13, 14 December 2025
Hamer Hall
Arts Centre Melbourne
Handel’s Messiah
Artists
Handel’s Messiah
Saturday 13 December at 7:00pm
Sunday 14 December at 5:00pm
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Sofi Jeannin conductor
Samantha Clarke soprano
Ashlyn Tymms mezzo-soprano
Andrew Goodwin tenor
Morgan Pearse baritone
MSO Chorus
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director
Program
Handel Messiah
Part I [53’]
Interval [20’]
Parts II and III [70’]
Running time: 2 hours and 25 minutes including interval. Timings listed are approximate.
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Acknowledging Country
In the first project of its kind in Australia, the MSO has developed a musical Acknowledgement of Country with music composed by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao, featuring Indigenous languages from across Victoria.
Generously supported by the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and the Commonwealth Government through the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, the MSO is working in partnership with Short Black Opera and Indigenous language custodians who are generously sharing their cultural knowledge.
The Acknowledgement of Country allows us to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which we perform in the language of that country and in the orchestral language of music.
About Long Time Living Here
As a Yorta Yorta/Yuin composer, the responsibility I carry to assist the MSO in delivering a respectful acknowledgement of country is a privilege which I take very seriously. I have a duty of care to my ancestors and to the ancestors on whose land the MSO works and performs. As the MSO continues to grow its knowledge and understanding of what it means to truly honour the First People of this land, the musical acknowledgement of country will serve to bring those on stage and those in the audience together in a moment of recognition as we celebrate the longest continuing cultures in the world.
—Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao
Our musical Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao, is performed at MSO concerts.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is Australia’s preeminent orchestra, dedicated to creating meaningful experiences that transcend borders and connect communities. Through the shared language of music, the MSO delivers performances of the highest standard, enriching lives and inspiring audiences across the globe.
Woven into the cultural fabric of Victoria and with a history spanning more than a century, the MSO reaches five million people annually through performances, TV, radio and online broadcasts, as well as critically acclaimed recordings from its newly established recording label.
In 2025, Jaime Martín continues to lead the Orchestra as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor. Maestro Martín leads an Artistic Family that includes Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor – Learning and Engagement Benjamin Northey, Cybec Assistant Conductor Leonard Weiss, MSO Chorus Director Warren Trevelyan-Jones, Composer in Residence Liza Lim am, Artist in Residence James Ehnes, First Nations Creative Chair Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao, Cybec Young Composer in Residence Klearhos Murphy, Cybec First Nations Composer in Residence James Henry, Artist in Residence, Learning & Engagement Karen Kyriakou, Young Artist in Association Christian Li, and Artistic Ambassadors Tan Dun, Lu Siqing and Xian Zhang.
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the people of the Eastern Kulin Nations, on whose un‑ceded lands we honour the continuation of the oldest music practice in the world.
Creating connections one note at
a time
As the Program Partner of MSO Jams in Schools, we are building a more connected community and the next generation of music lovers.
MSO Musicians in this concert
First Violins
Tair Khisambeev
Acting Associate
Concertmaster
Deborah Goodall
Karla Hanna
Dawna Wright and Peter Riedel*
Kathryn Taylor
Adrian Biemmi
Lynette Rayner
Marie-Louise Slaytor
Second Violins
Matthew Tomkins
Principal
The Gross Foundation*
Jos Jonker
Associate Principal
Mary Allison
Roger Young
Shane Buggle and Rosie Callanan*
Sola Hughes
Lynda Latu
Violas
Christopher Moore Principal
Anthony Chataway
Peter T Kempen AM*
William Clark
Morris and Helen Margolis*
Jenny Khafagi
Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson*
Cellos
David Berlin Principal
Elina Faskhi
Assistant Principal
Rohan de Korte
Andrew Dudgeon AM*
Double Bass
Rohan Dasika
Acting Asssociate Principal
Oboes
Johannes Grosso Principal
Ann Blackburn
Margaret Billson and the late Ted Billson*
Bassoon
Tasman Compton
Guest Principal
Trumpets
Shane Hooton
Associate Principal
Glenn Sedgwick*
Callum G’Froerer
Timpani
John Arcaro
Tim and Lyn Edward*
Organ
David Macfarlane
Harpsichord
Laurence Matheson
Learn more about our musicians on the MSO website. * Position supported by
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Sofi Jeannin conductor
Swedish-born conductor Sofi Jeannin has established herself as one of the most respected choral specialists today. She is Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers (since 2018), Chief Conductor of Ars Nova Copenhagen (since 2024) and Music Director of the Maîtrise de Radio France (since 2008), and was Music Director of the Chœur de Radio France from 2015 to 2018. She is also in high demand as a guest conductor. In addition to the MSO, in the 2025–26 season she conducts Brahms’s Requiem with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Mozart’s Great C minor Mass with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir, Bach’s St John Passion with Sinfonia Lahti, James MacMillan’s Ordo Virtutum with the NFM Wroclaw Choir and Poulenc’s Gloria and Coleridge-Taylor’s Meg Blane for the Royal College of Music.
