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Orchestras Orchestras



By Richard Letts (Music Council of Australia).
Last updated: 8 April 2006

Professional orchestras

Full-time orchestras

In each of the six major state capital cities there is a full-time concert orchestra, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the 1990s, these orchestras were given their operational independence from the ABC; each one gained its own Board of Directors, and the ABC while retaining legal ownership, would no longer take responsibility for an orchestra’s debts. The final phase of divestment from the ABC is taking place in 2005-06, following which the orchestras will be totally independent and locally owned and controlled (changes described under funding issues). The former ABC orchestras are listed below, showing:

  • name and acronym,
  • core establishment of full-time players (from player lists on each orchestra’s website which may underestimate their nominal core due to current vacancies and the like), and
  • principal venue or venues (most orchestras also conduct extensive provincial programs).

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO), 67, Adelaide Festival Centre

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), 87, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne

The Queensland Orchestra (TQO), 79, main venues in Brisbane: Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) Concert Hall, Conservatorium Theatre, and City Hall Auditorium

Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), 89, Sydney Opera House

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO), 45, Federation Concert Hall, Hobart; Princess Theatre, Launceston

West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO), 80, Perth Concert Hall.

There are two full-time pit orchestras, created to support the performances of the national opera and ballet companies, Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet. They are the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (AOBO), 65, based at the Sydney Opera House, and Orchestra Victoria (OV) Melbourne, 69, Victorian Arts Centre. The AOBO is owned and operated by Opera Australia. It is almost totally occupied in Sydney, playing for the opera and ballet companies. OV is independently owned and operated. The performances of the national opera and ballet companies in Melbourne are insufficient to fully occupy this orchestra and so it has developed a concert program, importantly including tours to regional centres in Victoria.

The symphony and pit orchestras listed above have been increasingly under review since the mid-1980s, culminating in A New Era – Orchestras Review Report 2005 chaired by prominent Australian businessman James Strong. For further reference to this report see funding issues.

The only other full-time professional orchestra is the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), whose 13 core members are based in Sydney’s City Recital Hall. This orchestra was established in 1975 by its musician members rather than by a government authority. In its early years it had very little subsidy and so depended very much on box office. It could not depend on securing sufficient box office for full-time operation in its home city and so developed a robust touring program which soon included regular overseas touring. This has continued and is part of its identity. It has a national subscription series, and extensive regular tours overseas. In May 1999 The Times noted in a review of ACO’s London performances: “This must be the best chamber orchestra on earth”. Two years later, in October 2001, the same newspaper wrote: “The Australian Chamber Orchestra is a ticket to musical bliss.”

Part time professional orchestras

These orchestras tend to depend upon the initiative of their founders, who are also their principal conductors. Where this is the case, that person is named.

  • Academy of Melbourne is a small chamber orchestra formed in 1989 by its artistic director Brett Kelly, former principal trombone at MSO.
  • Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO), with 37 players, is based at the City Recital Hall, Sydney. Baroque orchestra with full-time management. Subscription season in Sydney. Led by Paul Dyer.
  • Orchestra of the Antipodes, Sydney, is an occasional baroque orchestra which accompanies the annual performance season of Pinchgut Opera, a professional company. Also appears on recordings issued by the ABC Classics label. Led by Antony Walker.
  • Adelaide Art Orchestra (AdAO) was founded by artistic director Timothy Sexton and concertmaster Carolyn Lam in late 2001. Its members are drawn from the ranks of South Australia’s top professional freelance musicians.

“Pro-am” orchestras

Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) performs its concert series in Llewellyn Hall, Australian National University. It performed its first concert in 1950 and became a corporation in 1957. It utilises faculty members of the School of Music at the Australian National University at its professional core; they are joined from time to time by well-known Canberra music teachers and a small number of talented amateur players. CSO has an annual subscription series (in 2006 four concerts between March and November). It also stages an Annual Prom at Government House, Yarralumla, in February.

The Darwin Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is based in the remote capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin. It draws its membership from the professional, semi-professional, student and amateur musicians in Darwin. Since its first official concert in June 1989, it has grown to 75 players, with a professional lead violinist and a woodwind tutor. It stages eight concerts on an annual basis and tours to remote locations including Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt, as well as Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine.

Some other orchestras have a core of professional players, but those listed above are regarded as the two leading “pro-am” orchestras and were included in the terms of reference for the 2005 Strong orchestral review.

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Youth orchestras

Youth orchestras are community-based rather than school-based. In Australian youth orchestras, youth ends around age 25.

There is a national youth orchestra, the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO), whose members are selected through national auditions. This orchestra is associated with the National Music Camp held each Australian summer. It meets, rehearses and performs at that time, and may meet for a week or two at other times during the year. It frequently tours internationally, sometimes to prestigious events such as the London Proms.

The National Music Camp has taken place every January since 1948. In 2006 it brought together about 200 young musicians, composers, aspiring music administrators and writers at the Australian National University, under the musical leadership of harpist Marshall McGuire. During the fortnight-long camp the AYO performed seven free concerts in a number of Canberra locations.

Each of the major capital cities has a youth orchestra association that manages one or more orchestras. These orchestras meet year-round. The best orchestras in each of these associations are of very high standard. Apart from the AYO they are:

The SBS Youth Orchestra (SBSYO) was founded in 1988 and is one of only two youth orchestras in the world sponsored by a broadcasting company. True to its background, the orchestra reflects the principles of multiculturalism in the diverse origins of its players, the composers it plays and the range of countries it has visited since starting to tour overseas in 1993. It continues to play frequent concerts both on the SBS premises and in a wide range of concert halls including the NSW Conservatorium of Music, the Sydney Town Hall, the University of NSW’s John Clancy Auditorium, the Sydney Opera House and suburban venues such as Hunters Hill Town Hall and Parramatta Riverside Theatre.

There are other community-based youth orchestras as shown by the table based on Orchestras Australia’s website, with membership details on the website itself. Some are based in music schools such as the (pre-tertiary) regional music conservatoria in NSW.

Youth Orchestras Australia is an association of the major state-based youth orchestras listed above, with its office based in the Australian Youth Orchestra in Sydney.

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School orchestras

There has been a diversification of school music education. Previously, the standard music curriculum was based around classical music and school music performance programs were for classical ensembles playing classical repertoire. More recently, the curriculum in many schools has shifted towards music that the students already like. Classical music tends to be found more in those schools where students come from middle and upper class families for whom classical music is familiar.

Symphony orchestras thus tend to be found in schools catering for affluent communities or sections of society. These schools may belong to any of the three major school sectors in Australia: Government, Independent or Catholic. However, Orchestras Australia, which is the source of the table below, shows that of its 25 school members in New South Wales, twenty were independent schools, three were Catholic boarding schools, and while the remaining two are government-owned they are selective schools set up to provide an educationally enriched environment for highly achieving, academically talented students. Sydney has the lion’s share of the 25 school members with only four in the rest of NSW, two Catholic schools in Bowral and Coffs Harbour, and two independents (Bathurst and Tamworth).

ttable.gif Please click on table to enlarge!

While Orchestras Australia can attest to the existence of the school orchestras included in the table, it is difficult to know how many more exist but are not members. As was discovered in the research for two major reports on school music education, data collection by the public and Catholic school systems is, as they say, variable. The private schools that probably host most of the school orchestras do not really constitute a system and so they also lack a systematised data collection. So there is no reliable alternative source to Orchestras Australia for this information. The chances are, however, that there are substantially more school orchestras than are revealed by Orchestras Australia data.

Additional information about instrumental instruction programs that lay a basis for an orchestral program can be found in the reports mentioned or with a bit of luck, from school system authorities.

The difficulty in forming orchestras in schools, as we understand it, stems from the lack of string players. This is no doubt a problem occurring in other countries also. We can speculate about the reasons for this shortage. Popular musical culture does not bring the orchestral string family to the attention of children. Unless children discover them through family, school or some other relatively rare circumstance, they are unlikely to have an ambition to play string instruments.

Even if by some means the child has the opportunity to learn a string instrument, the reward of making nice sounds in tune is a long time coming when compared with most other instruments. Someone has to pay for lessons and while these might possibly begin as group lessons, before too long, if progress is to be made, it is probably necessary to have private lessons. So there is also a financial obstacle.

Generally speaking, successful string players began instruction at a very young age. So while there is nothing to prevent a later beginning, it is a handicap to success.

Fast forward to the school teacher wishing to establish a symphony orchestra. If the cultural environment from which the students come has not produced string players, the teacher may have to be so committed to the idea that s/he establishes a beginning string program, probably at the school. This does occasionally happen especially at primary school level. Instruments have to be found and somehow paid for, instrumental teachers ditto. Some years later, the most advanced students might together make a tolerable sound but it will be quite some time before this is an orchestra that isn’t bad for the teeth. The teacher must be a person of unusual vision, patience and persistence.

Say that we have a school that is able to put together a small string orchestra of, for instance, 20 players. The chances are that the school that has this many string players will also have a dozen clarinettists, 150 flautists, one French horn player and so on. The orchestra perhaps can use two of each. So some provision is needed for all the other wind and brass players. Most schools, with or without orchestras, set up concert bands and/or jazz big bands to make opportunities for all these students.

It might be noted that a shortage of beginners on some instruments is developing. In England and Australia there are ‘Endangered Instruments’ programs. It is not the instruments themselves that are endangered so much as the supply of players. The bassoon we might expect — but the trombone?! This is a further impediment to both school and youth orchestras.

The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) was established to give very high level instruction to Australia’s most talented young players. It is interesting that the shortage of string instruments works its way right through to this Academy. A competent string player can graduate from conservatorium and with relative ease find an orchestral position. Orchestras employ large numbers of string players so there is a relatively large demand when set against the relatively limited supply. On the other hand, orchestras need very few players of other instruments and the competition for a position is fierce. Even very good young players do not walk straight from graduation into an orchestral position and are much more inclined to enrol for post-graduate work at the Academy.

Returning briefly to the situation in schools, the nature of the supply of instrumentalists can lead to quite diverse program offerings. A school that is musically rich enough to have an orchestra probably has many other aspects to its program. For instance, here are the programs, described in their own words, of some of the schools that are members of Orchestras Australia (many more are available on the Internet):

  • A jazz program complements an orchestral, choral and concert band co-curricular program, with ten ensembles and vocal groups. In 2004, more than 200 students were active in rehearsals, workshops and concerts. Stage Band 1 toured overseas to perform at a prestigious jazz festival in New York. Other groups performed at formal school ceremonies, local music festivals, a lunchtime concert program, and students participated in State music camps and Sydney schools ensembles (North Sydney Boys High School).

  • Currently the College program supports three concert bands, four stage bands, two string orchestras, a symphony orchestra, a performance choir, and a Celtic group. In addition, there are several chamber music groups including chamber choir, chamber strings, guitar ensemble, string quartet, and small wind groups. Rock bands also rehearse each week as part of the co-curricular music program (Marist College Ashgrove, Brisbane).

  • Activities include a college orchestra, choir, chamber choir, jazz ensemble, guitar ensemble, string training ensemble, baroque ensemble, and year-group rock bands. Students are encouraged to perform as individuals or ensemble members at the Music Concerts, evening HSC recitals, college and parish liturgies, eisteddfods and musicals, the Celebration Concert in Sydney, and community functions (John Paul College, Coffs Harbour, NSW).

  • A core subject from pre-school through to Year 8, music can be studied formally at VCE level or experienced informally through involvement in one of the School’s many ensembles. Boys can acquire music literacy and performance skills in a wide range of orchestral and keyboard instruments, vocal studies and theory. The School’s orchestras, concert bands, choirs and chamber ensembles offer many opportunities for students throughout the School to develop their skills and expand their cultural awareness. Music activities include senior, middle and junior group orchestras, concert bands, choirs, vocal ensembles, big bands, and ensembles (Brighton Grammar School, Brighton, Melbourne).

  • The Music Programme offers musical education in the broadest possible sense. At every level from Prep to Year 12, girls are encouraged to participate in and enjoy music. Girls have many opportunities for choral and instrumental performance through a large number of groups which rehearse on a regular basis, including orchestras, choirs, bands and ensembles. The Music Programme is very flexible and ensemble groups vary each year in response to the interests and needs of our musicians. Broader performance and expanded musical education opportunities exist in a variety of ways: community performances, soirees, annual music camp, concerts, links with other schools, and workshops (Ruyton Girls School, Kew, Melbourne).

