Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Background information
Birth name	Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Classical
Years active	1932-present
Website	www.SydneySymphony.com
Members
Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Vladimir Ashkenazy
Past members
Founder Eugene Goossens

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (abbreviation – SSO), commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney. It has the unique privilege of having the Sydney Opera House as its home concert hall.

Current information

The Sydney Symphony is an icon of the Sydney cultural scene, performing around 150 concerts a year to a combined annual audience of more than 350,000. The regular subscription concert series are mostly performed at the Sydney Opera House but other venues around Sydney are used as well, including the City Recital Hall at Angel Place and the Sydney Town Hall. The Town Hall was the home of the orchestra until the opening of the Opera House in 1973.

A major annual event for the orchestra is Symphony in the Domain, a free evening outdoor picnic concert held in the summer month of January in the large city park known as The Domain. This event draws audiences of over 80,000 and is a long-established part of the Sydney summer cultural calendar.

Vladimir Ashkenazy is the current chief conductor and artistic director.

History

The orchestra began in 1932 as the National Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, however there were no signs of much population yet. It was established by the newly formed Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and consisted of a group of 24 musicians who were brought together to play concerts and to provide incidental music for radio plays.

The first significant concert event in which the orchestra took part was in 1934, when Sir Hamilton Harty visited Australia. His visit led to calls for the creation of a permanent symphony orchestra for Sydney.

In 1936, the orchestra was increased to 45 players, augmented to 70 for public performances. It also inaugurated annual concert seasons that year.

Because of the political instability in Europe in the 1930s, many leading artists spent large amounts of time in Australia. Performances were given under the direction of Antal Doráti and Sir Thomas Beecham. Soloists appearing with the orchestra included Arthur Rubinstein, Bronisław Huberman and Artur Schnabel.

At the end of World War II, the ABC reached agreement with the Sydney City Council and the New South Wales state government to establish an orchestra in Sydney. In 1946 it purchased the title "Sydney Symphony Orchestra" from the original owner, an orchestra that had been founded in 1908. The new 82-player Sydney Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in January 1946.

Sydney Opera House

Eugene Goossens joined the orchestra as its first chief conductor in 1947. Goossens introduced outdoor concerts and conducted Australian premieres of contemporary music. In 1948, he uttered the prophetic words, "Sydney must have an opera house!" Goossens was knighted in 1955, the year before his term was due to end. His tenure was abruptly cut short in March 1956 under scandalous personal circumstances, and he was forced to return to England in disgrace.

Sir Eugene Goossens was succeeded by Nikolai Malko, Dean Dixon, Moshe Atzmon, and Willem van Otterloo. Under van Otterloo, the orchestra made an eight-week European tour in 1974 which culminated in two concerts in Amsterdam and The Hague. Also under van Otterloo, the orchestra established the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House as its home base.

In 1982 Sir Charles Mackerras became the first Australian to be appointed chief conductor. When Mackerras fell ill in 1985, the young Australian conductor Stuart Challender stepped in to conduct some of his performances. These concerts led to Challender's appointment as the orchestra's chief conductor in 1987. In Australia's bicentennial year (1988), he led the orchestra in a successful tour of the United States. He remained as chief conductor until his death in December 1991.

In 1994, the orchestra received increased support from the federal government, enabling it to raise the number of players to 110, increase touring and recording ventures, and improve orchestral salaries. That year, it also appointed Edo de Waart as the orchestra's chief conductor and artistic director; he held the post until 2003.

De Waart is regarded as having significantly improved the quality of the orchestra during his tenure, bringing it into the first rank of international orchestras for the first time. When he came to the post the orchestra had only recently relaxed protectionist rules requiring members to be Australian citizens. De Waart introduced blind auditions for permanent positions for the first time, introduced restrictions on the use of substitutes, and brought a new level of drive to the orchestra. Highlights of his tenure in Sydney included Wagner's Ring Cycle in concert, a focus on the works of his personal favourite Mahler and tours of Europe (1995), Japan (1996) and the United States (1998).

Financial history and current structure

The SSO, like all the other major symphony orchestras in Australia, was funded by the federal government as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from the 1950s until the mid 2000s. A federal government review in 1994 severed the day to day management of the orchestra from the ABC and full independence was achieved on 1 January 2007. The orchestra now operates as a public company with a board of directors. The current Chairman is John Conde AO and the Managing Director Rory Jeffes. Funding is provided by federal and state governments, corporate and private sponsorships and commercial activities as well as ticketing income.