Earlier this year, she opened the Edinburgh International Festival with the epic eighthour long Veil of the Temple by John Tavener, conducting the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, National Youth Choir of Scotland, NCOS Chamber Choir, Monteverdi Choir and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She returns to the festival in 2026 with an American choral program. Other recent highlights include appearances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Hallé orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Choral collaborations include the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Swedish Radio Choir, Nederlands Kamerkoor, DR VokalEnsemblet, Coro Casa da Musica, Chamber Choir Ireland and São Paulo Symphony Choir.
Sofi Jeannin studied conducting and singing at the Stockholm Royal College of Music, Nice Conservatoire and Royal College of Music, London, where she studied with Paul Spicer. She has prepared the choruses for conductors including Bernard Haitink, Peter Schreier and David Willcocks.
PHOTO: JEPPE BJØRN
Samantha Clarke soprano
Australian-British soprano Samantha Clarke is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a Tait Memorial Trust Scholar.
This year, she returned to Opera Australia to sing Eurydice/Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and reprise the role of Violetta in La traviata. Her concert engagements have included Haydn’s Creation (Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and the Woodbird in Siegfried (Sydney Symphony Orchestra), as well as the recent MSO performances of Mozart’s Mass in C minor. In 2026 she will be Artist in Residence at West Australian Opera, making role debuts as Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) and Tatiana (Eugene Onegin).
Other recent highlights have included Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and the title role in Theodora (Pinchgut Opera), the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (Garsington Opera), Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (Opera Queensland, Grange Festival and in Japan for the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy), Musetta in La bohème (Opera North), the title role in the award-winning pasticcio Georgiana (Buxton Festival), Marzelline in Fidelio (Sydney Symphony Orchestra) and the title role in The Golden Cockerel (Adelaide Festival). Previous MSO appearances have included Britten’s War Requiem in 2023.
Ashlyn Tymms
mezzo-soprano
Ashlyn Tymms most recently sang Ježibaba (Rusalka) and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) for West Australian Opera and Fanny Price (Mansfield Park) for New Zealand Opera. She also sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the West Australian and Queensland symphony orchestras, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem (WASO), and Bach’s St John Passion (MSO). This year she made her mainstage debut with Opera Australia, singing Ježibaba and Dorothée (Cinderella).
For WA Opera, she has also sung Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Flora (La traviata), Emilia (Otello) and in the title role in Carmen. Other roles include Rosimonda in Handel’s Faramondo for the London Handel Festival, Judith in the premiere of The Two Sisters for Tête à Tête Opera, the newspaper vendor in Poulenc’s Mamelles de Tirésias, Berenice in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro, Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.
She has performed Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music at Buckingham Palace (hosted by the Prince of Wales), toured South Korea in recital with the London Cello Orchestra and sung Verdi’s Requiem at the Sydney Town Hall.
PHOTO: BENJAMIN EALOVEGA
PHOTO: DAVID FOWLER
Andrew Goodwin tenor Morgan Pearse baritone
Andrew Goodwin’s opera appearances include the Bolshoi Opera, Gran Theatre Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, La Scala Milan, Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera and Sydney Chamber Opera. He has performed with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow and Melbourne chamber orchestras and all the Australian symphony orchestras, and has given recitals at Wigmore Hall and for the Oxford International Song Festival.
Performance highlights of 2025 included Paul Stanhope’s Mahāsāgar and Alfred in Die Fledermaus (WASO), Haydn’s Creation (Victoria Chorale), Bach’s Mass in B minor (Sydney Chamber Choir), Mendelssohn’s 1841 version of Bach’s Matthew Passion (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs), Messiah (Brisbane Chamber Choir) and recitals in Canberra, Brisbane and at the Four Winds Festival. Other recent engagements have includde Saariaho’s Innocence and Stravinsky’s Nightingale (Adelaide Festival), Mozart’s Requiem (TSO) and Mass in C minor (QSO), the Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion (Melbourne Bach Choir), The Creation (Australian Haydn Ensemble), Elijah (SPC) and Richard Mills’ Nativity (ASO).
