present)

Discography

Charting albums

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

Since 2003

APRA AMCOS APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

(Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) have combined with AMC ( Australian Music Centre) to present the Classical Music Awards at an annual ceremony as part of the

APRA Music Awards The APRA Music Awards in Australia are annual awards to celebrate excellence in contemporary music, which honour the skills of member composers, songwriters, and publishers who have achieved outstanding success in sales and airplay performan ...

. In 2011 the Classical Music Awards were re-branded as the Art Music Awards. ! , - ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, "End of All Journeys" (Andrew Batterham) – MSO , Orchestral Work of the Year , , , - ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, ''Moments of Bliss'' ( Brett Dean) – MSO , Best Performance of an Australian Composition , , , - , rowspan="2", 2006 , ''Oboe Concerto'' ( Ross Edwards – MSO, Diana Doherty , Orchestral Work of the Year , , rowspan="2", , - , Community Outreach 2005 Program – MSO , Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education , , - ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, ''Welcome to the MCG'' (Christopher Gordon) – MSO, Lyn Williams , Orchestral Work of the Year , , , - , rowspan="5",

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, ''90 Minutes Circling the Earth'' ( Stuart Greenbaum) – MSO, Brett Kelly , rowspan="4", Orchestral Work of the Year , , rowspan="5", , - , ''Glass Soldier Suite'' ( Nigel Westlake) – MSO, Geoffrey Payne, Jean-Louis Forestier , , - , ''Musaic'' ( Anne Cawrse) – MSO, Kevin Field , , - , ''Oboe Concertante'' (

Margaret Sutherland Margaret Ada Sutherland (20 November 189712 August 1984) was an Australian composer, among the best-known female musicians her country has produced. Career Margaret Sutherland's father was George Sutherland, a journalist and writer and memb ...

) – MSO, Jiří Tancibudek, Patrick Thomas , , - , ''Hunger'' – MSO's ArtPlay ensemble , Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education , , - ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, ''Noumen'' (Robert Dahm) – MSO,

Reinbert de Leeuw Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer. Life Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina ...

, Orchestral Work of the Year , , , - ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, ''Gardener of Time'' ( Barry Conyngham) – MSO , Work of the Year – Orchestral , , , - , rowspan="2",

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, rowspan="2", ''The Last Days of Socrates'' (Brett Dean, Graeme Ellis) – MSO and Chorus, Peter Coleman-Wright, Simone Young , Work of the Year – Orchestral , , rowspan="2", Art Music Awards: * Winners: * Finalists: , - , Performance of the Year , , - , rowspan="3",

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

, ''The Rest Is Silence'' (Anne Cawrse) – MSO, Michael Pisani, Nicholas Carter , Work of the Year: Large Ensemble , , rowspan="3", , - , ''Love is a Temporary Madness, The Symphonic Suite'' (Vanessa Perica) – MSO, Vanessa Perica Orchestra, Benjamin Northey , Performance of the Year: Jazz / Improvised Music , , - , ''WATA'' ( Paul Grabowsky, Daniel Wilfred, David Wilfred) – MSO, Australian Art Orchestra, Paul Grabowsky, Daniel Wilfred, David Wilfred, Benjamin Northey , Performance of the Year: Notated Composition , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

, ''Percy Grainger: Orchestral Works'' (with

Geoffrey Simon Geoffrey Philip Simon (born 3 July 1946) is an Australian conductor resident in London. Recordings Geoffrey Simon was born on 3 July 1946 in Adelaide. He was a student of Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, Hans Swarowsky and Igor Markevitc ...

) , rowspan="4" ,

Best Classical Album The Grammy Award for Best Classical Album was awarded from 1962 to 2011. The award had several minor name changes: *From 1962 to 1963, 1965 to 1972 and 1974 to 1976 the award was known as Album of the Year – Classical *In 1964 and 1977 it wa ...

, , rowspan="4" , ARIA Award previous winners. , - ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

, ''Violin Concertos'' (with

Dene Olding Dene Maxwell Olding (born 11 October 1956) 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 premiere ...

& Hiroyuki Iwaki) , , - ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, ''Simple Gifts'' (with Yvonne Kenny &

Vladimir Kamirski Włodzimierz Kamil Kamirski also known by his stage name Vladimir Kamirski (3 January 1943 - 22 April 2017) was a Polish-Australian orchestral conductor.Marianna Łacek Maestro Włodzimierz Kamirski – dla przyjaciół po prostu Włodek.''Express ...

) , , - ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

, ''The Eternal Rhythm'' (with Vernon Handley) , , - ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, ''Music from the Motion Picture – The Dish'' , Best Original Soundtrack , , ARIA Award previous winners. , - , rowspan="2" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, ''Catch Me If You Can'' (with Amy Dickson) , rowspan="3" , Best Classical Album , , rowspan="2" , , - , ''Missa Solis: Requiem for Eli'' (with Nigel Westlake) , , - ,

, ''Ades Polaris / Stanhope Piccolo Concerto'' (with

Andrew Macleod Andrew Michael MacLeod is an Australian/British businessman, author, humanitarian lawyer, philanthropist and former aid worker. MacLeod is CEO and Chair of British-based Griffin Law, a Non-Executive Director of the New York-based Cornerstone ...

, Benjamin Northey & Markus Stenz) , , , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, ''Paper Planes – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' (with Nigel Westlake) , Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album , , , - ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, ''Medtner: Piano Concerto No 1 / Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 2'' (with

Jayson Gillham Jayson Lloyd Gillham (born 1986) is a British-Australian classical pianist, based in London. In 2014, Gillham was the winner of the 2014 Montreal International Musical Competition, which brought him to international attention. His outstanding p ...

& Benjamin Northey) , rowspan="3" , Best Classical Album , , , - , rowspan="2" ,

, ''Ross Edwards: Frog and Star Cycle / Symphonies 2 & 3''
(with Amy Dickson, Colin Currie, Lothar Koenigs, Yvonne Kenny, David Zinman,

Sydney Symphony Orchestra 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 is the orchestra's chief conductor and fir ...

, & Markus Stenz]) , , rowspan="2" , , - , ''The Enchanted Loom: Orchestral Works by Carl Vine'' (with Sir Andrew Davis) ,

Helpmann Awards

* 2003 Nominated twice for Best Classical Concert Presentation * 2004 Nominated for Best Performance in a Classical Concert - MSO Chief Conductor Marcus Stenz * 2007 Winner of Best Performance in a Classical Concert Presentation * 2008 Winner of Best Performances in a Classical Concert * 2011 Nominated twice for Best Symphony Orchestra Concert * 2015 Nominated twice for Best Symphony Orchestra Concert

References

External links

* *
eMelbourne:the city past and present

Melbourne Stage Archive, "A Century of Symphony"

{{Authority control 1906 establishments in Australia APRA Award winners ARIA Award winners Australian orchestras Performing arts in Melbourne Musical groups established in 1906 Symphony orchestras