Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra traces its roots to musicians assembled for Melbourne’s Centennial International Exhibition in 1888, beginning a long tradition of fine orchestral performance in this city.
It was not until 1934, however, that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation first presented a series of concerts with some seventy musicians under the name of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
With a reputation for excellence, versatility and innovation, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is renowned for its performances of the great symphonic masterworks with leading international soloists and conductors, among them Igor Stravinsky, Mariss Jansons, Yehudi Menuhin, Jessye Norman, Jennifer Larmore, Bryn Terfel, Maxim Vengerov, John Williams, Artur Rubinstein, Osmo Vänskä, Paavo Järvi, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Donald Runnicles, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Barbara Bonney, Simone Young, Markus Stenz and Marcello Viotti. The Orchestra is also known for appearances with The Three Tenors, Frank Sinatra, Kiri Te Kanawa, Elton John, John Farnham, Dionne Warwick, Andrea Bocelli, Harry Connick, Jr., k.d. lang, and rock bands KISS and Meat Loaf.
In 2005 Oleg Caetani took up the baton as the MSO’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director for a four-year appointment; in September 2006 he also became Music Director at London’s English National Opera.
During Markus Stenz’s seven-year tenure as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director (1998–2004) the orchestra took a still more prominent place on the world stage. It has received international recognition on overseas tours to the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Europe, China and St Petersburg.
Each year the Orchestra performs to more than 250,000 people in Melbourne and regional Victoria, at events ranging from the annual Sidney Myer Free Concerts in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to Classic Kids concerts for young children. It reaches a still larger audience across Australia through regular broadcasts on ABC Classic FM. Some performances appear on ABC TV, and the documentary To Russia with Love, about the Orchestra’s St Petersburg tour, was among the flagship programmes in ABC TV’s Sunday Afternoon series in 2005.
Recordings have included major releases on the ABC Classics label. Members of the Orchestra have also featured on numerous film soundtracks, among them Babe, IQ, Hotel Sorrento, Six Degrees of Separation, Babe II Pig in the City and The Dish, and the MSO has recorded music for computer and console games.
Artist's website: www.mso.com.au
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is featured on the following titles
The Glass Soldier
Music from Hannie Rayson’s play The Glass Soldier. Based on a true story, it is a sincere tribute to Australians who fought in the Great War: people who had little, yet gave everything.
David Joseph Selected Works, Vol. 2
The second volume of David Joseph’s selected works brings together the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Academy of Melbourne, and pianist Michael Kieran Harvey in three substantial late-twentieth-century scores.
The Film Music of George Dreyfus, Volume 1
Fourteen of George Dreyfus’s best-loved film and television themes, recorded with the Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras under the composer’s direction.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra also appears on
Dreams: Works for Small Orchestra
Australian composer David Joseph gathers choreographically inspired works for small orchestra from 1986 to 1994 in Dreams, tracing memory, dream states and perception through richly textured, psychologically charged writing.
George Dreyfus: Chamber and Orchestral Music
The Adelaide Wind Quintet and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra present the serious side of George Dreyfus: the Sextet for Didjeridu and Wind Instruments and his two symphonies, a core chamber and orchestral portrait of the composer.