He studied voice at the St Petersburg Conservatory and in the UK, and has won many awards and scholarships, also receiving support from ARS Musica Australis and the Australian Music Foundation.
A versatile and fearless baritone, Morgan Pearse is recognised for his vibrant stage presence and musicality. He has sung title roles in The Marriage of Figaro (Badisches Staatstheater, Opernhaus Zürich), The Barber of Seville (English National Opera), Don Giovanni (Verbier Festival), and Billy Budd (Bolshoi). He has also sung Scarpia (Tosca) and Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) at Opera Holland Park; Valens (Theodora) and Araspe (Tolomeo) at the Karlsruhe Händelfestpiele, Papageno (The Magic Flute) at the Badisches Staatstheater; Belcore (L’elisir d’amore) for NZ Opera; and Enrico, Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette) and Escamillo (Carmen) for State Opera South Australia, where he will return in 2026 to sing Peter (Hansel and Gretel).
His concert engagements have included Bach’s St John Passion (The English Concert), Handel’s Solomon (Opéra Royal de Versailles, Temple Music Foundation), Messiah (London Handel Festival, Britten Sinfonia, TSO, WASO and ASO), and Handel’s Brockes Passion (London Handel Festival). He has also performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music and King’s College Choir Cambridge, among others.
His recordings include Handel: Brockes Passion and the Gramophone Awardwinning Dussek: Messe Solennelle, both with the Academy of Ancient Music.
PHOTO: OLEG SINGAREEV
MSO Chorus
Celebrating 60 years of creating inspiring musical moments, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus gives voice to the Orchestra’s choral repertoire. The MSO Chorus has performed with the finest conductors including Jaime Martín, Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Bernard Labadie, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Xian Zhang, Nodoko Okisawa and Simon Halsey.
Committed to developing and performing new Australian and international choral repertoire, the MSO Chorus has commissioned works such as Brett Dean’s Katz und Spatz, Ross Edwards’ Mountain Chant, and Paul Stanhope’s Exile Lamentations, and its recordings have received critical acclaim. The Chorus has performed across Brazil and at the Cultura Inglese Festival in São Paolo, with the Australian Ballet and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, at the AFL Grand Final and at Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies.
Warren Trevelyan-Jones is regarded as one of the leading choral conductors and choir trainers in Australia. Chorus Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2017, last year he was also appointed Chorus Master of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. From 2008 to 2024 he was Head of Music at St James’, King Street in Sydney, and under his leadership, the Choir of St James’ gained an international reputation through its regular choral services, orchestral masses, concert series, recordings, and interstate and international touring, as well as the commissioning of new works.
Before relocating to Australia in 2008, he enjoyed an extensive career as a vocal soloist and ensemble singer in
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director
Europe, including nine years in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and regular work with the Gabrieli Consort, Collegium Vocale (Ghent), the Kings Consort, Dunedin Consort, the Sixteen, the Tallis Scholars and the Taverner Choir, Consort and Players. He has appeared on more 60 recordings and numerous TV and radio broadcasts, and in many of the worlds’ leading music festivals and concert halls.
Warren is a co-founder of the Consort of Melbourne and, in 2001 with Dr Michael Noone, he founded the Gramophone Award-winning group Ensemble Plus Ultra. He is also an experienced singing teacher and qualified music therapist.
PHOTO:
Choristers performing in this concert
Sopranos
Philippa Allen
Sheila Baker
Veryan Croggon
Michele de Courcy
Samantha Davies
Laura Fahey
Rita Fitzgerald
Catherine Folley
Susan Fone
Carolyn Francis
Nicole Free
Penny Huggett
Gina Humphries
Tania Jacobs
Judy Longbottom
Gwen Kennelly
Susie Novella
Elise Parsonage
Tanja Redl
Jo Robin
Jodi Samartgis
Kathryn Scully
Ellie Sykes
Tracey Thorpe
Ariane Vrisakis
Agnes Widjaja
Altos
Catherine Bickell
Cecilia Bjorkegren
Kate Bramley
Jane Brodie
Alexandra Chubaty
Andrea CliffordJones
Marie Connett
Dionysia Evaputri
Lisa Faulks
Claudia Funder
Jill Giese
Jillian Graham
Ros Harbison
Jennifer Henry
Helen Hill
Helen MacLean
Penelope Monger
Natasha Pracejus
Alison Ralph
Kate Rice
Annie Runnalls
Fiona Steffensen
Melvin Tan
Tenors
James Allen
Kent Borchard
Steve Burnett
Allan Chiang
Keaton Cloherty
Ewan
Lilijana Matičevska
Michael Mobach
Cleve Schupp
Robert Simpson
Stewart Webb
Elliott Westbury
Basses
Richard Allison
Kevin Barrell
Roger Dargaville
Ted Davies
Peter Deane
Andrew Ham
Andrew Hibbard
John Hunt
Tim March
Philip McCosker
Douglas McQueenThomson
Douglas Proctor
Stephen Pyk
Nick Sharman
Matthew Toulmin
Caleb Triscari
PHOTO: LAURA MANARITI
Program Note
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
Messiah – An Oratorio
Part I. Prophecy of Christ’s appearance on earth. The nativity.
