New director for Lachlan

Andrew Baker, B Mus (hons), L Mus A, A Mus A

Fiona Thompson, Executive Director of Mitchell Conservatorium, has announced the appointment of the new Director for the Lachlan Division:

I am delighted to announce that Andrew Baker will be the new Director of the Lachlan Division of Mitchell Conservatorium from the beginning of Term 3, 2012. Andrew Baker has demonstrated that he is well suited to this position; he has extensive experience in managing staff, students and events through his work at Orange Regional Conservatorium and has developed a high profile as a successful music educator, string teacher and performer throughout the Central West over the past 7 years. Andrew will retain a casual professional association with the ORC in the short term.

Andrew Baker began learning the violin at the age of 8 at his school, Barker College, where he ultimately became the school’s first captain of music. He studied violin performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Alex Todicescu and later in The Netherlands with Berent Korfker and Florian Donderer. Since 2005, Andrew has held the position of Assistant Director, Artistic Programs Coordinator and Head of Strings at Orange Regional Conservatorium in NSW where he has taught violin, string ensembles and school string programs, coordinated tuition and performance programs, and performed in around 20 concerts per year.
 Andrew is currently a Master of Philosophy candidate (String Pedagogy) at the Australian National University. He has presented his research through Violin Pedagogy Australia, The Australian String Teachers Association and The Music Teachers Association, and in December 2012 will present his research findings at the annual conference of the Musicological Society of Australia. Andrew and his wife, Helen, moved to the central west in 2005 to engage in the exciting music teaching and performing opportunities offered by the region. Now raising two young children, they are well embedded in the community and are proud to call themselves ‘locals.’ Andrew says

I take up the position of Lachlan Director, Mitchell Conservatorium, with great excitement. I look forward to working with the Conservatorium's professional staff to develop and maintain community-focused music education programs and resources in the Forbes and Parkes regions of NSW. I am especially committed to creating engaging music-making opportunities across the Lachlan Division’s communities.

Barbara Bruce, OAM

We are delighted to announce that former Mitchell Conservatorium piano and music theory teacher, Barbara Bruce, has been awarded an Order of Australia medal, in recognition of her services to Music, as a pianist, teacher and mentor.

Mrs Bruce was a teacher and also for a time, director, of Lachlan campus of Mitchell Conservatorium. She can now put OAM after her name. Congratulations, Barbara!

James Muller, Emma Pask, Ian Cooper, Doug Richards, Phil Stack, James Morrison, Mitch Richards, John Morrison

After James Morrison's great concert in Forbes, I'm sure many locals would be declaring that their favourite performers are

vocalist, Emma Pask
fiddle player, Ian Cooper,
brass whizz, James Morrison
and percussionist, John Morrison.

You can't beat a great live concert, and John and his band always leave you with a smile on your face.

But what are your favourite classical works? Did you know that ABC Classic FM (at 97.5 on your FM dial and online at the linked address) has asked listeners to nominate their ten favourite classical works to find out what music Australians love to listen to?

I don't want to influence your vote, and by the time you read this, it may be too late to do so as the cutoff date is Friday, 1st October, 2010, which is the date I'm writing this. But I thought I'd share what I voted for:

1. Sumer is icumen in
2. TALLIS Spem in alium
3. HANDEL: Messiah
4. BACH, J S: Jesu, meine Freude
5. HAYDN: Creation
6. BEETHOVEN: Ninth symphony
7. MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola
8. DVORAK: Eighth Symphony
9. WILLIAMSON, MALCOLM: The Musicians of Bremen
10. MCKAY, Justin: The Walrus and the Carpenter

I tried to choose music from different periods and instrumentation, realising that I would have to omit dozens of pieces that I would have liked to include. So I chose one anonymous piece, one composition by my son, one concerto, two symphonies, two oratorios, two works for small vocal ensemble, one piece from the Medieval Period, one from the Renaissance, as well as music from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic Periods, a work from last century and one from this century, and two works by expatriate Australians.

I didn't really choose my ten favourites, because I wanted to reflect the variety in the music I like.

What would you choose?