The Melbourne Symphony Orchetra (MSO) has also announced a new international agreement with the Royal Academy of Music, London. The three-year program will facilitate cross-cultural exchange between Australian and British musicians studying at the MSO Academy and Royal Academy. This is the MSO’s second major UK partnership, following its engagement with the London Symphony Orchestra last year.
The first intake for the new annual exchange program will commence in 2025 and will see five members of each academy spending 10 to 14 days with their international counterparts. The program will foster interpersonal and networking relationships across the Australian and British music industries.
The exchange will provide lessons and performance opportunities across the host faculties and allow participants to collaborate on a chamber music project to be presented in public performances in London and Melbourne. The performances will also include a new work written for the ensemble by the MSO’s Cybec Young Composer in Residence and one work written by a Royal Academy composition student.
Principal of the Royal Academy of Music Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood CBE says: ‘Now, more than ever, we need music to cross borders, and to create projects that educate and inspire the next generation of musicians. This partnership with MSO will give our students an unparalleled opportunity to expand their learning and performance opportunities. We look forward to developing an artistic and educational alliance with MSO and jointly expanding our creative reach.’
Later this month, the MSO will launch the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra UK Foundation to help raise funds necessary to ensure ongoing, sustained collaborations, commissions and exchanges.
International learning continues in Southeast Asia
The University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will also embark on its first international tour in five years. Heading to Singapore and Malaysia, the tour will share and showcase the musical talents of more than 100 student musicians from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and its orchestral training program.
Director of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Professor Richard Kurth, says: ‘This tour provides an inspiring platform for students to hone their skills and showcase their work in two of Asia’s most vibrant cities, and students and staff will also have learning interactions at peer institutions in both cities. We are thrilled to share our energies with the musical public and with University of Melbourne alumni communities in Singapore and Malaysia.’
The tour will begin on home turf at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall (24 September) before heading to Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore (27-28 September) and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur (30 September). The students will perform works by Gustav Mahler and Alberto Ginastera, alongside a stunningly beautiful piece titled Hun Tur, commissioned especially for this tour by composer Dr Melody Eötvös, a Senior Lecturer in music at the Conservatorium.
Eötvös explains that the work was inspired by her own cultural heritage: ‘This orchestral work draws on Hungarian folk songs and explores the implications of leaving out certain parts of the harmony, melody or even rhythm and then filling that space with variation and colour.’
The experience of being on tour offers insight into the life of a musician, where many factors can change the performance outcome. Associate Professor Richard Davis and Symphony Orchestra conductor says: ‘With live music, no two performances are ever the same and performing on tour requires a completely new set of skills, which the students will have to learn quickly.
‘Usually, our players only meet a couple of times a week, but on tour, it’s 24/7. Performers are managing jet lag, different cities, hotels and new cultures; the one common denominator is the concert platform. One feels “at home” on stage – nerves dissipate, and the ensemble reaches heightened levels of skill and interpretation. The orchestra will bring home an understanding of what is required to play in a global setting and an elevated ensemble standard.’
The international tour will also facilitate exchange between students and faculty members. In Singapore, a series of masterclasses will be held for students from the Melbourne Conversatorium of Music and Yong Siew Toh Convservatory of Music.