Part II. The death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. The spreading of the Gospel.
Part III. Victory over Death.
In the town of Chester one November morning in 1741, 15-year-old Charles Burney, later England’s great music historian, observed a portly gentleman with a pronounced German accent smoking a pipe at the Exchange
Coffeehouse. It was his first sighting of George Frideric Handel, at 56 the embattled erstwhile dean of London’s cut-throat opera world, and recently purveyor of a new and peculiarly English type of oratorio.
Burney watched Handel ‘narrowly’ throughout his stay in Chester, while he waited until better weather allowed him to embark for Dublin. Even thus stranded, Handel was probably happy to be away from London. Opera, his chief activity for 30 years, had brought him a share of commercial unhappiness recently, as a fickle public effectively edged his previously successful company out of the market.
PORTRAIT OF HANDEL (1747)
BY THOMAS HUDSON
By going to Dublin, Handel was denying London the premiere of not one new oratorio, Samson, but two. And in the case of the latter, the English capital would have to live down ever after the indignity of knowing that Dublin, instead, had been vouchsafed the first performance of Handel’s magnum opus, Messiah.
Handel had first turned his hand to oratorio in Rome. La resurrezione (1708) was a typically Roman product, the sort of sacred music drama originally designed to fill the gaps caused in public entertainment by the church’s ban on opera on certain days of the ecclesiastical calendar. Thus, on Easter Day 1708, Resurrezione’s brilliantly costumed cast, including Mary Magdalene, the disciple John, and Lucifer, enacted human and heavenly responses to Christ’s rising-from-the-dead, in declamatory recitatives broken up by arias often overlaid with brilliant instrumental obbligato solos. Following this musical schema, but now adapted to English taste – and the English tongue – Handel’s sacred oratorios had recently reached a peak of perfection in Israel in Egypt (1738), a retelling of the Exodus story that further expanded the form with vivid fugal and anthemic choruses.
With this achievement behind him, Handel arrived in Dublin on 18 November 1741. He discovered no shortage of talented local musicians – a local tenor ‘which gives great satisfaction’, and competent bass and countertenor soloists; ‘the Chorus Singers (by my Direction) do exceeding well’.
Most of these singers belonged to Dublin’s two cathedrals, St Patrick’s and Christ Church, to the disapproval initially of St Patrick’s Dean, the redoubtable Jonathan Swift. Sixteen years on from Gulliver’s Travels, the erratic septuagenarian inveighed against his choir-men for frequenting Handel’s ‘club of fiddlers’ in Fishamble Street. But even Swift eventually conceded that Handel was ‘A German, and a Genius!’
Possibly an attraction for the choir-men, and cause of Swift’s earlier disquiet, was Handel’s exotic entourage, centred on his soprano, Signora Avoglio, prima donna at the Messiah premiere. By coincidence, the popular actor Susanna Cibber was also in town, fleeing London and the scandal of her failed marriage. A public rehearsal on 9 April heightened general anticipation of the official premiere on the 13th. Apparently, one Dubliner was so moved by Mrs Cibber’s performance of ‘He was despised’ that he rose from his seat and declared: ‘Woman, for this, be all thy sins forgiven!’
Handel was, as it transpired, wise to introduce Messiah first in Dublin. Later in London in 1743, it was ‘indifferently relish’d’, drawing criticism from zealots who objected to biblical texts being given over to ‘base actors’. Even the librettist Charles Jennens (1700–1773) quibbled that, though Handel had ‘made a Fine Entertainment of it’, it was ‘not near so good as he might & ought to have done’. Further public animosity arose from the work being based on Christ, rather than Old-Testament personalities like Esther and Saul.
In this, Jennens may well have drawn inspiration from Handel’s earlier Lutheran Brockes Passion, or La resurrezione. His Messiah libretto, however, was far more sweeping – a scriptural survey of the entire Christian salvation history, from prophecies of Christ’s birth wishfully extracted from Jewish scriptures in Part I (hence its continuing popularity at Christmas time), through reflections on Christ’s passion and resurrection in Part II, to the last judgement and second coming in the final part.
Heading the printed word book, Jennens quoted a motto from Virgil, ‘MAJORA CANAMUS’ (loosely: ‘We sing of greater things’).
Nevertheless, Messiah also confused Londoners in that its focus on ‘greater things’, and the complete absence of plot or recognisable named characters seemed
The Handel monument (1762) above his gravestone in the south transept of Westminster Abbey
deliberately un-dramatic. For once, the story inhered only in the successive sentiments, from grave to jubilant, expressed in the words of each number, so perfectly mirrored in its music.
Londoners remained wary of Messiah until the early 1750s, and the establishment of annual Foundling Hospital performances, to benefit the society for Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted young Children. According to the music historian John Hawkins, it was only then that ‘a change of sentiment in the public began to manifest itself; the Messiah was received with universal applause’.
Handel had completed the full score in three weeks in August–September 1741, assisted by several notable instances of self-borrowing from the scores of blatantly erotic Italian cantatas he’d composed 30 years earlier. Yet even at the premiere, ‘Divine inspiration’ was invoked, a Mr Whyte in the Dublin Journal suspecting none but the great messiah himself could ‘raise [Handel’s] soul to so sublime a Theme’.
If so, Handel was not beyond seeking earthly second opinions, and responded to the vicissitudes of performing the work by making countless alterations over the years. Even in Dublin, he recast ‘How Beautiful are the Feet’ as a duet and chorus to give his seven (not four) soloists more to do. [We perform the original solo soprano version.]
Handel’s own flexibility not only confirms Jennens’s description of Messiah as a ‘collection’, but renders ridiculous any search for a definitive version. Yet modern performances can still provide historically accurate insights into stages in the work’s evolution, whether based on the original 1741 score, the 1742 Dublin premiere, 1743 London premiere, or 1754 Foundling Hospital performance.
The Dublin premiere featured an orchestra of strings, with trumpets and drums (added only as Messiah approaches its celestial conclusion), plus the chorus and soloists, numbering barely 50 musicians. Back in London, Handel expanded his forces, first adding oboes and bassoon, later even horns, and swelling strings and chorus considerably. By the end of his life, performances with several hundred participants were becoming the norm. Today’s performance, with just over 30 instrumentalists and a choir of 80 singers, returns to something like the earliest London performances, but with none of the indifference.
Abridged from a note by Graeme Skinner © 2008
The libretto by Charles Jennens is available on a separate free handout.
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Timothy Walker CBE AM
Bob Weis
Anonymous (5)
Player Patrons ($1,000+)
Dr Sally Adams
Don Adamson
Jessica Agoston Cleary ∞
Don Adamson
Helena Anderson
Applebay Pty Ltd
Margaret Astbury
Geoffrey and Vivienne Baker
Mr Robin Batterham
Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk
Rick Berry
William Birch
Richard Bolitho
Boncal Family Foundation
Michael Bowles and Alma Gill
Joyce Bown
Drs John D L Brookes and Lucy V Hanlon
Suzie Brown OAM and the late Harvey Brown
Roger and Coll Buckle
Jill and Christopher Buckley
Ronald Burnstein
Daniel Bushaway and Tess Hamilton
Alexandra Champion de Crespigny ∞
John Chapman and Elisabeth Murphy
Kaye Cleary
Warren and Margaret Collins
Sue Dahn
Mrs Nola Daley
Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das
Michael Davies and Drina Staples
Rick and Sue Deering
John and Anne Duncan
Jane Edmanson OAM
Christopher R Fraser
Chris Freelance
Miles George
David I Gibbs AM and Susie O’Neill
Sonia Gilderdale
Dr Celia Godfrey
Dr Marged Goode
Fred and Alexandra Grimwade Q
Hilary Hall, in memory of Wilma Collie
David Hardy
Cathy Henry
Gwenda Henry
Anthony and Karen Ho
In Memory of Rosemary Hodgson
Anna Holdsworth
Rod Home
Lorraine Hook
Doug Hooley
Katherine Horwood
Penelope Hughes
Shyama Jayaswal
Basil and Rita Jenkins
Jane Jenkins
Wendy Johnson
Dr Gint Kalpokas and Dr Michael Upson
Angela Kayser
Drs Bruce and Natalie Kellett
Dr Anne Kennedy
Akira Kikkawa ∞
Dr Richard Knafelc and Mr Grevis Beard
Tim Knaggs
Dr Jerry Koliha and Marlene Krelle
Jane Kunstler
Ann Lahore
Wilson Lai and Anita Wong Q
Kerry Landman
Janet and Ross Lapworth
Rex Lau
Bryan Lawrence
Halina Lewenberg Charitable Foundation
Phil Lewis
Elizabeth H Loftus
David Loggia
Chris and Anna Long
Elena Lovu
Wayne McDonald and Kay Schroer
Andrea McCall
Lesley McMullin Foundation
Dr Eric Meadows
Ian Merrylees
Sylvia Miller
Ian Morrey and Geoffrey Minter
Susan Morgan ∞
Dr Anthony and Dr Anna Morton
Dr Judith S Nimmo
Rosemary O’Connor
George Pappas AO, in memory of Jillian Pappas
Bruce Parncutt AO
Ian Penboss
Peter Priest
Professor Charles Qin OAM and Kate Ritchie
Eli and Lorraine Raskin
Michael Riordan and Geoffrey Bush
Cathy Rogers OAM and Dr Peter Rogers AM
Guy Ross ☼
Marie Rowland
Liliane Rusek and Alexander Ushakoff
Viorica Samson
Martin and Susan Shirley
P Shore
Kieran Sladen
Janet and Alex Starr
Dr Peter Strickland
Bernard Sweeney
Russell Taylor and Tara Obeyesekere
Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher
Margaret Toomey
Andrew and Penny Torok
Chris and Helen Trueman
Ann and Larry Turner
Dr Elsa Underhill and Professor Malcolm Rimmer
Nicholas and Faith Vann
Jayde Walker ∞
Edward and Paddy White
Willcock Family
Dr Kelly and Dr Heathcote Wright
Demetrio Zema ∞
Anonymous (19)
Overture Patrons ($500+)
Margaret Abbey PSM
Vera Afanasyeva
Jane Allan and Mark Redmond
Jenny Anderson
Doris Au
Lyn Bailey
Robbie Barker
Anne M Bowden
Caroline Bowler
Stephen and Caroline Brain
Robert Bridgart
Miranda Brockman
Dr Robert Brook
Christine Brown
Elizabeth Brown
Phillip Brown
Patricia Buchanan
Marc Buchholz and Stephan Duchesne
Ian Carson AM
Jungpin Chen
Dr Catherine Cherry
Dr Hyein Ellen Cho
Alan and Wendy Chuck
Robert and Katherine Coco
Dr John Collins
Gregory Crew
Sue Cummings
Dr Catherine Duncan
Dr Matthew Dunn
Vivien and Jack Fajgenbaum
Brian Florence
Nadine Fogale
Elizabeth Foster
M C Friday
Simon Gaites
Nikki Gaskell
Lili Gearon
Dr Julia Gellatly
David and Geraldine Glenny
Hugo and Diane Goetze
The late George Hampel AM KC and Felicity Hampel AM SC
Dr Neville Hathaway
Geoff Hayes
Alison Heard
Noela Henderson
Dr Jennifer Henry
C M Herd Endowment
Carole and Kenneth Hinchliff
William Holder
Peter and Jenny Hordern
Gillian Horwood
Oliver Hutton and Weiyang Li
Rob Jackson
Ian Jamieson
Karen Johnson
Linda Jones
Leonora Kearney
Jennifer Kearney
John Keys
Lesley King
Dr Judith Kinnear
Katherine Kirby
Heather Law
Peter Letts
Sarah and Andrew Lindsay
Dr Helen MacLean
Sandra Masel in memory of Leigh Masel
Janice Mayfield
Dr James McComish
Gail McKay
Jennifer McKean
Shirley A McKenzie
Richard McNeill
Alison Milne
Marie Misiurak