The SSO and the Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House, while among the most famous buildings of the 20th century, is problematic for the orchestra. The SSO was instrumental in calling for a new Opera House to be built and it was always intended to be their home venue. However, control of the Opera House has always rested with a separate body, the Sydney Opera House Trust, and the two institutions have had conflicts.

The longest running point of contention is the refusal by the Opera House Trust to allow the orchestra to drill small holes into the concert hall stage to allow proper seating of the endpins (spikes on the bottom) of their cellos and double basses, which is believed to give a better resonance to these instruments. The orchestra seats their endpins in planks of wood placed on the stage as the Opera House Trust maintains that the entire building is heritage-listed under Australian law and that such work would therefore be illegal.^{[citation needed]}

Edo de Waart was particularly critical of this during his tenure as Chief Conductor in the 1990s, arguing in the press that the building had been specifically constructed for the orchestra and that it was a scandal that the orchestra was being forced to accept a reduced sound quality. However the Opera House Trust has refused to bend and as of 2010 the orchestra is still using the planks of wood.

Chief conductors

1947-1956 Eugene Goosens 1957-1961 Nikolai Malko 1964-1967 Dean Dixon 1967-1971 Moshe Atzmon 1971-1978 Willem van Otterloo 1979-1982 Louis Frémaux

1982-1985 Charles Mackerras 1986-1987 Zdeněk Mácal 1987-1991 Stuart Challender 1993-2003 Edo de Waart 2004-2008 Gianluigi Gelmetti 2009- Vladimir Ashkenazy

Concertmasters

• 1965-1998 Donald Hazelwood

Awards and nominations

APRA Classical Music Awards

The APRA Classical Music Awards are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australian Music Centre (AMC).

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2003	Guyuhmgan (Georges Lentz) – Sydney Symphony	Orchestral Work of the Year	Nominated
	Ngangkar (Georges Lentz) – Sydney Symphony	Orchestral Work of the Year	Nominated
	Three Miró Pieces (Richard Meale) – Sydney Symphony	Orchestral Work of the Year	Won
	Adult Themes (2002) – Sydney Symphony Education Program – Sydney Symphony	Most Distinguished Contribution to the Presentation of Australian Composition by an Organisation	Won
2005	Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (Carl Vine) – Steven Isserlis, Sydney Symphony	Best Performance of an Australian Composition	Won
	Inflight Entertainment (Graeme Koehne) – Diana Doherty, Sydney Symphony, Takuo Yuasa (conductor)	Orchestral Work of the Year	Nominated
	2004 Education Program – Sydney Symphony	Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education	Nominated
2006	Mysterium Cosmographicum (Michael Smetanin) – Lisa Moore, Sydney Symphony	Best Performance of an Australian Composition	Nominated
	Journey to the Horseshoe Bend (Andrew Shultz, Gordon Williams) – Ntaria Ladies Choir, Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir, Sydney Symphony	Vocal or Choral Work of the Year	Nominated
2007	When the Clock Strikes Me (Nigel Westlake) - Rebecca Lagos (soloist), Sydney Symphony	Best Performance of an Australian Composition	Won
	Flying Banner (After Wang To) (Liza Lim) - Sydney Symphony, Gianluigi Gelmetti (conductor)	Orchestral Work of the Year	Won
	Liza Lim – Sydney Symphony Composer Residency	Outstanding Contribution by an Individual	Nominated
	Sydney Symphony Education Program – Sinfonietta Composition project	Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education	Nominated
2008	Sydney Symphony Education Program – 2007 Sinfonietta Project	Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education	Nominated
2009	Monh (Georges Lentz) - Tabea Zimmermann, Sydney Symphony, Steven Sloane (conductor)	Best Composition by an Australian Composer	Won

See also

• Symphony Australia

External links

• Sydney Symphony official website
• Sydney Symphony Orchestra at Allmusic
• Listen to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform at the 'Sydney Opera House Opening Concert' in 1973 on australianscreen online
• The 'Sydney Opera House Opening Concert' has been added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry