Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (formerly the Queensland Conservatorium of Music) is a selective, audition based

music school A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

located in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia, and is part of

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian ...

History

The Conservatorium was established by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

and opened on 18 February 1957, with English composer

William Lovelock William Lovelock (13 March 189926 June 1986) 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 ...

as director. The school was originally located in

South Brisbane Town Hall The Old South Brisbane Town Hall is the heritage-listed town hall of the Borough of South Brisbane, later the City of South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located at 263 Vulture Street (on the south-west corner of the intersection of G ...

. In 1971 the Conservatorium became autonomous from the state government as a College of Advanced Education, and in 1975 relocated to a new complex at Gardens Point. The school opened a second campus in Mackay in 1989, which became part of

Central Queensland University Central Queensland University (alternatively known as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campu ...

in 1995. The

Dawkins Revolution The Dawkins Revolution was a series of Australian higher education reforms instituted by the then Labor Education Minister (1987–91) John Dawkins. The reforms merged higher education providers, granted university status to a variety of institution ...

led to the Conservatorium becoming an institution of

in 1991. As part of this amalgamation, the school moved into its current facility in the South Bank Parklands in 1996, and was renamed Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The unive ...

took over the Conservatorium's Garden Point facilities, including the QUT Gardens Theatre as it became known. The institution is affectionately known as "the Con" to students. In 1999, the Conservatorium launched its Bachelor of Popular Music program and its new Gold Coast campus, both of which were established under the direction of Associate Professor Garry Tamlyn. From 2000 this course has been taught from an information technology facility in the Gold Coast Campus of Griffith University. In 2003 the Conservatorium Research Centre was opened as part of the 30 innovative research centres in the University. The Research Centre aims to investigate the dynamics of contemporary musical environments.

Facilities

Facilities include the Conservatorium Theatre—also used for smaller productions by Opera Queensland— which seats a maximum of 727 and has one of the highest fly towers in Australia, the Ian Hanger Recital Hall which seats 200 and the Basil Jones Orchestra Hall. There are also music production, post production, multimedia lab and recording facilities both in the South Bank and Gold Coast Campuses. The Queensland Conservatorium also includes the Young Conservatorium, an external, classical based music program for pre-schoolers to year 12 students. In the past 12 months the "Young Con" has engaged more than 1500 students in performances. In 2007 the Conservatorium celebrated its 50th anniversary with alumni reunions and visiting artists from around the world.

Staff

Former directors

Former director include: *

(1957–1959) *Basil Jones (1960–1980) *Roy Wales (1981–1987) * Anthony Camden (1988–1993) *Simone De Haan (1996–2002) *Peter Roennfeldt (2002–2009) *Huib Schippers (2009–2012) *Don Lebler (2012–2013; acting) *Scott Harrison (2013–2020)

Notable staff

Notable staff include: * Julian Byzantine * John Curro * Janet Delpratt *

Margreta Elkins Margreta Elkins (born Margaret Ann Enid Geater; 16 October 19301 April 2009) was an Australian mezzo-soprano. She sang at The Royal Opera and with Opera Australia and other companies, but turned down offers to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, Bay ...

* Ralph Hultgren *

Carmel Kaine Carmel Kaine (22 March 193721 April 2013) was an Australian classical violinist. She was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales and studied at the New South Wales Conservatorium, graduating at age 17 with the prize for the most outstanding student ...

Stephen Leek Stephen Leek (born 1959) is an Australian composer, conductor, educator, and publisher who specialises in choral music. Early life Leek was born in Sydney in 1959, lived in Brisbane from 1964 through 1969, and then spent the rest of his childho ...

Peter Musson International bassoonist and bassoon teacherPeter Musson Born Auckland 21st May 1940 Died Brisbane 8th April 2022 was a principal Bassoonist in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Senior Lecturer in Bassoon at the Queensland Conservatorium and ...

* Max Olding *

Jan Sedivka Jan Boleslav Sedivka (in Czech: Šedivka) (Slaný, 8 September 1917 Hobart, 23 August 2009), Czech-born, was one of Australia's foremost violinists and teachers. Biography Educated in Czechoslovakia (Otakar Ševčík and Jaroslav Kocián), Fra ...

* Larry Sitsky * Donald Smith, father of alumnus

Robin Donald Donald Robin Smith (born 26 March 1942) is an Australian operatic tenor who is known professionally as Robin Donald. He is the son of the Australian operatic tenor Donald Smith. Robin performed leading operatic tenor roles, including Rudolfo i ...

Paul Terracini Paul Terracini (born 1957) is an Australian composer, conductor, and educator. Life and career Dr Paul Terracini started out his musical career holding a permanent position of Principal Trumpet from 1975 till 1979 within the Australian Opera a ...

1982–88 *

Vanessa Tomlinson Vanessa Tomlinson (born 1971) is an Australian percussionist, composer, artistic director and educator. She is Director of Creative Arts Research Institute and Head of Percussion at Griffith University Griffith University is a public resea ...

