Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
| Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) | |
|---|---|
| Orchestra | |
.png) |
|
| Founded | 1906 |
| Website | www |
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia. The MSO performs to more than 200,000 people in Melbourne and regional Victoria in over 150 concerts a year. Its principal venue is Hamer Hall.
The Orchestra has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008.
The orchestra relies on funding by the Victorian State Government and the Federal government and support from private corporations and donors. It is supported by Symphony Services International.
The MSO's first concert took place on 11 December 1906 under the baton of Alberto Zelman, founder of the MSO, who later became the first Australian conductor to conduct the London and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. In 1934, the MSO became one of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's radio orchestras. In 1949, the orchestra took on the new name of the Victorian Symphony Orchestra. In 1965, the orchestra's name reverted to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The MSO's longest serving chief conductor was Hiroyuki Iwaki (1974–1997), who was named Conductor Laureate of the orchestra in 1989 and held the title until his death in 2006. The orchestra's most recent Chief Conductor, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor), was appointed in June 2012. Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts as the MSO's Chief Conductor in 2013, having made his debut with the orchestra in 2009. The MSO also works with Associate Conductor Benjamin Northey and guest conductors like Thomas Adès, John Adams, Tan Dun, Markus Stenz and Simone Young.
Dale Barltrop and Eoin Andersen have shared the position of concertmaster since the start of 2015 since Wilma Smith stepped down at the end of the 2014 season. In 1923, Bertha Jorgensen became the first female leader of a professional orchestra in Australia, and she went on to play with the orchestra for 50 years and became the longest-serving female leader of an orchestra on an international scale.
...
Wikipedia