Sydney Symphony
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| Sydney Symphony | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sydney Symphony Orchestra |
| Origin |  Sydney, Australia |
| Genre(s) | Classical |
| Years active | 1932-present |
| Website | www.SydneySymphony.com |
| Members | |
| Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Gianluigi Gelmetti |
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| Former members | |
| Founder Eugène Aynsley Goossens |
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The Sydney Symphony is a symphony orchestra based in Sydney, Australia. It is one of Australia's busiest orchestras.
The orchestra began as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and evolving from a small group of twenty-four musicians which were brought together to play concerts and to provide incidental music for radio plays when the Australian Broadcasting Commission was formed.
The first significant concert event in which the orchestra took part was in 1934, when the renowned conductor 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 Dorati and Sir Thomas Beecham. Soloists appearing with the orchestra included Arthur Rubinstein, Bronislaw 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. The new 82-player Sydney Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in January 1946.
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 a year before the end of his term. His term ended under scandalous circumstances, after customs officers found erotic pictures and rubber masks[1].
Sir Eugene Goossens was succeeded by other conductors, including 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. 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 bi-centennial 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, who held the post until 2003. Highlights of his tenure in Sydney include the Ring in concert version and tours of Europe (1995), Japan (1996) and the US (1998).
In 2007, The Sydney Symphony played with The Whitlams at the Sydney Opera House for the Whitlams concert known as "Whitlams LIVE with The Sydney Symphony Orchestra"
The orchestra gives 150 concerts annually to an audience of 350,000.
Gianluigi Gelmetti is the current chief conductor and artistic director; his contract is due to end at the end of 2008. On 11 April 2007, it was announced that Vladimir Ashkenazy will succeed him.
[edit] Chief conductors
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