Professor Heather Mitchell
Joan Mullumby
Yoko Murakoshi
Rebecca-Kate Nayton
Adrian and Louise Nelson
Marian Neumann
Ed Newbigin
Valerie Newman
Amanda O’Brien
Brendan O’Donnell
Phil Parker
Sarah Patterson
The Hon Chris Pearce and Andrea Pearce
Jason Peart
William Ramirez
Geoffrey Ravenscroft
Ian Reddoch
Dr Christopher Rees
Fred and Patricia Russell
Carolyn Sanders
Julia Schlapp
Irene Sutton
Tom Sykes
Allison Taylor
Hugh and Elizabeth Taylor
Lily Tell
Serey Thir
Geoffrey Thomlinson
Mely Tjandra
Noel and Jenny Turnbull
Rosemary Warnock
Amanda Wasilewski
Amanda Watson
Michael Whishaw
Deborah and Dr Kevin Whithear OAM
Adrian Wigney
David Willersdorf AM and Linda Willersdorf
Charles and Jill Wright
Richard Ye
Anonymous (13)
MSO Guardians
Jenny Anderson
David Angelovich
Lesley Bawden
Peter Berry and Amanda Quirk
Tarna Bibron
Joyce Bown
Patricia A Breslin
B J Brown
Jannie Brown
Jenny Brukner and the late John Brukner
Sarah Bullen
Georgie and Phil Burg
Peter A Caldwell
Peter Cameron and Craig Moffatt
Luci and Ron Chambers
Roger Chao
Sandra Dent
James Dipnall
Sophie E Dougall in memory of Libby Harold
Alan Egan JP
Gunta Eglite
Marguerite Garnon-Williams
Dr Clem Gruen and Dr Rhyl Wade
Louis J Hamon OAM
Charles Hardman and Julianne Bambacas
Carol Hay
Dr Jennifer Henry
Graham Hogarth
Rod Home
David Horowicz
Lyndon Horsburgh
Katherine Horwood
Tony Howe
Lindsay Wynne Jacombs
Michael Christopher Scott Jacombs
John Jones
Merv Keehn and Sue Harlow
Pauline and David Lawton
Robyn and Maurice Lichter
Christopher Menz and Peter Rose
Dr Helen MacLean
Cameron Mowat
Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James
David Orr
Matthew O’Sullivan
Rosia Pasteur
Kerryn Pratchett
Penny Rawlins
Margaret Riches
Anne Roussac-Hoyne and Neil Roussac
Michael Ryan and Wendy Mead
Anne Kieni Serpell and Andrew Serpell
Jennifer Shepherd
Suzette Sherazee
Professors Gabriela and George Stephenson
Pamela Swansson
Frank Tisher OAM and Dr Miriam Tisher
Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock
Christina Helen Turner
Michael Ullmer AO
The Hon Rosemary Varty
Francis Vergona
Mr Steve Vertigan and Ms Yolande van Oosten
Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman
Robert Weiss and Jacqueline Orian
Terry Wills Cooke OAM and the late Marian Wills Cooke
Mark Young Anonymous (18)
The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Estates
Norma Ruth Atwell
Angela Beagley
Barbara Bobbe
Michael Francois Boyt
Christine Mary Bridgart
Margaret Anne Brien
Ken Bullen
Deidre and Malcolm Carkeek
Elizabeth Ann Cousins
The Cuming Bequest
Margaret Davies
Blair Doig Dixon
Neilma Gantner
Angela Felicity Glover
The Hon Dr Alan Goldberg AO QC
Derek John Grantham
Delina Victoria Schembri-Hardy
Enid Florence Hookey
Gwen Hunt
Family and Friends of James Jacoby
Audrey Jenkins
Joan Jones
Pauline Marie Johnston
George and Grace Kass
Christine Mary Kellam
C P Kemp
Jennifer Selina Laurent
Sylvia Rose Lavelle
Dr Elizabeth Ann Lewis AM
Peter Forbes MacLaren
Joan Winsome Maslen
Lorraine Maxine Meldrum
Professor Andrew McCredie
Jean Moore
Joan P Robinson
Maxwell and Jill Schultz
Miss Sheila Scotter AM MBE
Marion A I H M Spence
Molly Stephens
Gwennyth St John
Halinka Tarczynska-Fiddian
Jennifer May Teague
Elisabeth Turner
Albert Henry Ullin
Cecilia Edith Umber
Jean Tweedie
Herta and Fred B Vogel
Diana Whitehead
Dorothy Wood
Joyce Winsome Woodroffe
The MSO honours the memory of Life Members
The late Marc Besen AC and the late Eva Besen AO
John Brockman OAM
The Hon Alan Goldberg AO QC
Harold Mitchell AC
Roger Riordan AM
Ila Vanrenen
Listing current as of 28 November 2025
The MSO relies on the generosity of our community to help us enrich lives through music, foster artistic excellence, and reach new audiences. Thank you for your support.