* Carl Vine *

Lev Vlassenko Lev Nikolaevich Vlassenko ( Russian: Лев Никола́евич Вла́сенко; 24 December 1928 – 24 August 1996), was a Soviet pianist and teacher. Biography Lev Vlassenko was born on 24 December 1928 in Tiflis, Georgian SSR, Soviet Un ...

* Natasha Vlassenko * Nancy Weir * Christopher Wrench

Alumni

Notable students who attended the Queensland Conservatorium of Music include:Alumni – Queensland Conservatorium
Accessed: 14 June 2007. * Daniel Amalm *

Jason Barry-Smith Jason Barry-Smith (born 12 December 1969) is an Australian operatic baritone, vocal coach, composer, and arranger. He works with organisations such as Opera Queensland, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Seven Network, and the Queensland Yo ...

Jeffrey Black Jeffrey Black (born September 6, 1962) is an Australian baritone who has had an active international performance career since the early 1980s. A frequent performer with Opera Australia and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, he has performed lead ...

* Ray Chen *

Gerry Connolly Gerald Edward Connolly (born March 30, 1950) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district, first elected in 2008. The district is anchored in Fairfax County, an affluent suburban cou ...

* Sarah Crane *Tyson Illingworth (known as

TyDi TyDi (; born Tyson Illingworth, 31 May 1987) is an Australian songwriter, record producer and DJ specializing in electronic dance music. Originally from Queensland, TyDi was signed by Armin van Buuren's Armada label at 17 and was ranked at N ...

) * Brett Dean * Candy Devine *

, son of Conservatorium teacher Donald Smith * Helen Donaldson *

Lisa Gasteen Lisa Kinkead Gasteen AO (born 13 November 1957), is an Australian operatic soprano, known for her performances of the works of Wagner. She won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1991. She did not perform between 2008 and 2011, due t ...

* Clare Gormley and Miriam Gormley"Vice Chancellor's Report to Council"
, 2 December 2013, p. 22 * Dami Im * Graeme Jennings * Astrid Jorgensen * Kanon (singer) * Lynette Lancini *

Piers Lane Piers Lane (born 8 January 1958) is an Australian classical pianist. His performance career has taken him to more than 40 countries. His concerto repertoire exceeds 75 works. Early life Lane's English father and Australian mother met while au ...

Rosario La Spina Rosario La Spina is an Australian operatic tenor who has had an active international career since the early 2000s. He has worked with many leading opera houses and orchestras, singing under such conductors as Renato Palumbo, Bruno Bartoletti, ...

Adam Lopez Adam Lopez Costa (born 26 August 1975) is an Australian pop musician, vocal coach, and session vocalist. He is noted for his ability to produce extremely high notes in his whistle register and for his extensive six-octave vocal range. From 2008 ...

* Tahu Matheson * Kate Miller-Heidke *

Katie Noonan Katie Anne Noonan (born 2 May 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the band George and remains the singer in the band Elixir; perf ...

* Barnaby Ralph * John Rodgers (musician) * Barry Singh *

Megan Washington Megan Alexanda Washington (born 7 January 1986) is an Australian musician and songwriter who has worked mononymously as Washington. Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock. She has released three ...

Jonathon Welch Jonathon Charles Welch (born 5 October 1958) is an Australian choral conductor, opera singer and voice teacher. As a singer, Welch has been a tenor for the Victoria State Opera, Lyric Opera of Queensland and Opera Australia. During 2006 Wel ...

* Christopher Wrench *

The Kite String Tangle The Kite String Tangle (also known as TKST) is the solo project of Brisbane-based alternative electronic artist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Danny Harley. Harley launched the project in 2012 and released an EP titled ''Vessel'' in 2014. ...

TwoSet Violin TwoSet Violin is a musical comedy duo consisting of Australian violinists Brett Yang and Eddy Chen. The pair is best known for their musical comedy on their YouTube channel, which has reached over 3.8 million subscribers and 1.2 billion views a ...

(Brett Yang and Eddy Chen)

Awards

APRA Classical Music Awards

The APRA Classical Music Awards are presented annually by

Australasian Performing Right Association 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 songwri ...

(APRA) and

Australian Music Centre The Australian Music Centre (AMC), formerly known briefly as Sounds Australian, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia, founded in 1974. It co-hosts the Art Music Awards along with APRA AMCOS, and publishes ...

(AMC). , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, , ''Encounters: Meetings in Australian Music'' program – curated by Vincent Plush – Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre,

, , Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation , ,

References

External links

* *
Queensland Conservatorium Events Homepage
{{authority control APRA Award winners Music schools in Australia Education in Brisbane Culture of Brisbane Tourist attractions in Brisbane Buildings and structures in Brisbane Griffith University 1957 establishments in Australia Educational institutions established in 1957 South Brisbane, Queensland Colleges of Advanced Education