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Amateur or community orchestras

There are many community orchestras around Australia. The best source of information for this sector, especially in New South Wales where the representation is best, is Orchestras Australia (formerly The Orchestras of Australia Network), an association for orchestras at all levels, but strongest in its work with community orchestras. The table in the school orchestras section shows full and affiliate members.

Many community orchestras have websites. A few randomly extracted examples follow.

Examples of community orchestras (as described by themselves)

• Heidelberg Orchestras Inc. is a non-profit organisation founded in 1978 to provide children, youth and adults with a forum to develop orchestral skills and performance experience. It consists of three ensembles – the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, Robertson Youth Orchestra and Junior Strings of Banyule. The principal ensemble, the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, is widely recognised as one of Melbourne’s most acclaimed non-professional orchestras enabling it to attract elite musicians who enjoy performing music ranging from the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries. Each year the orchestra presents a series of four concerts with a repertoire ranging from the most demanding symphonies featuring highly acclaimed guest artists to much loved theatre and orchestral classics.

• Queensland Wind and Brass was formed in December 1989 and arose from a need for a high standard musical group for post-secondary musicians. Since its inception, Queensland Wind and Brass has grown rapidly. In 1991, the group was the highest awarded concert band in the Queensland Festival of Music, Community Ensemble Section. In 1992 and again in 1999, Queensland Wind and Brass was the overall winner of this section where we were awarded the Most Outstanding Performance trophy. In 2001, QWAB came third in the A Grade National Band Competition and first in the A Grade Festival of Music. In 2005 we were the highest awarded Wind Ensemble in the Brisbane City Council’s “Battle of the Bands”. The group consists of both amateur and professional woodwind, brass and percussion players, aged from 17 years upwards.

• Amongst metropolitan Sydney’s community orchestras the Sutherland Shire Symphony Orchestra (SSSO) holds a special place. Formed in 1970, the Orchestra has steadily developed to become one of Sydney’s most prestigious community orchestras and a valuable cultural asset to the Sutherland Shire. Under the inspired direction of Resident Conductor Sven Libaek the Orchestra regularly gives concerts at the acoustically excellent Sutherland Entertainment Centre and elsewhere. Whilst the Orchestra’s main objective is to bring the classical symphonic repertoire to the Sutherland community, it has an important secondary function as a training orchestra with which young professional soloists can gain vital solo performance experience. The Orchestra attracts its players mainly from the Sutherland district. The SSSO is generously supported by the Sutherland Shire Council, and also greatly relies on the help of its essential Auxiliary, the Friends of SSSO

• Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra: Alberto Zelman founded the original Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1906. It was mainly amateur with a core of professional players, and Alberto conducted it over the years, giving many memorable performances. His last appearance was to conduct the Messiah on Christmas night 1926; such world famous singers as John McCormack and Dame Clara Butt had been soloists in his Messiah. The MSO continued to perform after his death (1927) until 1932 when it was taken over by Professor (later Sir) Bernard Heinze who converted it to an all-professional orchestra. The amateur players then, in 1933, formed their own orchestra, naming it the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra after their beloved Alberto Zelman. It has given at least three concerts each year since that time.

• The Brisbane Philharmonic Inc was founded in late 1999, and is comprised of over 70 members of varying ages. The orchestra has the aim of providing an opportunity for high standard university and community players to play a wide variety of orchestral works, as a non-profit organisation.

• The purpose of the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra is to give its members the pleasure of playing good music to an appreciative audience. It was founded in 1981 as a result of the Music 81 project of the Victorian Government, and was the successor of the Bendigo Concert Orchestra, which had played for some thirty years. The players are generally experienced musicians, some of them with professional experience, and many of them school music teachers. We always have a number of skilled school students in our number, many of whom move on to tertiary music studies in Melbourne. We value our ability to give these youngsters the experience of playing in a symphony orchestra.

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Artistic policies

Most professional orchestras have an artistic adviser or administrator and this person – in association with the Chief Conductor and the management – has much to do with deciding the program. The backbone of most programs is the standard repertoire. The orchestras are not known for taking any distinctive approach to this repertoire. There seems to be increasing experimentation with one form or another of popular music, to build audiences and box office.

Contemporary classical repertoire has a place in the programs of most orchestras although, since such programs usually attract only small audiences and therefore lose money, there is plenty of caution around. The orchestras seem to have joined the composers in a thankful retreat from modernism, and one has the impression that there is to that extent less artistic daring in the programming. There has long been pressure on the ABC orchestras especially to commission Australian composers. A score assessment program has been conducted under the auspices of Symphony Australia but with its future in doubt, the ball is thrown even more completely to the orchestras. One has the impression that a relatively small number of favoured composers have ‘user-friendly’ musical styles. (That is not a comment on musical quality.) The opportunities for others are meagre.

The TSO is issuing a series of CDs of works of Australian composers – a valuable contribution from the smallest ‘ABC’ orchestra.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra, which has to sustain itself on a smaller repertoire than that available to full orchestras, makes a rather unusual contribution to repertoire in the form of orchestral arrangements of chamber works, especially string quartets, by its leader Richard Tognetti.

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Education of orchestral players

Pre-tertiary: As described under school orchestras, some state school systems provide or subsidise instrumental training for school children. Otherwise, instrumental instruction comes from private teachers, paid by the student or parents. These teachers may be self-employed or work from music schools such as the regional conservatoria in NSW. The role of the youth orchestras should also be noted; they instruct as well as perform.

Career-bound training is available from tertiary music institutions, almost all of them public. In Australia, there has been a distinction between the conservatoria, which were orientated towards practical instrumental and vocal instruction, and university music departments, which focused on theoretical areas such as musicology, ethnomusicology and music composition. In the 1980s, the independent conservatoria were forced to amalgamate into universities and the distinction began to blur or disappear. All the conservatoria and music departments were principally concerned with western classical music. That has changed, with increasing differentiation and some schools based on curricula in various forms of popular music.

Complaints are heard from orchestras that the graduates of the classical music schools are not of a quality adequate to the orchestras’ needs. Whether the criticism is justifiable is hard to know. By graduates, they mean musicians with a bachelor’s degree. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to make the judgement of those with postgraduate degrees. In any case, the best players tend to head overseas after graduation, and may become available to Australian orchestras only after that experience.

A program of fairly long standing, the Australian Composers Orchestral School, is organised by the Australian Music Centre in association with Symphony Australia and one of the ABC orchestras. Half a dozen composers spend a week with the orchestra, workshopping scores written especially for the occasion, and culminating in a public performance of the works. This has been a most valuable opportunity.

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Funding issues

Public funding

The Strong review of orchestras in 2005 noted that the six symphony and two pit orchestras were generally financially challenged, though not all to the same extent. This is clear from the table below, setting out income and expenditure for each orchestra in 2003.

strong-table.gif Please click on table to enlarge

Government funding for all eight orchestras was an average of 61% of total income. Among the symphony orchestras, however, public funding varied from 81% for the TSO and 79% for TQO, 62%, 60% and 56% for the ASO, MSO and WASO, to 46% for the SSO. It was relatively high for the pit orchestras: 75% for AOBO and 73% for OV. (Click here for full orchestra names and then use your browser’s back button to get back.)

The funding of the major professional orchestras has been primarily a responsibility of the Commonwealth Government, and the funds since 2001 have been delivered via the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council. In all cases there is supplemental funding by the State governments for the orchestras resident in their state. The contribution of performance income was far the highest for the SSO (43%), around the average for MSO (29%) and about one-quarter for ASO, WASO and AOBO. It was a low 17% for TQO and 14% for TSO and OV. Private sector income (”friends” and other private donors, in-kind and cash corporate sponsorships) averaged 9% but was significantly higher for WASO and non-existent for AOBO, because these contributions go straight to Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet and AOBO is fully stretched playing for these companies. The situation is different for its Victorian counterpart, which has the capacity to organise independent concert performances and tours.

The expenditure side of symphony and pit orchestras is dominated by the fact that it is particularly difficult if not impossible to increase productivity through technological change as in most other activities. The most that can be done is reduce player numbers, as recommended in the Strong review (Chapter 6) for TQO (from a quadruple to triple wind orchestra), ASO (from triple to double wind), WASO and TSO (to a smaller double wind structure). The Australian Government’s response (click Media release when reaching link), however, was to allocate additional funding to ensure that the current size of these orchestras be maintained.

Wages and salaries averaged 61% of total expenditure of the eight orchestras in 2003, and guest artist fees another 11%. There were variations around this average, but the general picture is one of limited flexibility based on these percentages alone. Apart from reducing player numbers (core and guests), there is hardly any room to move. Average salary levels derived from stated player numbers appear to differ significantly among orchestras (highest in SSO, lowest in OV), but again this may be difficult to change.

The bottom line or net result in the table above is the acid test. In 2003, the MSO had the greatest surplus followed by SSO and WASO (the latter probably benefiting from a relatively strong corporate sector buoyed by strong mineral exports). Among the other symphony orchestras, TSO almost balanced its books while ASO suffered the worst result followed by TQO.

Generally, the financial situation of the SSO and the MSO benefits from their location in cities of about four million inhabitants. ASO, TQO and WASO depend on metropolitan populations in the one to 1.6 million range and their financial situation has been more precarious, with recurring concern that they cannot meet their costs. TSO serves a State population of only about a half million and although it is a smaller orchestra and manages to balance its books, the subsidy per seat is very high and its termination is discussed periodically although resisted mightily by the Tasmanians.

The Strong review pointed out that quite apart from the innate lack of ability for traditional orchestras to improve their labour productivity, the Australian population is aging and resists radical change, whereas the musicians need new experimental programs to develop artistically. The orchestras therefore face a difficult balancing act mixing the familiar repertoire with new challenges in carefully chosen proportions – while at the same time trying to manage their financial situation.

Historically, we are witnessing a transition in the symphony orchestras from central artistic and financial management by the ABC to corporate responsibility for their own performance. The SSO was the first orchestra to become a corporation in 1996. In 1997, funding was moved from the ABC and channelled into Symphony Australia, an ABC subsidiary established to take over ABC’s services to orchestras. From 2001, the Australia Council’s Major Performing Arts Board took over the administration of Australian Government funding to orchestras and other major performing arts organisations.

The Strong review was established to make recommendations on the future of the six symphony orchestras and the two pit orchestras. While its guiding principle was “artistic vibrancy, cost effectiveness, financial viability and transparency of funding”, the review took a predominantly business perspective with a focus on medium-term viability.

The review submitted twenty recommendations to the Australian Government, which are conveniently encapsulated with reference to the government’s response through the Minister for the Arts and Sport (click Media release when reaching DCITA website):

  • As already noted, the review recommended reducing the size of TQO, ASO, WASO and TSO, but the response was to maintain the size at a total cost of $9.9 million to the Australian Government over four years.
  • The six State symphony orchestras are established as independent companies limited by guarantee ($4.1 million), and the governance and accountability requirements of the orchestras are to be significantly strengthened.
  • The workplace arrangements for musicians will become more flexible allowing the orchestras greater ability to earn commercial income. The review concluded that removing certain restrictive practices associated with enterprise bargaining agreements will create efficiency and productivity gains for the orchestras and the potential for some decrease in costs or increase in revenue.
  • A two-year program will be executed to improve artistic standards in the orchestras ($3.1 million), and occupational health and safety standards for orchestral musicians will be improved ($0.4 million).
  • Funding will be provided to secure the longer-term sustainability of the orchestras ($4.7 million).

The additional funding announced by the Minister in May 2005 (totalling $25.4 million over four years) is conditional on appropriate additional contributions from each State government and will be linked to orchestras’ acceptance of the key workplace changes recommended by the Strong review. It was anticipated that consultations with the State governments would continue over coming months to finalise the arrangements.

Of the two pit orchestras, currently the AOBO is deep in debt. Since 1997, it has had deficits every year except 2001 and at the end of 2004 had accumulated deficits equivalent to 45% of annual revenue. It has no way of trading out of debt because it is too fully occupied in the pit to become entrepreneurial in its own right, and it cannot charge its highly subsidised users more than they are able to pay. The Strong review found that the problem needs to be solved in conjunction with the general situation of Opera Australia, based on the argument that the orchestra is integral to the success of both ballet and opera and therefore costs are an integral part of the user company’s accounts.

The Australian Government response to the Strong review’s recommendations was that funding of almost $1.3 million be allocated to AOBO to assist with the orchestra’s running costs while a further examination of opera and ballet in Sydney and Melbourne takes place.

The review noted that the situation is different from AOBO’s in Melbourne, where a merger of MSO and OV had been mooted. However, while OV cannot be kept fully occupied in the pit, it is too much for one orchestra to handle. Anyhow, the review noted that OV has used its spare capacity creatively and effectively, and has achieved surpluses every year since 2001 (albeit based on the lowest salaries and wages per musician of all eight orchestras). In 1996, it began using one-third of the year for discretionary activities such as stage concerts, provincial tours and educational activities. Formerly known as the State Orchestra of Victoria, it renamed itself in 2001 and now spends 50% of its time in the pit and 50% on its community program. The strategy appears to have been successful and for the moment it seems to be in nobody’s gun sights.

The review was finally asked to consider the role of the territorial Symphony Orchestras (CSO and DSO) in the context of the broader Australian orchestral sector. Neither has received ongoing support in the past from the Australian Government. The review recommended that the two orchestras would benefit from a closer relationship with the State symphony orchestras and recommended government funding of $100,000 for each to achieve this and access the support services available to the State orchestras. The Government accepted this.

The last of the full-time professional orchestras, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), has had periods of indebtedness but has struggled out of them. It receives funding from the Australia Council’s Major Performing Arts Board and lists a significant number of leading companies and organisations as partners and supporters, as well as major donors to its “capital challenge” and individual donations program.

The other orchestras have little choice but to manage their situation to remain in the black, since official rescue from imminent bankruptcy is unlikely following the implementation of the main recommendations of the Strong review. However, the acceptance of the key recommendations has put them on a better footing to face the new challenges.

As the Australian population has grown in recent decades, some non-metropolitan cities have reached a size that could support a small, well subsidised orchestra. However, governments do not seem to be seeking opportunities to create new orchestras. If anything, they would seem to be held to funding the existing main orchestras only by the prospective uproar and shame if they allow them to fail. The initiatives come from the music community and to succeed over time, they need extraordinary persistence and resilience in the financial danger zone.

Other funding

Unlike many music and arts entities, the orchestras have the good fortune to be large, high profile organisations that can enhance the marketing efforts of large, high profile corporations. During the many years when they were clearly a part of the ABC, they probably were seen as a part of the public service (which, alas, in spirit they tended to be) and so not an appropriate recipient of private donations. In any case, private arts funding in those days was very modest. Now as the orchestras are perceived as more independent and as some custom of corporate sponsorship has developed, the orchestras have been able to build an income from these sources (8% of total revenue in 2003 for the symphony and pit orchestras, and probably more for the ACO). It is easier to do this in cities or States that host the head offices of large corporations – in particular, Sydney, Melbourne, and more recently with the resources boom, Perth.

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Other

Associations and organisations

Orchestras Australia, formerly The Orchestras of Australia Network (TOAN), is a membership organisation for orchestras at school, community, youth, and professional levels. The six “ABC” symphony orchestras, AOBO and Darwin Symphony Orchestra are members. Otherwise it has its greatest strength in the community sector and in NSW (see table in school orchestras section). It has a full-time office in Sydney, and an annual conference.

Symphony Australia is a service organisation for the six “ABC” orchestras. Its future is unclear, following the Strong report’s recommendation for the orchestras and the ABC to seek alternative arrangements, and the Australian Government’s agreement with this recommendation (click Media release when reaching linked website). The outcome possibly will be a restructure and a contraction of responsibilities. These have included the operation of the national library of orchestral scores owned by the ABC, creation and publication of program notes for the orchestras, and managing the tours of conductors and soloists.

Symphony Orchestra Musicians’ Association (SOMA) is the industrial union for the musicians. It is a division of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the union that covers actors, journalists and theatrical workers in Australia. SOMA represents most of Australia’s orchestras now, and functions as a network of delegates from each orchestra who communicate with each other.

Recording and broadcasting

Related record companies

The main outlet for recordings by Australian orchestras is the ABC Classics label, a part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Other Australian labels on which they may appear include Melba Recordings, Move Records and Tall Poppies.

Related broadcasters

Australian orchestras are broadcast principally on the ABC national classical music radio network, ABC Classic FM, and the community owned counterparts such as 2MBS Sydney, 3MBS Melbourne and 4MBS Brisbane. There is occasional television broadcasting of orchestras, found mainly on the ABC TV network, Channel 2.

Related online services

To be written

 

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