♡ Chair Sponsors – supporting the beating heart of the MSO.
Q 2025 Europe Tour Circle patrons –elevating the MSO on the world stage.
☼ First Nations Circle patrons –supporting First Nations artist development and performance initiatives.
♫ Commissioning Circle patrons –contributing to the evolution of our beloved art form.
∞ Future MSO patrons – the next generation of giving.
The MSO welcomes support at any level. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.
MSO Board
Chair
Edgar Myer
Co-Deputy Chairs
Martin Foley
Farrel Meltzer
Board Directors
Shane Buggle
Tony Grybowski
Lorraine Hook
Chris Howlett
Joel McGuinness
Gary McPherson
Lisa Mitchell
Meredith Schilling SC
Mary Waldron
Company Secretary
Randal Williams
MSO Family
MSO Artistic Family
Jaime Martín
Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor
Benjamin Northey
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor – Learning & Engagement
Leonard Weiss CF Cybec Assistant Conductor
Sir Andrew Davis CBE † Conductor Laureate (2013–2024)
Hiroyuki Iwaki † Conductor Laureate (1974–2006)
Warren Trevelyan-Jones MSO Chorus Director
James Ehnes
Artist in Residence
Karen Kyriakou
Artist in Residence –Learning & Engagement
Christian Li Young Artist in Association
Liza Lim AM Composer in Residence
Klearhos Murphy
Cybec Young Composer in Residence
James Henry
Cybec First Nations Composer in Residence
Prof. Deborah Cheetham
Fraillon AO
First Nations Creative Chair
Xian Zhang, Lu Siqing, Tan Dun Artistic Ambassadors
MSO Staff
Richard Wigley
Chief Executive Officer
ARTISTIC OPERATIONS
Simonette Turner Director of Orchestra & Operations
Meg Bowker Orchestra Manager
Ffion Edwards
Orchestra Manager
Callum Moncrieff Head of Operations
Renn Picard
Production Coordinator
Andrew Robinson
Production Coordinator
Nicholas Cooper Operations Coordinator
Katharine
Bartholomeusz-Plows
Head of Artistic Planning
Keturah Haisman
Artistic & Engagement Manager
Veronika Reeves
Artistic Administrator
Julia Potter
Artistic Coordinator
Jennifer Collins
Principal Librarian
Glynn Davies
Orchestra Librarian
Meg Baker
Chorus Administrator
Nicholas Bochner
Head of Learning & Engagement
Erica Dawkins
Learning & Engagement Lead
Fergus Inder Jams Program Coordinator
Erika Noguchi
Executive Producer, MSO Presents
Kate Weston
Associate Producer, MSO Presents
Monica Curro
MSO+ Creative Director
DEVELOPMENT & REACH
Suzanne Dembo Chief Operating Officer
Amy Jackett Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer
Caroline Buckley Head of Strategic Priorities
Christina Chiam Head of Development
Charlotte Crocker
Philanthropy Programs Lead
Isobel Lake
Grants & Reporting Lead
Keith Clancy Donor Liaison
Nellie McLean Head of Partnerships
Nina Dubecki
Events & Partnerships Lead
Jayde Walker
Director of Brand & Communications
Phil Paschke
Senior Manager, Content & Digital
Samantha Meuleman Digital Content Lead
Prue Bassett Publicity Manager
Beckie Peel
Social Media Coordinator
Dylan Stewart Director of Marketing & Sales
Shannon Toyne Head of Marketing & Sales
Sally Hern
Senior Manager, Campaign Marketing
Claudia Biaggini Senior Marketing Coordinator
Leah Toyne
Marketing Administrator
Alison Kearney Customer Experience Manager
Nicole Rees
CRM & insights Manager
Sam Harvey
CRM & Data Specialist
Marta Arquero
Ticketing & Customer Experience Coordinator
Box Office Attendants
Angela, Ashley, Bec, Ben, Bradd, Christine, Emil, Grace, Jessica, Josh, Kara, Kez, Leah, Lucy, Maeve, Sasha, Stephanie
FINANCE AND PEOPLE & CULTURE
Alistair Mytton Chief Financial Officer
Sonia Yakub Senior Management Accountant
Laura Estupiñan Accountant
Lilian Karidza Assistant Accountant
Matthew Bagi Project Officer
Holly Wighton People & Culture Lead
Aileen Eyou
People & Culture Administration Officer
Sidney Myer MSO Trust Fund
Estate of the late Blanch Brooke Hutchings
Perpetual Foundation –Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment
