Podcast appearances and mentions of sydney symphony

Sivan Magen is an internationally acclaimed harpist. He has performed worldwide as a recitalist and soloist at Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House and with the Israel Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony and many other orchestras. He's an avid chamber musician too. His most recent recording won the 2023 Gramophone Award.My featured song in this episode is not one of mine. It's Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, with Zubin Mehta conducting.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.—----------------------------------------Connect with Sivan:www.sivanmagen.com—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S RECENT SINGLES:“ROUGH RIDER” is Robert's latest single. It's got a Cool, ‘60s, “Spaghetti Western”, Guitar-driven, Tremolo sounding, Ventures/Link Wray kind of vibe!CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—--------------------------------“LOVELY GIRLIE” is a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In this episode of Broadway Drumming 101, I chat with the legendary Jonathan Haas about his incredible journey from studying liberal arts to becoming a virtuoso timpanist and professional musician. We talk about his groundbreaking work in Broadway and orchestral music, his passion for drumming, and his thoughts on navigating the challenges of the entertainment industry.Highlights from the Episode:* Jonathan's Journey: How he transitioned from liberal arts to music and became a timpanist with the St. Louis Symphony before moving to New York to study at Juilliard.* NYU Broadway Percussion Seminar: The creation of a one-of-a-kind program that brought over 400 students from around the world to learn from Broadway professionals, observe live pits, and engage with union leaders.* Broadway Experiences: Jonathan shares stories about his early days as a sub on Broadway, a memorable sword accident during Pirates of Penzance, and the lessons he learned.* Making Connections: Why being a good person and building relationships is essential for success in the music industry.* The Role of Luck and Hard Work: Jonathan reflects on serendipity, the reality of hard work, and balancing dreams with practical goals.Key Takeaways:* Aspiring percussionists need to sound exactly like the person they're subbing for—the best compliment is being mistaken for the regular.* Always respond promptly to emails and calls, and don't take on tasks you're not ready for.* Hard work, connections, and adaptability are crucial in building a sustainable career in entertainment.Subscribe and Don't Miss Out!Make sure to subscribe to Broadway Drumming 101 on your favorite podcast platform and turn on notifications to be the first to hear this inspiring episode with Jonathan Haas!Virtuoso timpanist Jonathan Haas has raised the status of the timpani to that of a solo instrument throughout his unique career that has spanned more than twenty years. From classical concertos to jazz and rock & roll, from symphonic masterpieces to the most experimental compositions of living composers, Haas has championed, commissioned, unearthed and celebrated music for his instrument, becoming, as Ovation magazine hailed him, "The Paganini of the timpani."His concerts on the world's most prestigious musical stages and his ground-breaking recordings have delighted critics and listeners on both sides of the ocean. The New York Times wrote, "Wherever one finds a percussion instrument waiting to be rubbed, shook, struck or strummed, [Haas] is probably nearby, ready to fulfill his duties with consummate expertise... he is a masterful young percussionist."Most recently, Haas has garnered widespread praise and attention for his performances of Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, a piece conceived by Haas and completed because of his quest to spotlight the timpani. The Concerto Fantasy features not only two timpanists, but also 14 timpani, all placed downstage in front of the orchestra. In 2000, Haas performed the world premiere of the piece with the American Symphony, and he has subsequently performed it at Carnegie Hall and in Phoenix, New Jersey, Baltimore, Pasadena, Long Beach (California), St. Louis and Mexico City. Haas also performed the European premiere with the BBC Symphony in London, the world premiere of a chamber orchestra version with the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, the Czechoslovakian premiere with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the International Music Prague Spring Festival, the Norwegian premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic, and he will perform the Australian premiere with the Sydney Symphony and the Turkish premiere with the Istanbul Philharmonic.Haas' successful efforts to expand the timpani repertoire have led him to commission and premiere more than 25 works by composers in addition to Philip Glass such as Stephen Albert, Marius Constant, Irwin Bazelon, Eric Ewazen, Thomas Hamilton, Robert Hall Lewis, Jean Piche, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Andrew Thomas, and many others.Haas built the world's largest timpani and debuted it in 2003 at the Aspen Music Festival. This unprecendented, incredible instrument -- nearly 6' wide and nearly 4' tall – beats the world's second-largest timpani — a 48-incher used by Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra — by almost half.Haas' recordings include the trail-blazing 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra and Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing, both on Sunset Records. The latter was named for his jazz group and features innovative renderings of jazz compositions featuring "hot timpani" in front of a full jazz ensemble. His rediscovery of Duke Ellington's brilliant composition for jazz timpani, "Tympaturbably Blue," is included on this recording, as are other jazz standards played on a set of ten kettledrums.Demonstrating a remarkable versatility as a musician, Haas has performed and recorded with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, played on the Grammy Award-winning recording Zappa's Universe, recorded with Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, Black Sabbath, and explored heavy metal with his rock group Clozshave.The rarest of modern virtuosi, Haas embarked on his career as a solo timpanist by performing the only solo timpani recital ever presented at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1980. As an orchestral soloist, he made his debut with the New York Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and his European solo debut with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He made his French debut performing Andrez Panufnick's Concerto for Percussion, Timpani and Orchestra with the Orchestra de la Garde Republicaine. He was the soloist in the Druschetsky Concerto for Eight Timpani, Oboe and Orchestra with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as a solo timpanist for the Distinguished Artists Recital Series at New York's 92nd Street ‘Y' and as a guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society, the Chamber Music at the ‘Y' Series, and the Newport Chamber Music Festival. He has championed new music by presenting adventuresome programming such as The Music of Frank Zappa, showcasing the music of Edgar Varese and Frank Zappa, under the auspices of Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series.Haas is the principal timpanist of the New York Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Orchestra and EOS Ensemble, principal percussionist of the American Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the American Composers Orchestra. He performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York Pops, and New Jersey Symphony and has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Haas received his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman. An inspiring teacher, he has been the director of the Peabody Conservatory Percussion Studio for twenty years and a faculty artist of the Aspen Music School, and he conducts the percussion ensembles at both schools. He has presented master classes throughout the United States and internationally at the Toho Gauken, Hanoi Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, and the Graz Percussion School. Sharing his enthusiasm for music with young people, he has presented over two hundred concert-demonstrations with his "Drumfire" program, under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Institute, the New York Chamber Symphony's Sidney Wolff Children's Concert Series, and the Aspen Festival Young Person's Concert Series.As active an entrepreneur as he is an artist, Haas heads Sunset Records, Kettles and Company, and Gemini Music Productions which contracts musicians for Lincoln Center, New York Pops, and many other organizations. He also works closely with percussion industry manufacturers Pearl/Adams, Promark and Zildjian, among others.Clayton Craddock founded Broadway Drumming 101, an in-depth online platform offering specialized mentorship and a carefully curated collection of resources tailored for aspiring and professional musicians.Clayton's Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, and The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical. As a skilled sub, he's contributed his talents to Motown, Evita, Cats, Avenue Q, The Color Purple, Rent, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Hadestown (tour), and many more. He has also appeared on major shows, including The View, Good Morning America, Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the TONY Awards, and performed with legends like The Stylistics, The Delfonics, Mario Cantone, Laura Benanti, Kristin Chenoweth, Kerry Butler, Christian Borle, Norm Lewis, Deniece Williams, Chuck Berry, and Ben E. King.Clayton proudly endorses Ahead Drum Cases, Paiste Cymbals, Innovative Percussion drumsticks, and Empire Ears.Learn more about Clayton Craddock here: www.claytoncraddock.com Get full access to Broadway Drumming 101 at broadwaydrumming101.substack.com/subscribe

Get ready for an exciting upcoming episode of Broadway Drumming 101! I'll be talking with the legendary timpanist Jonathan Haas about his groundbreaking work with the NYU Broadway Percussion Seminar. Jonathan shares how the program started, its impact on over 400 students worldwide, and how it gave young musicians a real taste of Broadway—playing with top percussionists, sitting in active pits, learning about unions at Local 802, and getting advice from icons like contractor John Miller.We'll also dive into how a simple lunchroom conversation sparked the creation of the NYU Broadway Orchestra Program. You won't want to miss these incredible behind-the-scenes stories about Broadway music education and what it takes to succeed.Subscribe now to Broadway Drumming 101 on your favorite platform and turn on notifications so you'll be the first to know when this episode drops!Virtuoso timpanist Jonathan Haas has raised the status of the timpani to that of a solo instrument throughout his unique career that has spanned more than twenty years. From classical concertos to jazz and rock & roll, from symphonic masterpieces to the most experimental compositions of living composers, Haas has championed, commissioned, unearthed and celebrated music for his instrument, becoming, as Ovation magazine hailed him, "The Paganini of the timpani."His concerts on the world's most prestigious musical stages and his ground-breaking recordings have delighted critics and listeners on both sides of the ocean. The New York Times wrote, "Wherever one finds a percussion instrument waiting to be rubbed, shook, struck or strummed, [Haas] is probably nearby, ready to fulfill his duties with consummate expertise... he is a masterful young percussionist."Most recently, Haas has garnered widespread praise and attention for his performances of Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, a piece conceived by Haas and completed because of his quest to spotlight the timpani. The Concerto Fantasy features not only two timpanists, but also 14 timpani, all placed downstage in front of the orchestra. In 2000, Haas performed the world premiere of the piece with the American Symphony, and he has subsequently performed it at Carnegie Hall and in Phoenix, New Jersey, Baltimore, Pasadena, Long Beach (California), St. Louis and Mexico City. Haas also performed the European premiere with the BBC Symphony in London, the world premiere of a chamber orchestra version with the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, the Czechoslovakian premiere with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the International Music Prague Spring Festival, the Norwegian premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic, and he will perform the Australian premiere with the Sydney Symphony and the Turkish premiere with the Istanbul Philharmonic.Haas' successful efforts to expand the timpani repertoire have led him to commission and premiere more than 25 works by composers in addition to Philip Glass such as Stephen Albert, Marius Constant, Irwin Bazelon, Eric Ewazen, Thomas Hamilton, Robert Hall Lewis, Jean Piche, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Andrew Thomas, and many others.Haas built the world's largest timpani and debuted it in 2003 at the Aspen Music Festival. This unprecendented, incredible instrument -- nearly 6' wide and nearly 4' tall – beats the world's second-largest timpani — a 48-incher used by Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra — by almost half.Haas' recordings include the trail-blazing 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra and Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing, both on Sunset Records. The latter was named for his jazz group and features innovative renderings of jazz compositions featuring "hot timpani" in front of a full jazz ensemble. His rediscovery of Duke Ellington's brilliant composition for jazz timpani, "Tympaturbably Blue," is included on this recording, as are other jazz standards played on a set of ten kettledrums.Demonstrating a remarkable versatility as a musician, Haas has performed and recorded with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, played on the Grammy Award-winning recording Zappa's Universe, recorded with Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, Black Sabbath, and explored heavy metal with his rock group Clozshave.The rarest of modern virtuosi, Haas embarked on his career as a solo timpanist by performing the only solo timpani recital ever presented at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1980. As an orchestral soloist, he made his debut with the New York Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and his European solo debut with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He made his French debut performing Andrez Panufnick's Concerto for Percussion, Timpani and Orchestra with the Orchestra de la Garde Republicaine. He was the soloist in the Druschetsky Concerto for Eight Timpani, Oboe and Orchestra with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as a solo timpanist for the Distinguished Artists Recital Series at New York's 92nd Street ‘Y' and as a guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society, the Chamber Music at the ‘Y' Series, and the Newport Chamber Music Festival. He has championed new music by presenting adventuresome programming such as The Music of Frank Zappa, showcasing the music of Edgar Varese and Frank Zappa, under the auspices of Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series.Haas is the principal timpanist of the New York Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Orchestra and EOS Ensemble, principal percussionist of the American Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the American Composers Orchestra. He performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York Pops, and New Jersey Symphony and has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Haas received his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman. An inspiring teacher, he has been the director of the Peabody Conservatory Percussion Studio for twenty years and a faculty artist of the Aspen Music School, and he conducts the percussion ensembles at both schools. He has presented master classes throughout the United States and internationally at the Toho Gauken, Hanoi Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, and the Graz Percussion School. Sharing his enthusiasm for music with young people, he has presented over two hundred concert-demonstrations with his "Drumfire" program, under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Institute, the New York Chamber Symphony's Sidney Wolff Children's Concert Series, and the Aspen Festival Young Person's Concert Series.As active an entrepreneur as he is an artist, Haas heads Sunset Records, Kettles and Company, and Gemini Music Productions which contracts musicians for Lincoln Center, New York Pops, and many other organizations. He also works closely with percussion industry manufacturers Pearl/Adams, Promark and Zildjian, among others.Clayton Craddock founded Broadway Drumming 101, an in-depth online platform offering specialized mentorship and a carefully curated collection of resources tailored for aspiring and professional musicians.Clayton's Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, and The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical. As a skilled sub, he's contributed his talents to Motown, Evita, Cats, Avenue Q, The Color Purple, Rent, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Hadestown (tour), and many more. He has also appeared on major shows, including The View, Good Morning America, Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the TONY Awards, and performed with legends like The Stylistics, The Delfonics, Mario Cantone, Laura Benanti, Kristin Chenoweth, Kerry Butler, Christian Borle, Norm Lewis, Deniece Williams, Chuck Berry, and Ben E. King.Clayton proudly endorses Ahead Drum Cases, Paiste Cymbals, Innovative Percussion drumsticks, and Empire Ears.Learn more about Clayton Craddock here: www.claytoncraddock.com Get full access to Broadway Drumming 101 at broadwaydrumming101.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Broadway Drumming 101, I sit down with Jonathan Haas, a percussion legend who revolutionized the timpani and built an extraordinary career performing with major orchestras, rock bands, and jazz icons. We talk about what it really takes to make it on Broadway—the hard work, the unexpected breaks, and the reality of starting at the bottom. Jonathan shares real-world advice and stories from his career, giving you a no-nonsense look at the industry. If you're serious about breaking into Broadway or curious about what it takes to succeed as a musician, you have to listen to this episode!Virtuoso timpanist Jonathan Haas has raised the status of the timpani to that of a solo instrument throughout his unique career that has spanned more than twenty years. From classical concertos to jazz and rock & roll, from symphonic masterpieces to the most experimental compositions of living composers, Haas has championed, commissioned, unearthed and celebrated music for his instrument, becoming, as Ovation magazine hailed him, "The Paganini of the timpani."His concerts on the world's most prestigious musical stages and his ground-breaking recordings have delighted critics and listeners on both sides of the ocean. The New York Times wrote, "Wherever one finds a percussion instrument waiting to be rubbed, shook, struck or strummed, [Haas] is probably nearby, ready to fulfill his duties with consummate expertise... he is a masterful young percussionist."Most recently, Haas has garnered widespread praise and attention for his performances of Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, a piece conceived by Haas and completed because of his quest to spotlight the timpani. The Concerto Fantasy features not only two timpanists, but also 14 timpani, all placed downstage in front of the orchestra. In 2000, Haas performed the world premiere of the piece with the American Symphony, and he has subsequently performed it at Carnegie Hall and in Phoenix, New Jersey, Baltimore, Pasadena, Long Beach (California), St. Louis and Mexico City. Haas also performed the European premiere with the BBC Symphony in London, the world premiere of a chamber orchestra version with the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, the Czechoslovakian premiere with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the International Music Prague Spring Festival, the Norwegian premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic, and he will perform the Australian premiere with the Sydney Symphony and the Turkish premiere with the Istanbul Philharmonic.Haas' successful efforts to expand the timpani repertoire have led him to commission and premiere more than 25 works by composers in addition to Philip Glass such as Stephen Albert, Marius Constant, Irwin Bazelon, Eric Ewazen, Thomas Hamilton, Robert Hall Lewis, Jean Piche, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Andrew Thomas, and many others.Haas built the world's largest timpani and debuted it in 2003 at the Aspen Music Festival. This unprecendented, incredible instrument -- nearly 6' wide and nearly 4' tall – beats the world's second-largest timpani — a 48-incher used by Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra — by almost half.Haas' recordings include the trail-blazing 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra and Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing, both on Sunset Records. The latter was named for his jazz group and features innovative renderings of jazz compositions featuring "hot timpani" in front of a full jazz ensemble. His rediscovery of Duke Ellington's brilliant composition for jazz timpani, "Tympaturbably Blue," is included on this recording, as are other jazz standards played on a set of ten kettledrums.Demonstrating a remarkable versatility as a musician, Haas has performed and recorded with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, played on the Grammy Award-winning recording Zappa's Universe, recorded with Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, Black Sabbath, and explored heavy metal with his rock group Clozshave.The rarest of modern virtuosi, Haas embarked on his career as a solo timpanist by performing the only solo timpani recital ever presented at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1980. As an orchestral soloist, he made his debut with the New York Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and his European solo debut with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He made his French debut performing Andrez Panufnick's Concerto for Percussion, Timpani and Orchestra with the Orchestra de la Garde Republicaine. He was the soloist in the Druschetsky Concerto for Eight Timpani, Oboe and Orchestra with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as a solo timpanist for the Distinguished Artists Recital Series at New York's 92nd Street ‘Y' and as a guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society, the Chamber Music at the ‘Y' Series, and the Newport Chamber Music Festival. He has championed new music by presenting adventuresome programming such as The Music of Frank Zappa, showcasing the music of Edgar Varese and Frank Zappa, under the auspices of Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series.Haas is the principal timpanist of the New York Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Orchestra and EOS Ensemble, principal percussionist of the American Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the American Composers Orchestra. He performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York Pops, and New Jersey Symphony and has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Haas received his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman. An inspiring teacher, he has been the director of the Peabody Conservatory Percussion Studio for twenty years and a faculty artist of the Aspen Music School, and he conducts the percussion ensembles at both schools. He has presented master classes throughout the United States and internationally at the Toho Gauken, Hanoi Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, and the Graz Percussion School. Sharing his enthusiasm for music with young people, he has presented over two hundred concert-demonstrations with his "Drumfire" program, under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Institute, the New York Chamber Symphony's Sidney Wolff Children's Concert Series, and the Aspen Festival Young Person's Concert Series.As active an entrepreneur as he is an artist, Haas heads Sunset Records, Kettles and Company, and Gemini Music Productions which contracts musicians for Lincoln Center, New York Pops, and many other organizations. He also works closely with percussion industry manufacturers Pearl/Adams, Promark and Zildjian, among others.Clayton Craddock founded Broadway Drumming 101, an in-depth online platform offering specialized mentorship and a carefully curated collection of resources tailored for aspiring and professional musicians.Clayton's Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, and The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical. As a skilled sub, he's contributed his talents to Motown, Evita, Cats, Avenue Q, The Color Purple, Rent, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Hadestown (tour), and many more. He has also appeared on major shows, including The View, Good Morning America, Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the TONY Awards, and performed with legends like The Stylistics, The Delfonics, Mario Cantone, Laura Benanti, Kristin Chenoweth, Kerry Butler, Christian Borle, Norm Lewis, Deniece Williams, Chuck Berry, and Ben E. King.Clayton proudly endorses Ahead Drum Cases, Paiste Cymbals, Innovative Percussion drumsticks, and Empire Ears.Learn more about Clayton Craddock here: www.claytoncraddock.com Get full access to Broadway Drumming 101 at broadwaydrumming101.substack.com/subscribe

A French pianist applauded for his versatility and wide-ranging repertoire, Cédric Tiberghien has an openness to explore innovative concert formats and dynamic chamber music partnerships. He's recorded over 20 solo albums and over 15 collaborative ones, has played concerts and recitals in all parts of the world, with the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony, among many others. He was fascinated by a grand piano when he was 2 years old, and started lessons as soon as he was able. In this conversation, Cédric takes us through his approach to music and performance with joy and excitement, and his musical selections demonstrate the full breadth of his approach to his craft. Cédric Tiberghien performs The Cage Project with Musica Viva at the Sydney Festival on 23-25 January, before heading to Canberra and Melbourne.

Violist Irina Morozova has a long and distinguished career, including as principal viola of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and guest principal of the Sydney Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras. But it's as part of the Goldner String Quartet that she and her fellow musicians Dene Olding, Dimity Hall and Julian Smiles, have found a significant place in the hearts of Australia's classical music lovers. Long been considered Australia's pre-eminent string quartet, the Golders are considered among the best quartets in the world. They've recorded 19 albums covering repertoire from Beethoven to Peter Sculthorpe and have performed internationally including at London's Wigmore Hall and at the Biennale in Venice. But this year, their 30th season, is also their last, with their farewell concert taking place this Sunday 8th of December at the Verbruggen Hall of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in association with Musica Viva. Irina talks about the significant place the Golden String Quartet has had in her life and heart. The music she shares is done so with thoughtfulness and passion, and her story is inspiring.

A singer with a distinguished career which spans four continents, Helpmann-nominated Simon Lobelson has established himself as a one of the most versatile baritones of his generation. He's performed over 90 operatic roles spanning the baroque to the contemporary, with companies including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the English National Opera, as well as our own Opera Australia and Pinchgut Opera. In concert, he's performed with the Sydney Symphony, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and many ensembles overseas. In this conversation, Simon explores his musical inspirations and shares some personal reflections on life and the evolution of his illustrious career. Simon Lobelson performs with Music @ VJs on 7 April.

Primo clarinetto della London Philarmonia Orchestra, Maura Marinucci è in visita Down Under per un progetto con la Sydney Symphony ed un recital con pianoforte in programma per giovedì 21 marzo.

Ron Prussing is Matthew's interviewee in this month's episode. Ron retires this month from the Trombone section of the Sydney Symphony orchestra, after an amazing 53-year career with the orchestra. Ron is also an active Salvationist musician and previously served as bandmaster of Sydney Congress Hall Band.Bandmaster Jonathan Evans returns to finish our special journey into Ray Steadman-Allen's ‘Victorian Snapshots – On Ratcliff Highway'. It's Paul Winterbourne's turn to be stranded on the Arid Island this month. But, what one album will he pack in his suit carrier? Regular features, Band Manager, Sparsely Scored and Bandmastermind complete another episode.Hosted by Matthew FrostProduced by Simon Gash Published by Music Editorial Audio extracts used with permission of SP&S Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A violinist in great demand internationally, UK-born Andrew Haveron is currently the concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, having previously served in that role with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As first violinist with the internationally acclaimed Brodsky Quartet he recorded more than 15 albums and collaborated with a diverse cross section of artists. Despite keeping busy with the Sydney Symphony he is still able to perform in chamber recitals, including with Katheryn Selby and the Omega Ensemble, and in February he returns to the Great Synagogue in Sydney for Vienna's Golden Age, opening a new year of concerts for Live at Yours. Andrew talks about his school life at the Purcell School for Young Musicians in London, and his time with the Brodsky Quartet. He explains his move to the role of Concertmaster, providing an inside view of the nuances and responsibilities of one of the most important roles in a symphony orchestra.

Brian Cox and The Sydney Symphony take audiences on a tour of the universe.

Miles Mullin-Chivers began playing the cello at the age of just 4, and has been taught by some of this country's most accomplished musicians. He's performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, including as guest principal cellist, and with the Opera Australia Orchestra. He's played with the Canberra International Music Festival, the Four Winds Festival, Musica Viva, Selby and Friends and Live at Yours, and has also appeared as a soloist. He will be one of many Australian musicians from around the world coming together as the Australian World Orchestra, under the baton of their founder and artistic director, Alexander Briger, to perform Mahler's Symphony no 9, at the Arts Centre in Melbourne on 22 November and at the City Recital Hall Angel Place on 24 November. Miles tells some light-hearted stories about his career development, from his somewhat unorthodox education to his time as a Sydney Symphony fellow, and shares his choices of music and musicians that have inspired him through that journey.

On 20th July, WFT Ireland hosted a very special event Greater Later: Building Sustainable Careers supported by Screen Ireland. This series of talks celebrated the remarkable achievements of women in the industry who have found success, often later in their careers. WFT was honoured to have internationally esteemed conductor and composer Eímear Noone join us in conversation with WFT Vice Chair Jaro Waldeck. Known for her award-winning work on video game music, Eímear has conducted all over the world, working with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Bretagne, the Sydney Symphony, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra – and famously at the Oscars. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/WFTIreland/ https://wft.ie/

A world renowned Australian violinist, Aria-nominated Ray Chen has redefined what it is to be a classical musician in the 21st Century. He has broken boundaries not just in his playing but in his embrace of modern technology, reaching out to a global audience of millions thanks to a captivating online presence. He's spread his wings into the world of computer games, is a fashion icon thanks to a multi-year partnership with Armani, and has collaborated with Sting. He also has a serious commitment to music education which has even led him to launch a new music practicing app, called Tonic. He may fly all around the world to perform concerts but he still calls Australia home, and is currently touring the country. In this fast moving and jovial conversation, Ray enthusiastically talks about his craft, the inspiration and methodology behind the Tonic music practice app, making his acting cameos, his energetic social media presence, and much more. Tonic is available for iOS and Android. Ray performs Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony from 12-15 July, and the Play with Ray concert, where three aspiring musicians get the chance to share the concert stage with him, is on 25 July.

This interview first aired on Friday the 7th of July, 2023 on ONE FM 98.5 Shepparton. One FM Breakfast announcer Terri Cowley talks to the Director of the Shepparton Festival Kristen Retallick. She talks about a winter taster event with Joseph Tawardros. Enjoy a cosy winter afternoon on Level 4 at Shepparton Art Museum with a rare opportunity for Shepparton audiences to experience a very special international musician. Joseph Tawadros will deliver an artist talk at 2pm, then the show will begin at 3pm. Elsewhere at Sam will provide bar service before the show and at interval. It's on Sunday the 16th of July, 2023. Born in Cairo, Joseph's chosen instrument, the Oud is an Arabic lute, the ancestor of the lute and modern guitar. A virtuoso of diversity and sensitivity, Joseph performs in concert halls worldwide and is known for his brilliant technique, deep musicianship, storytelling and joyous style of performance. Joseph has performed his own works with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Melbourne, WA and Adelaide Symphony, Ukraine National Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the Morphing Chamber Orchestra and his Concerto for Oud & Orchestra with the Sydney Symphony was performed and released by ABC Classics, Australia in 2019. He was also the first and only Australian composer to be performed by the Academy of Ancient Music in the United Kingdom. He has recorded his music with many jazz luminaries such as John Abercrombie, Jack de Johnette, Roy Ayers, Bela Fleck, Mike Stern, Joey DeFrancesco, Richard Bona and Christian McBride. Classical collaborations include Richard Tognetti, William Barton, The Grigoryan Brothers, Christian Lindberg, James Crabb and his songs have been performed/recorded by The Song Company and Andreas Scholl. To find out more or to get tickets head to the Shepparton Festival website - https://sheppartonfestival.org.au/ Listen to Terri Cowley live on weekday mornings from 6am-9am. Contact the station on admin@fm985.com.au or (+613) 58313131 The ONE FM 98.5 Community Radio podcast page operates under the license of Goulburn Valley Community Radio Inc. (ONE FM) Number 1385226/1. PRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) that covers Simulcasting and Online content including podcasts with musical content, that we pay every year. This licence number is 1385226/1.

David Greco has sung on some of the finest stages across Europe and makes regular appearances with Australia's most renowned orchestras, including the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra as well as the Sydney Symphony. Internationally regarded for his interpretations of Schubert lieder and the solo works of JS Bach, this ARIA award-nominated artist is also the first Australian ever to have been appointed to a position with the Sistine Chapel Choir in the Vatican. In June, he joins the Australian Haydn Ensemble for Die Stille Nacht from 16-24 June at the City Recital Hall plus various regional venues across NSW. In this light hearted conversation, David regales us with some wonderful tales from his career, from appearing in the Opera Australia chorus through to working with some of Europe's finest. 

Nicolas Fleury has been playing the French horn since he was 8. He's been principle horn of the Aurora Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and made guest appearances with a slew of orchestras around the world including the Sydney Symphony and London Symphony Orchestras. He's performed live on the BBC, appeared alongside conductors like Charles Dutoit, Neville Marriner and John Gardiner, and he's now settled in Australia as principal horn with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He's made regular appearances with organisations around the country including Musica Viva and the Omega Ensemble. In this conversation, recorded while Nico was in Sydney to perform with the Omega Ensemble, Nico speaks with incredible passion about his craft and the amazing experiences he's had working with the world's top orchestras and conductors.

Katherine Wiles has been a full-time member of the Opera Australia Chorus since 2007. An essential and vital ensemble of players who contribute enormously to the world of the narrative being sung on stage. A stimulating position that sees the ensemble represent community in a breadth of operatic repertoire - as nuns, soldiers, townsfolk, mourners, socialites and sisters. But whether it's dressing up or dressing down, the chorus is an exulted position that completes the Opera aesthetic and sound.Katherine delivers an honest, raw, and hilarious insight into the life of an Opera Chorister. …. in a recently penned autobiography detailing a most splendid vocation. NO AUTOGRAPHS PLEASE! - LIFE IN AN OPERA CHORUS. It is filled with backstage antics, onstage disasters, personal anecdotes, and shines a light on a section of the opera industry people know very little about. New Zealand-born Katherine lives in Sydney, after being based in the UK where she studied with Patricia Hay. She holds an F.T.C.L. Voice from Trinity College, London, England, a Masters in Opera from Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland and a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from Auckland University, New Zealand. From 1996-1999 Katherine was a Young Artist and Chorus Member of New Zealand Opera. In 2016/2017 Katherine performed the roles of Lady Boxington/Ensemble in the Opera Australia/John Frost 60th Anniversary Production of My Fair Lady directed by Dame Julie Andrews, touring Australia. In 2015 Katherine continued performing with Opera Australia as Papagena (The Magic Flute), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) in the Melbourne season, and Handmaiden (Turandot). During 2014 Katherine's performances with Opera Australia included Papagena in The Magic Flute and Giannetta in The Elixir of Love. In 2013 Katherine performed the role of Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni on tour for OzOpera in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales, as well as covering Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Eurydice (Orpheus in the Underworld) and Ortlinde (Die Walküre) for Opera Australia's Ring Cycle. In 2012 Katherine performed Valencienne (The Merry Widow), Papagena (The Magic Flute) and Handmaiden Two (Turandot) for Opera Australia and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for OzOpera on tour in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Other recent performances include the roles of a Musician (Manon Lescaut), Mrs. Nordstrom (A Little Night Music) and First Bridesmaid (The Marriage of Figaro) for Opera Australia; Adina (L'elisir d'amore) for State Opera of South Australia; Serenade to Music with the Sydney Symphony conducted by Mark Wigglesworth; High Tea concerts at the Sydney Opera House; a series of concerts with Opus Orchestra on tour in New Zealand; Messiah for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs at Sydney Opera House as well as for Auckland Choral Society and Christchurch City Choir in New Zealand and the New Zealand Premiere of Bach St. Luke Passion for Bach Musica. She also covered the role of Betty in Bliss for Opera Australia at the Edinburgh Festival and was a guest soloist on board the Royal Yacht Britannia for an Opera Australia/Edinburgh Festival Event. Other operatic roles include Giannetta/Adina cover The Elixir of Love (NZO/NZ International Arts Festival); Adina The Elixir of Love (Grange Park Opera/Pimlico Opera UK Tour); Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro (London Opera Players, UK); Despina Cosi fan tutte, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia, Elvira Italian Girl in Algiers, Barbarina/Susanna cover Le Nozze di Figaro (NZO); Rosina The Barber of Seville (Swansea City Opera, UK); Adele Die Fledermaus (Sevenoaks Philharmonic, UK); Olympia Les Contes D'Hoffmann (Guildford Opera, UK).

Umberto Clerici has gained quite the reputation as an artist of diverse and multifaceted talents. He made his solo debut as a cellist at the age of 17, and his career took him to roles as principal cello of several orchestras, including the Sydney Symphony where he made his conducting debut in 2018. He's now Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, but he still finds time to play his cello, and will be performing with SSO Concertmaster Andrew Haveron and ACO Principal Violist Stefanie Farrands for My Gypsy Soul, for two concerts at the Great Synagogue on Tuesday, May 16, thanks to Live at Yours. In this conversation, Umberto shares some of his incredible musical knowledge and insights, from the broad sweep of how a chief conductor shapes an orchestra, to the detail of interpreting metronome markings, and we hear what a revolution in music sounds like.

Born in Sydney, Richard Bonynge studied at the NSW Conservatory of Music and the Royal College of Music. He served as Music Director of the Sutherland-Williamson Grand Opera Company in 1965 (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane), as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Opera from 1974-77 and Music Director of The Australian Opera from 1976-86. Maestro Bonynge's accomplishments as conductor and musical scholar were recognized when Queen Elizabeth II, during her Silver Jubilee Celebration in 1977, made him a Commander of the British Empire. In the summer of 1989, the French government honored him with the rank of “Commandeur de l'Ordre National des Arts et des Lettres”.Throughout his illustrious career, Richard Bonynge has conducted in the world's leading opera houses in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand and Asia. He has received world-wide acclaim as a scholar of bel canto opera and is celebrated for leading the renaissance of eighteenth and early-nineteenth century musical theater, such as Les Huguenots(Meyerbeer), Semiramide, Sigismondo (Rossini), La Fille du Régiment, Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Lucrezia Borgia(Donizetti), Esclarmonde, Le Roi de Lahore, Thérèse (Massenet), Medea (Pacini), Orfeo (Haydn), I Masnadieri (Verdi).In recent seasons he led performances of La Traviata in Athens, I Capuleti ed I Montecchi in London, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Scala di Seta, Signor Bruschino, Roméo & Juliette in Sydney, Lucia, Norma and Faust in the United States, La Favorite in Barcelona, I Lombardi in Buenos Aires and Semiramide (Meyerbeer) at the Wildbad Festival, Germany.Mr. Bonynge's extensive career includes innumerable performances with his wife, Dame Joan Sutherland, culminating in her farewell engagements in opera and recital throughout the world. The two artists also toured the United States with the Sydney Symphony in celebration of Australia's Bicentennial, with concerts at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and the United Nations.His discography reflects the eclecticism of his music interests. He has recorded over 50 complete operas as well as the three Tchaikovsky ballets, three Delibes ballets and numerous lesser known ballets by Adam, Minkus, Burgmuller, Auber, Drigo, Offenbach. He recorded several recital discs with Sumi Jo, Jerry Hadley, Deborah Riedel, Rosamund Illing, Cheryl Barker and Elizabeth Whitehouse. His recent recordings are Le Domino Noir (Auber), Le Toréador (Adam), Der Czarevich, Das Land des Lächelns (Paganini), Giuditta (Lehar), Cendrillon (Nicolo), Orfeo (Haydn), Die Herzogin von Chicago and Die Czardasfürstin (Kálmán), British Opera Arias (Balfe, Wallace, Sullivan), Sacred and Profane Arias (Massenet), Puccini Arias (Puccini), La Somnambula (Hérold), Verismo Arias and Tchaikovsky & Grieg piano concertos with Simon Tedeschi and the Queensland Orchestra. Video recordings include Les Huguenots, La Fille du Régiment, Adriana Lecouvreur, Die Lustige Witwe, Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Norma, Die Fledermaus, Lucrezia Borgia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lakmé, Il Trovatore, Die Zauberflöte and Die Czardasfürstin.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

A much loved pianist who Australia has adopted as one of our own, Ukrainian-born Alexander Gavrylyuk began as a teenage prodigy and has been dazzling audiences around the world ever since. He's performed at the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, the Lincoln Centre, and played with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, and closer to his adopted home he's recorded all the Prokofiev piano concertos with the Sydney Symphony under Vladimir Ashkenazy. In this conversation, Alexander shares stories of his upbringing in Ukraine when still part of the USSR, the opportunities that came from coming to Australia, as well as talking about evacuating his father from of Kharkiv in recent months and the devastating invasion which his homeland is currently facing. Alexander will be performing at the Canberra International Music Festival on May 3, and at the Melbourne Recital Centre on May 5.

Andy Einhorn (LI:@andy-einhorn) has directed concerts with the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. He has worked as the Music Supervisor and Musical Director for the Broadway productions of Carousel and Hello Dolly!  Einhorn's previous Broadway credits include Holiday Inn, Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, Evita, Brief Encounter, The Light in the Piazza, and Sondheim on Sondheim. He recently served as music director and conductor for the Châtelet Theatre's production of Sondheim's Passion in Paris and Einhorn made his New York Philharmonic debut with world-renowned trumpeter Chris Botti. Since 2011 Einhorn has served as music director and pianist for Six-Time Tony Award Winner, Audra McDonald, performing with her at such prestigious orchestras and venues including The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and Teatro Real, Madrid. They recently recorded performances for an upcoming telecast with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Einhorn has also music directed for Barbara Cook at Feinstein's and Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. His tour work includes Sweeney Todd, The Light in the Piazza, Mamma Mia!, and The Lion King. Einhorn's work can be heard on the current touring production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. Einhorn has worked at Goodspeed Opera House, Signature Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and PaperMill Playhouse. He was principal vocal coach and pianist for Houston Grand Opera's An Evening with Audra McDonald, a double-bill of Poulenc's La Voix Humaine and LaChiusa's Send. Recording credits include Bullets Over Broadway, Cinderella, Evita, Sondheim on Sondheim (Grammy Nom) Stage Door Canteen and McDonald's newest release, Go Back Home. He served as the music director for HBO's Peabody Award winning documentary Six by Sondheim and music supervisor for Great Performances Peabody Award winning special “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy” on PBS. Andy Einhorn is an honors graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Andy Einhorn (LI:@andy-einhorn) has directed concerts with the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. He has worked as the Music Supervisor and Musical Director for the Broadway productions of Carousel and Hello Dolly!  Einhorn's previous Broadway credits include Holiday Inn, Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, Evita, Brief Encounter, The Light in the Piazza, and Sondheim on Sondheim. He recently served as music director and conductor for the Châtelet Theatre's production of Sondheim's Passion in Paris and Einhorn made his New York Philharmonic debut with world-renowned trumpeter Chris Botti. Since 2011 Einhorn has served as music director and pianist for Six-Time Tony Award Winner, Audra McDonald, performing with her at such prestigious orchestras and venues including The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and Teatro Real, Madrid. They recently recorded performances for an upcoming telecast with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Einhorn has also music directed for Barbara Cook at Feinstein's and Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. His tour work includes Sweeney Todd, The Light in the Piazza, Mamma Mia!, and The Lion King. Einhorn's work can be heard on the current touring production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. Einhorn has worked at Goodspeed Opera House, Signature Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and PaperMill Playhouse. He was principal vocal coach and pianist for Houston Grand Opera's An Evening with Audra McDonald, a double-bill of Poulenc's La Voix Humaine and LaChiusa's Send. Recording credits include Bullets Over Broadway, Cinderella, Evita, Sondheim on Sondheim (Grammy Nom) Stage Door Canteen and McDonald's newest release, Go Back Home. He served as the music director for HBO's Peabody Award winning documentary Six by Sondheim and music supervisor for Great Performances Peabody Award winning special “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy” on PBS. Andy Einhorn is an honors graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas.

In this week's episode, we have the privilege of talking to Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor of the Baylor University Symphony Orchestra and Director of Orchestral Studies.  With many years of experience conducting orchestras all around the world, Miguel tells us about what the ultimate goal of a conductor should be, and his methods on preparing scores and working with ensembles.Connect with Miguel Harth-Bedoya!Website: https://www.miguelharth-bedoya.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miguelharthbedoya/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiguelHarthBedoyaTwitter: https://twitter.com/MHarthBedoyaYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDtynJwmcgudZPu9hkFWDgBaylor University School of Music: https://www.baylor.edu/music/The Conducting Institute: https://conductinginstitute.org/Miguel Harth-Bedoya is the Director of Orchestral Studies at Baylor University. He is the former music director of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (New Zealand), and New York Youth Symphony. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. Miguel has conducted worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, and the Sydney Symphony, among others. He is also the Founder of The Conducting Institute in Ft. Worth, Texas.Want a free piece of music for your ensemble to perform? Join Christian's mailing list!https://www.christianfortnermusic.com/mailings

Conductor Susie Bechasil Seiter, who specializes in orchestra pops and film score conducting, discuss systematic gender bias, barriers, and her experiences touring with bands around the world!Susie Benchasil Seiter is a prolific conductor, orchestrator and composer for film, television, video games, and live concerts. Susie currently stays busy conducting Live to Picture shows with venerable symphonies, orchestrating various projects  and her first co-written Netflix limited series is due out this fall.Seiter is best known for orchestrating and conducting the remarkably successful orchestral concert tours The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses and Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions. Combined, these tours have been performed more than 300 times by some of the world's most respected orchestras. In 2017-2018 alone, she conducted over 80 orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic at London's Apollo Hammersmith, The Orchestra of St. Luke's at Madison Square Garden, the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap, and the Sydney Symphony at the iconic Sydney Opera House. Seiter excels in leading popular symphonic film concerts such as Frozen Live, Muppets Christmas Carol, Pixar in Concert and Mary Poppins Live. She recently completed a 120 city worldwide orchestra tour as conductor and music director for multiple Grammy-winning band Evanescence and Billboard Music Award winner and YouTube sensation, Lindsey Stirling. Last year she conducted the Paramount blockbuster hit Snake Eyes: A GI Joe Origin Story and Netflix's holiday favorite 8-Bit Christmas. She is excited to appear this summer with Toy Story Live and Nightmare Before Christmas live in various cities. Susie also likes to boast that she conducted the recording to Zombieland 2 at Capitol Studios nine days after giving birth.Originally from Baltimore, Seiter now calls Los Angeles home, where she lives with Chad and their sons Samuel and William.

If you don't know George Ellis, you only think you don't know him, because chances are you've heard some of his work already. From the Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies, NRL Grand Finals and the Davis Cup, to concerts of all styles across the globe, the hands of George Ellis have guided some of the world's greatest musicians in front of hundreds of thousands of people. He's also worked with the likes of: Lou Reed, The Church, Megan Washington, Josh Pyke, Sneaky Sound System, Art vs Science, Human Nature, Augie March, GangGajang, Guy Sebastian, Paulini, David Campbell, John Williamson, Marcia Hines, Alex Lloyd, Deborah Conway, Clare Bowditch, John Paul Young, Jimmy Little, Troy Casser-Daley, Doug Parkinson, Grace Knight, Jade MacRae, Jeff Duff, Felicity Urqhuart and Don Spencer. After all those achievements, George takes time out to visit Tom and Nick to talk about his career, his Greekness and his love of music.This episode of Ouzo Talk is brought to you by:Mootch & Me: https://www.mootchandme.com.au/Meet the Greek Restaurant:  https://www.meetthegreek.com.au/Also check out:George Ellis: https://georgeellis.com.au/about/Support the showEmail us at ouzotalk@outlook.comSubscribe to our Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3n85GSdk5Q&t=6sFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OuzoTalkFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ouzo_talk/

We sat down for a talk with conductor Paul McCreesh. First established as the Artistic Director of Gabrieli Consort & Players, he now guest-conducts some of the world's finest orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bergen Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Dallas Symphony. He is a former Principal Conductor and Artistic Director at the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon, and served for six seasons as Artistic Director of the Wratislavia Cantans festival in Wrocław, Poland.

Michael Dixon has performed with the Sydney Symphony orchestra performing French horn. New podcasts are available every Friday at 6pm Sydney Australia time. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stephen-shiels/message

Peter Bodnar is a singing teacher based in Sydney, Australia. He trains professional singers in the music theatre and classical performing arts industry.Peter harnesses over 30 years in the business, as a singer, actor and teacher on corporate and musical theatre stages. A variety of credits include children's theatre and commercial musical theatre - The Magic Faraway Tree and Winnie The Pooh with Garry Ginivan Attractions, South Pacific for GFO, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore with Essgee Entertainment and Goetterdaemerung with the Sydney Symphony.He has also been a regular performer with the global sensation The Three Waiters, providing an opportunity to exercise his own voice in a repertoire of musical theatre and classical fare.Peter fosters the careers of both up-and-coming performers and industry legends through his committed and insightful approach to the Artist's voice.The Stages podcast is available from Apple podcasts, Spotify, Whooshkaa and where all good podcasts are found.

Having recently performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel, pianist David Fung joins us on the Classical Post Podcast for an intriguing conversation highlighting his design and style aesthetics. He speaks on the wabi-sabi approach to minimalism and a dream house of raw material. Plus, hear if he prefers to spend a day in Biden or Rhianna's shoes. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR DISCUSSION Favorite cocktail: Manhattan with Luxardo cherries Style icons/movements: Marie Kondo, minimalism, wabi-sabi (finding beauty in imperfection) Architecture preference: Mid-century modern, Frank Lloyd Wright Dream aesthetic: Raw material, austerity, massive space Fashion: Issey Miyake, Cartier, Dior, Uniqlo Recommended products: Aesop Whose shoes would you walk in for a day? Toss up between Biden or Rhianna What does success mean to you? Success is being able to do what you love on a day-to-day basis and being able to share this. What's one important trait in the workplace? A simpatico professional environment is very valuable. Learn more: davidfung.com, Instagram, Facebook Praised for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances in The Washington Post, pianist David Fung is widely recognized for interpretations that are elegant and refined, yet intensely poetic and uncommonly expressive. Declared a Rising Star in BBC Music Magazine, Mr. Fung regularly appears with the world's premier ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the San Diego Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony, as well as the major orchestras in his native country of Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony, the Queensland Symphony, and the Sydney Symphony. Mr. Fung garnered international attention as laureate of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the Arthur Rubinstein Piano International Masters Competition in Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv, he was further distinguished by the Chamber Music and Mozart Prizes, awarded in areas in which Mr. Fung has a passionate interest. Mr. Fung is the first piano graduate of the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles and is a Steinway Artist. -- Classical Post explores the intersection of classical music, style, and wellness, diving into meaningful conversations with leading artists from an array of different backgrounds. Based in New York City, Classical Post is a touchpoint for tastemakers. Visit our website for exclusive articles or subscribe to our monthly newsletter to be notified of new content.

(Originally aired in May 2021) Noel Cislowski has a long and rich career as a teacher, lecturer, actor, producer, conductor and director. He has performed lead roles in musical comedy, and has appeared as narrator/singer in works such as Peter And The Wolf and Tubby the Tuba with the Sydney Symphony and Willoughby Symphony Orchestras. His passion for education is perhaps best expressed by the fact he is Chair of the Sydney Eisteddfod, one of the largest and most successful competitive performing arts festivals of its type in the world. In 2016, he became a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the performing arts and community organisations.

Here is the new episode of The Interview Series on the MULTI-MEDIA MEN podcast network, where the show is related to all things Movies, Music, and Entertainment! Here on this new episode, host Bryan Kluger from Boomstick Comics, High Def Digest, and Screen Rant, join in on the fun. Our Feature Presentation this episode is a wonderful talk with composer/musician - BENJAMIN WALLFISCH! About Benjamin Wallfisch: Composer of Andy Muschietti's IT and IT Chapter 2, David F. Sandberg's SHAZAM!, Leigh Whannell's THE INVISIBLE MAN and co-composer of Denis Villeneuve's BLADE RUNNER: 2049 (with Hans Zimmer), Benjamin Wallfisch has worked on over 75 feature films and received Golden Globe, BAFTA, 2x GRAMMY and EMMY nominations for his work.  He is currently scoring Simon McQuoid's MORTAL KOMBAT for New Line/Warner Bros and was recently nominated as 'Film Composer of the Year' in the World Soundtrack Awards for the second consecutive year. To date, the movies he has scored have made over $2.5 billion in worldwide box office receipts, and in 2019 Variety inducted him into their ‘Billion Dollar Composer' series in recognition of this. Other recent projects include Academy Award Best Picture nominee HIDDEN FIGURES, directed by Ted Melfi (in collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer) and David F. Sandberg's box office hits ANNABELLE: CREATION and LIGHTS OUT. On the invitation of Zimmer, he wrote 'Variation 15', based on Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations, for Christopher Nolan's DUNKIRK. In recent years, Benjamin has also scored Gore Verbinski's A CURE FOR WELLNESS, the Steven Spielberg produced the short film AUSCHWITZ, directed by James Moll, KING OF THIEVES, starring Michael Caine and directed by James Marsh; and Steven Knight's SERENITY, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. He also recently completed scoring HOSTILE PLANET, a six-part series for National Geographic. With over 25 albums of his music released to date on labels including Deutsche Grammophon and Epic Records, Benjamin has performed live in over 100 concerts worldwide, leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House, and Royal Festival Hall. He has collaborated, recorded, and performed his music with artists including Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock, and Yuja Wang, and has over 50 concert music commissions to his name. He has also collaborated three times with Pharrell Williams, including a live performance at the 2015 GRAMMY Awards, and recently partnered with Adele, arranging her 2017 GRAMMY performance of George Michael's 'Fast Love'. A member of the BAFTA® Academy since 2009, Benjamin was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London in 2014. In 2017, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.   Benjamin and I start the show with origin stories, how he got into music and playing piano and his transition from classical to film composing was accomplished. We move onto his work in horror films, his friendship with Hans Zimmer, and even talk about his grandmother, who has an incredible journey and tale of music and history. Then, of course, we get into the fun questions. Enjoy the show! VISIT BENJAMIN WALLFISCH HERE And don't forget to visit iTunes , Stitcher , I Heart Radio, and Spotify to subscribe to our podcast. You can also email us at mybloodypodcast@gmail.com. Enjoy the show and see you next week! Thank you for listening. https://boomstickcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ben-wallfisch.mp3

Penderecki in Memoriam Podcast is produced and hosted by Max Horowitz, Crossover Media. Created by Anna Perzanowska and Klaudia Ofwona Draber, and presented by Polish Cultural Institute New York. Penderecki in Memoriam Podcast unveils a multifaceted portrait of Krzysztof Penderecki, with commentary from musicians, colleagues, radio programmers, and writers who lend insight and memories of Poland's greatest modern composer. This podcast is part of Penderecki in Memoriam Worldwide project, honoring the life and legacy of the great composer. Thank you to project partners DUX, NAXOS, Ludwig van Beethoven Association, and Schott EAM for sharing Krzysztof Penderecki's music with the world. Barry Douglas has established a major international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Moscow. As Artistic Director of Camerata Ireland, the only all-Ireland orchestra and the Clandeboye Festival, he continues to celebrate his Irish heritage whilst also maintaining a busy international touring schedule. In recent seasons Barry performed with a list of orchestras that includes the London Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian National, Vancouver Symphony, Oregon Symphony and Halle Orchestras. He also performed the premiere of Kevin Volans' fourth piano concerto with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and in 16/17 marked the 30th anniversary of his Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition win with full Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto cycles with the RTE Orchestra in Dublin and the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. Other recent highlights include a major UK tour with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, and appearances with the Barcelona Symphony, Vancouver and Sydney Symphony orchestras as well as a continuation of his collaboration with the Borodin String Quartet. Also a highly sought after recitalist and chamber musician, he has given performances across the globe from Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Wigmore Hall and the Verbier Festival to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Grand Theatre in Shanghai and other cities in China. Piano Concerto, "Resurrection": Penderecki: Piano & Flute Concertos / Douglas, Wit / Item # 8572696 Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima: Eternal Penderecki / Wit, Bieler, Tichman, Warsaw National Po Et Al / Item # 8572134

Part 2 with Irish conductor and composer Eímear Noone, best known for her award-winning work on video game music. She has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, l’Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne, the Sydney Symphony, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and conducted in Sydney Opera House and Beijing Olympic stadium. Eimear continues to chat about her incredible career composing and conducting the music for World of Warcraft, The Legend of Zelda, Overwatch, her experience being a woman in classical music and growing up in Ireland. Eimear on Twitter: twitter.com/eimearnoone Eimear on Instagram: www.instagram.com/eimearworld/ ATS Twitter: twitter.com/aroundthesound_ ATS Instagram: www.instagram.com/aroundthesoundpodcast/ ATS Facebook: www.facebook.com/aroundthesoundpodcast Megan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/meganoneill Megan on instagram: www.instagram.com/meganoneillmusic/ Megan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MeganONeillMusic Eoin on Twitter: twitter.com/eoinsandford Eoin on Instagram: www.instagram.com/eoin_sandford/ Episode edited by Christopher Wood Twitter: twitter.com/C_D_Wood Website: www.christopherwoodcomposition.com/

Eímear Noone is an Irish conductor and composer, best known for her award-winning work on video game music. She has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, l’Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne, the Sydney Symphony, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and several other national orchestras. Eimear joins Megan and Eoin to chat about her incredible career composing and conducting the music for World of Warcraft, The Legend of Zelda, Overwatch, her experience being a woman in classical music and growing up in Ireland. Eimear on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eimearnoone Eimear on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eimearworld/ ATS Twitter: twitter.com/aroundthesound_ ATS Instagram: www.instagram.com/aroundthesoundpodcast/ ATS Facebook: www.facebook.com/aroundthesoundpodcast Megan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/meganoneill Megan on instagram: www.instagram.com/meganoneillmusic/ Megan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MeganONeillMusic Eoin on Twitter: twitter.com/eoinsandford Eoin on Instagram: www.instagram.com/eoin_sandford/ Episode edited by Christopher Wood Twitter: twitter.com/C_D_Wood Website: www.christopherwoodcomposition.com/

Chatting With Sherri welcomes Emily Who! Emily who? Emily WHO! She’s a new Australian children’s singer who just released her debut album, A Day For Adventure – which can be played on itunes/spotify/google music and all other streaming services. She has a live show ready to be toured across Australia when such time allows which she recently performed at preschools in London. When she’s not singing her Emily Who songs, Emily writes and presents the Kur-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra Kids’ Proms performances, children’s shows for the Acacia Quartet and children’s activities at Sydney Symphony family concerts. In 2017 she toured with Poetry in Action to schools across Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, performing poetry. She volunteers for Storyville and Books In Homes – regularly reading stories for young children. She is also an actor and regularly performs in Australian television and theatre. She received the Emerging Artist award at the 2019 Sydney Fringe Festival. In 2020 Emily was selected for the young artists program at the Visioni Festival in Bologna, Italy and the Next Generation program in Helsingborg, Sweden as part of the Bibu Festival. Quick Links to all things Emily Who: Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/artist/?id=Ablgsxbeupmvdrplyb6h32jiiqi iTunes: https://music.apple.com/au/album/a-day-for-adventure/1474919833 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1p4lG99LDuaGuly3QAxPkN You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/c/emilywho Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/EmilyWho.kids/posts/?ref=page_internal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_emily_who/     

In this episode, Michael Harper and I discuss a lip injury he sustained during his college education, and what his road back to healthy playing looked like.Michael Harper joined the Jacksonville Symphony in January 2018 as 2nd trumpet. He has performed as a substitute musician with the Sydney Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra (on baroque trumpet), New World Symphony, and Chicago Civic Orchestra. Mr. Harper has spent his summers as a member of the Tanglewood, Verbier, Lucerne, Aspen, NOI, AIMS, Chosen Vale, and Interlochen music festivals. He performed the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Jahja Ling in April 2016, having won the school’s concerto competition the fall prior. He won first prize in the 2016 Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition brass division and second prize in the 2017 Edith Knox Performance Competition. In March 2010, Michael was featured on NPR’s From The Top with his trumpet trio, the only such ensemble to ever perform on the show.Mr. Harper earned his Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance and in Music Theory at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, studying with Charles Geyer, Barbara Butler, Christopher Martin, and Robert Sullivan. He earned his Master of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), studying with Michael Sachs and Michael Miller. While studying at CIM, Mr. Harper also developed a strong interest and earned certificates in Eurhythmics Pedagogy and Early Music Performance; he began playing the baroque trumpet and performed in the Case Western Reserve University baroque orchestra and chamber groups. He earned a Professional Studies Certificate at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, studying with Jim Wilt. Michael was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and began his musical studies on the bugle at the age of eight, studying with his father. Support the show (https://thatsnotspit.com/support/)

Kees Boersma has had a remarkable musical career.  In addition to serving as Principal Bass of the Sydney Symphony since 1990, Kees teaches at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is an active clinician and guest artist. I had the opportunity to catch up with Kees in person during my trip to Australia.  He was one of the headliners for the Melbourne BassDay, and we met up in a charming Fitzroy coffeeshop to talk through what he played on his recital for this event, his varied career, favorite gig stories, what it’s like behind the scenes at the Sydney Opera House, and much more.  Enjoy! Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: D'Addario Strings This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.   Steve Swan String Bass Steve Swan String Bass features the West Coast’s largest selection of double basses between Los Angeles and Canada.  Located in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco, their large retail showroom holds about 70 basses on display. Their new basses all feature professional setups and come with a cover at no additional cost. Used and consignment instruments receive any needed repairs and upgrades before getting a display position on the sales floor. Upton Bass String Instrument Company Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players. The Bass Violin Shop The Bass Violin Shop offers the Southeast’s largest inventory of laminate, hybrid and carved double basses. Whether you are in search of the best entry-level laminate, or a fine pedigree instrument, there is always a unique selection ready for you to try. Trade-ins and consignments welcome! Modacity   Modacity is a practicing app that helps musicians be more effective at practice.  They help you get the results you want, while keeping you encouraged and motivated to stick with it and reach those goals – however big, or small, they may be.    Kolstein Music The Samuel Kolstein Violin Shop was founded by Samuel Kolstein in 1943 as a Violin and Bow making establishment in Brooklyn, New York. Now on Long Island, over 60 years later, Kolstein’s has built a proud reputation for quality, craftsmanship and expertise in both the manufacture and repair of a whole range of stringed instruments, and has expanded to a staff of twelve experts in restoration, marketing and production. A440 Violin Shop An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.   Contrabass Conversations production team: Jason Heath, host Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing Mitch Moehring, audio engineer Trevor Jones, publication and promotion Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

February 3, 2020 At long last I had a chance to chat with Susie Benchasil Seiter!  We've been trying to schedule this interview since late 2018 and I'm thrilled that it finally worked out.  The scheduling difficulties can be attributed to the fact that Susie is one of the hardest working musicians in show biz!  She's a conductor, orchestrator and mom of two beautiful baby boys. I had the opportunity to work with Susie a few times during the Evanescence/Lindsey Stirling world tour in 2018, and I've been a fan ever since.    In the interview we discuss how she got the gig with Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling, her philosophy of conductors and conducting, where she first learned to conduct, the unexpected and lasting influence of a college chemistry teacher, the impact that famed Hollywood composer, Alan Menken had on her career choice, and the challenges of a being a female conductor in a male dominated profession.  Susie Benchasil Seiter is a prolific conductor and orchestrator for film, television, video games, and live concerts. She recently completed a worldwide orchestra tour as conductor and music director for multiple Grammy-winning Evanescence and Billboard Music Award winner and YouTube sensation, Lindsey Stirling.  She's conducted orchestras all over the world, including including the Royal Philharmonic at London's Apollo Hammersmith, The Orchestra of St. Luke's at Madison Square Garden, the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap, and the Sydney Symphony at the iconic Sydney Opera House.  Susie Seiter believes that orchestral music should be shared and celebrated by all generations, and she takes great pride in her contributions as a conductor and orchestrator. Originally from Baltimore, Seiter now calls Los Angeles home, where she lives with Chad and their sons.   

In episode 33 Luke talks to an old friend of his, the conductor John Wilson. John was born in Gateshead and studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where in 2011 he was made a Fellow. Back in 1994, he formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway, and with whom he has appeared regularly across the UK, including at the BBC Proms annually since 2009. In March 2019, John was awarded the prestigious ISM Distinguished Musician Award for his services to music. He is now in demand at the highest level all over the world, working with some of the finest orchestras and opera houses. In the UK, he performs regularly at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Glyndebourne and the BBC Proms with orchestras such as London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony. Elsewhere, he has conducted the Royal Concertgebouw, Budapest Festival, Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony orchestras amongst others. He made his opera debut in 2016 conducting Madam Butterfly at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on their autumn tour and has since conducted Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at English National Opera and returned to Glyndebourne Summer Festival to conduct Massenet’s Cinderella. John has a large and varied discography which includes a series of discs with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra exploring the works of Richard Rodney Bennett, with the BBC Philharmonic devoted to the symphonic works of Aaron Copland and numerous recordings with the John Wilson Orchestra. In 2019 Chandos released his first recording with the Sinfonia of London which features Korngold’s Symphony in F Sharp. In this conversation we discuss John’s earliest musical experiences, then explore some big topics, such as the idea of artistic perfection, why songs are central to John’s musical world, the importance to him of community music making, and whether you can listen to Ewartung while brushing your teeth (Boulez thinks you can’t).

Iva Davies is one of Australia's most accomplished musicians and composers with a career spanning over 30 years with his band Icehouse, and as a composer for film and theatre. I produced this feature music show with him in 2014.The number one song on the Australian pop music charts in 1980 was The Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star', accompanied through the year by such gems as Michael Jackson 'Don't Stop Til You Get Enough', The Village People 'You Can't Stop The Music', Split Enz 'I Got You', The Vapours 'Turning Japanese' and Queen 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'.In May 1980, Australian radio stations started playing a song by Sydney band, Flowers. 'Can't Help Myself' made it into the Australian Top 10 and was the first song from their debut album, 'Icehouse'. I think I was first in line at my local record store to by the single and was enormously envious of my older brothers who would regularly see Flowers playing at the local pub. IVA DAVIES: We came from quite a distinct stream of music which generated by the punk movement out of Britain, but then it morphed into a strange hybrid because of technology. There was an explosion of technology, especially synthesiser technology, at that period, so we were a kind of punk band with synthesisers which was a bit odd. But clearly, these other people were not, including Michael Jackson! There were all sorts of strange things going on, strange fashions; it was a very interesting time."The first song we put out was called 'Can't Help Myself' and we'd been playing all these classic punk venues for about three years before we put out that first record. I remember being told it had become a disco hit in Melbourne and I was semi-horrified. I was very pleased it was a hit, of course, but a disco hit - we weren't a disco band!By the time we got to 1980 we'd been playing quite a few of our own songs but still had lacings of the odd cover version of things not even particularly fashionable at the time, things like T-Rex songs, but by then we'd really turned into an original band and signed with a small independent label in Sydney called Regular Records and we'd recorded our first album, and although they constitute really the first 10 songs I ever wrote, they did have a certain flavour about them that I guess was, again, a hybrid of punk with synthesizers.CAROL DUNCAN: Iva, you mustn't have been very long out of the Conservatorium by this stage?IVA DAVIES: I dropped out of the (Sydney) Conservatorium when I was about 21, so I was about 23 or 24 by this point.CAROL DUNCAN: So how did you decide to steer your songwriting and music releases in that environment at that time?IVA DAVIES: It's a terrible admission to make considering that 'Can't Help Myself' made it into the Top 10, that I was probably fairly unaware of radio except for 2JJ. That's a terrible admission for somebody who's trying to break into getting airplay on radio!CAROL DUNCAN: Something like The Vapors 'Turning Japanese' would have been all over 2SM (in Sydney) at the time. 2SM would have been the number one commercial pop music station in the late 1970s.IVA DAVIES: Indeed, and I missed a great deal of that. I think we were pretty well buried in our own world and our own world had been dominated by what I'd listened to as I grew up, quite a lot of classics, psychedelic and heavy rock bands including Pink Floyd and so on. And then when Johnny Rotten (the Sex Pistols) arrived, the world was turned upside-down quite literally.He put all of those big bands out of business overnight and London was the place to be. I remember very clearly when Keith (Welsh) and I, our bass player and co-founder of Flowers, we'd been playing almost every night of the week, sometimes nine shows a week. There were clubs all over Sydney, there were clubs all over Melbourne, there were really great bands everywhere and on any given night down the road there'd be Midnight Oil and INXS and any number of bands.When we arrived in London for our very first international tour, we looked at each other and said, 'Let's get a copy of New Musical Express (NME) and go and see a band 'cause this is where it's all coming from!' And there was nothing on!I was absolutely gobsmacked that Sydney was a hundred times more active than London on a club scene. It absolutely mystified me. All the pubs shut early, there was nowhere to go!CAROL DUNCAN: Who did you admire at the time?IVA DAVIES: I didn't buy albums of anybody, I didn't consume music. I was very curious about music but most of what I listened to was via 2JJ. 2JJ was a very progressive station; I think it's been forgotten to some degree. 2JJ were playing things that had been bought on import - they hadn't even been released in Australia yet - and so it was fascinating.We were hearing things we thought before anybody else in the world had heard them, things like Elvis Costello, XTC, mainly British bands but the odd thing coming out of America. There was a real movement of punk and new wave.CAROL DUNCAN: So you and Keith have taken off to London, you're going to see all the bands, but there's no-one home?IVA DAVIES: There's no-one home! I remember thinking at the time, 'Well where did The Cure come from and where did The Clash and The Damned and The Jam come from? Where are they all'?I had imagined that London was heaving with little clubs with all those names playing in them every night but it was really something created through the tyranny of distance, I guess. We had amplified that whole thing that had started with Carnaby Street, The Beatles, and Rolling Stones; and in my mind, and I'm sure in the minds of many other Australians, this was the mecca that we were going to visit. But it turned out it was really as much a product of BBC1 and radio and record companies than it was of an active pub music scene which was exactly what we had in Australia.CAROL DUNCAN: So, what did you do, turn around and come home?IVA DAVIES: We went off touring. We went off touring with Simple Minds who were just starting to break through in Europe. They'd a quite successful album, and we did a reciprocal deal with them where we said, 'OK, if we are your support band in Europe, that will help us, and you come to Australia and be our support band there because nobody knows you. In fact, to this day, and I'm sure Jim Kerr from Simple Minds would take credit in saying that tour we did with them really broke Simple Minds in Australia - it was off the back of that tour that they started achieving success here. Of course, many many albums and many many successes later I still catch up with Jim Kerr quite frequently.CAROL DUNCAN: I remember seeing the two bands at the Manly Vale Hotel.IVA DAVIES: Very possible! That was one of many hotels in that northern beaches area, and I ended up living on the northern beaches by accident. It was quite tribal. There was a very big pub at Narrabeen called the Royal Antler and it was our first proper gig, I guess, and almost residency. At one point we and Midnight Oil were alternating weekends. We never met them, but there was this kind of unspoken rivalry for the same audience of mad, drunken surfies.CAROL DUNCAN: It was one of Sydney's great beer barns.IVA DAVIES: It was and they were mad, of course, mad drunken surfies and probably a few other substances, as well. But they were great nights. It was a big place; I think it held something like 1500 people. And you're right, we probably did attract slightly different audiences, and certainly we also had the other side of us which was playing the inner city hotels which, of course, were very driven by the punk movement, so we'd look out on a place like the Civic Hotel and there'd been a sea of black and safety pins.CAROL DUNCAN: Why did the name change come about? Was it as simple as swapping the band name and album title?IVA DAVIES: It was, but we actually had no choice. What we hadn't realised was that while we were happily going along as Flowers in Australia and New Zealand, as soon as we signed to an international record company and they said, 'We're going to release this around the rest of the world, we need to do a little check on the name. It hadn't even occurred to me that a band name is like a company trading name and, unfortunately, there were at least three other acts around the world trading on the name 'Flowers'. One of them being the very, very famous session bass player, Herbie Flowers, who you probably know best for being the creator of that wonderful bass line that introduces Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side'.So there were objections and we simply had no choice, we had to come up with another name. This has happened to a number of Australian bands. It happened to Sherbet who became Highway, and The Angels who became Angel City. Our logic was fairly simple - people here in Australia and New Zealand only know us by two things, that is the name of the band 'Flowers' or the name of the album 'Icehouse'. So, we became Icehouse.A band name becomes its identity in a far bigger way that just a set of letters. I've had this discussion with my 17-year old son who has got a collection of friends in a band and they haven't been able to think of anything. I keep asking what the band is called and they're called something different every day. I said 'you better get it right because it will end up owning you'.CAROL DUNCAN: Your son has actually played with you?IVA DAVIES: Yes, oh you know about this! I had a fairly mad idea last year, although the idea had been around since 1983. I remember we were touring in Europe and we had a number one song in Europe so there was a lot of pressure on me. I was doing millions of interviews and we were playing very big festivals of 30,000 people.We were playing on one and I was standing on the side of the stage next to my band and Peter Tosh's band was playing - Peter Tosh was the co-founder of Bob Marley's Wailers - and it was a big band, 9 or 10 people on stage, backing singers and whatnot, and I said to my bass player, "See the guy at the back going chukka, chukka, chukka on the guitar, the laziest job in the world? I want his job. I had a conversation last year with somebody about this moment and they said, 'Why don't you do it?'Our manager thought I was mad, a number of promoters thought I was mad, too, but what we did was completely re-invent Icehouse as an eight-piece reggae band. We added some extra guys from Melbourne to give us a brass section and we re-arranged every one of the hits that we'd been playing in the classic repertoire as reggae songs.We put two shows on - one in Melbourne, one in Sydney - as a kind of Christmas party because my feeling was that the reason we were doing it is because reggae makes you want to dance and smile and laugh, and we had the best possible time, it was just fantastic. We've just released the recording of the Sydney show and re-named the band DubHOUSE - the album is DubHOUSE Live.I wanted to get my children to come. My daughter is OK because she's 20 but my son was under age, under the drinking age, and the only way I could get him in was to put him in the band. So I said to him, 'Look Evan ...' he's17 and a very good guitarist, 'I'm sorry, you're not going to get a rehearsal, you're not going to get a sound check. Here's a recording of a rehearsal of Street Cafe done in this style, you've got the guitar solo, go home and learn it and I'll see you on stage."And so the poor guy was thrown on stage with absolutely no preparation whatsoever, but fortunately, he had done his homework and had a great night.CAROL DUNCAN: How do the kids see your career, Iva?IVA DAVIES: Well the strange truth is that they didn't. I finished the last tour that we did back in the day, as it were, when my daughter was six weeks old. Effectively, we didn't play again and my children grew up.In 2009, our long-time tour manager, Larry, who works for a very big audio production company - he'd been working for with us since 1984 - came up with the idea for Sound Relief (concerts held in Sydney & Melbourne for 2009 bushfire relief) and actually volunteered us, so we were the first band on the bill for Sound Relief.By that time in 2009, my daughter would have been 14 or 13, and my son 12 or 13, and that was the first concert they ever saw me play. So they'd grown up all those years not knowing anything about it, or relatively little.CAROL DUNCAN: Did they think Icehouse was cool or were you 'just Dad' and therefore couldn't possibly be cool?IVA DAVIES: Strangely enough, I seem to have breached the cool barrier into the cool area. A very strange thing happened, before that Sound Relief show and before my daughter really got to appreciate my association with it. She came home from school one afternoon, waltzed in the door and announced, 'I LOVE THE EIGHTIES! I love EVERYTHING about the eighties!'Strangely enough, the eighties are going through a whole new generation of cool at the moment. Except for the hair, and a lot of the clothes.CAROL DUNCAN: When you look at that part of your career, the pop/rock part of your career, what do you see, Iva?IVA DAVIES: I'm proud that we worked very hard, I believe, to maintain a kind of class and a quality. That went through everything, even the recordings themselves. I went through the graduation from vinyl to CD, which was a massive turnaround, and it happened incredibly quickly.I remember having a talk to a record company about it and they said, 'Last year we manufactured 80% out of vinyl and 20% out of CD, this year we're manufacturing 80% out of CD and 20% out of vinyl, and the following year we're not making any vinyl at all. That's how fast it turned around. But 'Measure for Measure', our fourth album is one of the first three fully digital recordings ever made in the world, which was a real milestone, so it's the first completely noiseless recording that was made for the new format of CD. It's moments like that that I reflect on and think, well, that's because we really put a lot of care and attention into these things.CAROL DUNCAN: Iva, you're also seen as one of the pioneers in Australia of bringing in synthesizers, computers, the Fairlight and so on. You mentioned an interesting word there, 'noiseless', and that's perhaps where the feud happens between the vinyl purists and people who are very happy to purchase their music in a digital form whether on CD or via digital download. How do you see the vinyl vs CD war when it comes to audio quality?IVA DAVIES: I noted with some amusement touched with horror a program that Linda Mottram did on 702 in Sydney where there was this discussion about vinyl, and she spoke with a so-called expert who was out of a university, and with due respect to that professor I desperately wanted to call in and say, "Can I just tell you about what actually happens when you're making pieces of vinyl and why they sound the way they do, and how it is absolutely possible to make CDs sound exactly like vinyl IF that were the endgame that you wanted to have in mind.I won't go into it now but the fact of the matter is it's all about a process called mastering. The way that tapes, mixes, were mastered for vinyl had to be very particular because of the intolerance of vinyl - vinyl can't carry very much big bass. I found that out with the Flowers album when I insisted to the co-producer that we put lots of bottom end into it and then realised a bit later on when the mastering engineer said to me, "I can't cut this to vinyl, it's got too much bass in it." They're the sorts of mistakes that you make when you're young.I'm a firm believer in anything that doesn't have moving parts and that is digital. I'm afraid I've moved on from anything old-school quite happily.CAROL DUNCAN: Did you call in?IVA DAVIES: No, I didn't, I just thought it's probably too difficult a conversation to have in detail over the radio but it does infuriate me because I'm sure if you got any mastering engineer on to the radio they'd say to you it's mainly because people don't understand how these things are made.CAROL DUNCAN: What gave you the confidence to leap into these new technologies?IVA DAVIES: Perhaps it was more out of ignorance than anything, I certainly didn't see any risk involved, but the main driver for me was that these were new toys. Every time something new was invented, my eyes would light up and I'd think, 'Imagine the possibilities!'I remember expressly that conversation I had with our management where, out of sheer co-incidence they'd moved offices from where they were in Bondi Junction to the top storey of a two-storey building in Rushcutters Bay and the ground storey was where they made Fairlights, believe it or not. Management were oblivious to this, they had no idea what was going on down there. But I did and I came to the managers one day and said, 'I desperately want to get one of these machines, they are amazing.'Of course, I was proven correct because they revolutionised music forever. I think apart from the technology of recording, the sampler - which is what a Fairlight was - was the single most influential piece of technology ever created. I said this to my management, that I was desperate, that I'd really like one, but the catch was they were $32,000. That was in 1981 or 1982 so you can imagine how much money that was then - it was half a small house.But I got one, and interestingly enough my management were quite philosophical about it. They said, 'Well, it's a lot of money, but according to our calculations you'll pay for this with the first two projects you use it on.' And they were right. The first project I used it on was my very first film score for Russell Mulcahy's 'Razorback', which is about 95% Fairlight.The great irony of that was that I kept producing bits of music, because Russell Mulcahy was out in the desert filming scenes and he kept dragging up Peter Gabriel's fourth album, the one with Shock The Monkey on it, and they were out in the desert with this blasting away on a ghetto blaster and I got it into my head that this was what Russell likes. So I kept producing Gabriel-esque soundscapes and so on, and the producers of the movie kept coming back to me and saying, 'No, no no - that's not what we want, we don't want this.' In the end I was getting various clues from them but didn't really know, but I had another go along the lines of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' - a fairly mad piece of classical music. I constructed all this with the Fairlight, it was a quasi-orchestral thing. I took it back to them and they said, 'Yes! That's exactly it!' and I said, 'Well, if you wanted that sort of thing why didn't you go and get a classical composer.'In its day, 'Rite of Spring' was a controversial piece of music, and Iva Davies shares a birthday with Stravinsky.Considering that it was 1913 when that piece first hit the stage for Diaghilev's ballet company. It wasn't just the music; it was actually the subject matter of the ballet that I think was fairly upsetting to a lot of people. It's all about primal sexualism, basically, so you can imagine that to an audience of 1913 that sort of idea was fairly horrifying.CAROL DUNCAN: In 1984, you've got Razorback, also 'Sidewalk' - the third album from Icehouse, at this point did you consider that you didn't actually have to be a pop star?IVA DAVIES: No, I had a very strange life prior to that because I had a completely Jekyll and Hyde existence. I took up the guitar when I was 13, and taught myself, and it was probably also the year that I started taking oboe lessons. I had these two parallel lives and completely separate lives. I had a set of classical people - when I was in high school I played in a wind quintet and we used to rehearse every Saturday morning. We all had our first cars at that point. They were my friends and we went off and won the City of Sydney Eisteddfod and so on. They never, ever met the guys that I was in the acoustic band with. Ever! Because I just had these two lives. So my course was fairly accidental all the way through, it was probably always going to be accidental.To this day, I keep remembering things that I did. I remembered that I was in the orchestra that was primarily made up of members of the Sydney Symphony and the senior Conservatorium orchestra, of which I was a member, for the staging of the two first Australian ballets in the Opera House. I would have been about 19 and, of course, that's a fairly big moment for the Opera House to have a night featuring Australian opera in that building, and I'd completely forgotten about it. There are things from both lives that I've forgotten about.CAROL DUNCAN: 1985, your double life really starts to change as you start working with the Sydney Dance Company.IVA DAVIES: I have to give credit to our managers to some degree who recognised - Ray Hearn was managing us from the beginning. I think he considered himself to be a very erudite individual, he was very widely read, he'd seen every movie possible, and he had a huge record collection. He wasn't a musician but I think he spotted in me the potential that if I kept on that very two-dimension wheel of 'write an album, record an album, tour an album, write an album, record an album, tour an album ...', that I would burn out, that I needed something else to do. So it was he who went and pursued the soundtrack idea with Russell Mulcahy, and it was he who introduced me to the Sydney Dance Company who were a very dangerous company at that point. People forget that they did ballets entirely naked and this was quite revolutionary stuff in its day. They had a very young, hip audience. So it was a very smart move. But it was also a move that was good for the dance company. I had also forgotten until reminded about a month ago that in the Opera House's entire history this has never been repeated, but they did a very dangerous thing. They put two shows on a Friday and a Saturday night, one at a conventional hour and then a whole other audience would turn up at 10.30 at night and we'd do it all again. The staff at the Opera House thought this was going to be an absolute disaster, 'Nobody's going to go to the Opera House at 10.30pm to see a show', but they did and they were all my audience and they were coming to see what all the fuss was about. It was the most successful season the dance company has ever had.CAROL DUNCAN: Were you worried about your pop/rock audience coming over to see what you were doing and being disappointed?IVA DAVIES: I've always utterly failed to understand what the problem is between the various tribes of music. I started of as a bagpipe player when I was six, and although I went through that very, very particular stream of classical musicians, and they are, and they are a very exclusive lot - a lot of them, and they are a very intolerant lot - a lot of them, I think things have improved. But at that time they very much looked down their nose at 'popular music' and rock and roll, but by the same token it was equally prejudiced the other way around. I've never understood why. I don't get that you have to be one or the other but not all of them. In my head, there was absolutely no problem with my audience turning up to the ballet.CAROL DUNCAN: What gave you the confidence to follow both streams?IVA DAVIES: Only because I can kind of speak both languages. I had a discussion with somebody the other night about music and it is another language. It's certainly a language when you read and write it and I learned how to do that. But my dialogue with rock and roll musicians has to be completely different because most of the people I played with all these years don't read and write music. But rock and roll musicians communicate in a different kind of way. So because I'm comfortable in both of those languages, I can happily flick between the two of them, at whim almost.CAROL DUNCAN: Which is why I don't' let my kids drop out of their violin lessons - I want them to have that other language.IVA DAVIES: From my point of view, by miles, the single biggest advantage I've had in my work and succeeding in the broad framework of popular music is the fact that I was highly trained. That is the most sure, certain way to cut every corner you can - to actually know what you're doing.CAROL DUNCAN: December 31, 1999, and Icehouse is performing at the Millennium New Years Eve concert outside the Sydney Opera House and there is a moment on your face where it's just occurred to you how very special that moment is.IVA DAVIES: The penny really didn't drop, I mean, there was such a lot of pressure involved in that. The transmission, the TV director, Greg Beness, had synchronised a whole lot of footage to be running in parallel with shooting the performance. We had backups of backups because, of course, everybody thought that every computer in the world was going to blow up at midnight being the Y2K bug and so on. It was going out to about four billion people. It's not as if you can get to the end of it and go, 'Oh, we mucked that up, can we have another go?', 'Oh, they've already counted down; we're in a new millennium'. So I was incredibly aware of all of that and actually I've watched back some of the footage and it takes me a fair old while to settle down, it's (The Ghost Of Time) a 25-minute piece and it took me a number of minutes before I was, 'OK, we're up and running, everything seems to be working, everybody knows where they are, I can hear everything ....'I got to the end of it and stepped off the stage, Frank Sartor the Lord Mayor of Sydney gave me a glass of champagne, Richard Wilkins counted down from 10 and the fireworks went off directly over my head and I went, 'Wow!'CAROL DUNCAN: From this point, your other career really takes off and you head off to work on Master and Commander.IVA DAVIES: Yes, I've said to other young bands over the years, 'Just be aware - you never know who will be listening,' and so it was with thus that one person who was listening to The Ghost of Time on the millennium eve as it was going out, one of those four billion people, was one Peter Weir - an iconic Australian film director.This is how bizarre the next few years ended up being for me in terms of things just popping out of seemingly nowhere. I was sitting in my studio one day up on the northern beaches and the phone rang. A voice said, "Iva, this is Peter Weir. I'm filming Master and Commander on location in Baja, Mexico. I've fallen in love with The Ghost of Time. I want you to reassemble your team and give me a score like that."The whole experience was incredible, to go to Hollywood. I remember I had a colleague of mine, my music editor, had worked quite a bit in Hollywood on 'Moulin Rouge' and other things. He took me to the Fox lot and was very well recognised, but the thing that became immediately apparent was how incredibly well-respected Peter Weir is in Hollywood. Even though you don't necessarily associate him with massive blockbuster success time and time again, he's respected by directors and quality people in Hollywood and that's the difference.CAROL DUNCAN: Is it difficult to do this sort of work, to create something to someone else's demands?IVA DAVIES: I was very fortunate because Peter Weir has immense respect for music. He said to me not once, but twice, 'Music is the fountainhead of the arts,' that's how important it is to him. But having said that, he uses it very sparingly and in a very subtle way. So I had the great luxury to have three months to work on what equated to, in the end, not much more than 35 minutes worth of music. If you go and see a movie like 'Lord of the Rings', the composers had to write music from end to end of the film, so we're talking two and a half hours of music. Three months to produce that amount of music meant that it could be done with care but at a fairly unstressed pace, as it were. And that was fantastic. I have no doubt that Peter Weir quite deliberately planned the whole thing that way, so that it would be NOT a stressful operation. He's a consummate film-maker and he knows exactly what he's doing, so he schedules and plans things very well.Having said that, I always knew that the brief of a score writer is to write what the director wants to hear, not what the score writer wants to hear, so that was very apparent and so be it. Very often these films are the vision of a director and music is just one component of that. It should feed into their vision.CAROL DUNCAN: What are the professional moments that you hold dearest to your heart?IVA DAVIES: In terms of recording, I had a quite surreal moment. I was very influenced by one Brian Eno who was an absolute pioneer of synthesizers and electronic music, and in fact probably invented the term 'ambient music'. Of course, he was a founding member of Roxy Music but went on later to become incredibly successful in his own right and especially as a producer, he produced almost all of the U2 albums - massive albums. But I'd been following him since he was an early member of Roxy Music and especially been guided by his approach to synthesizers, which was very esoteric and completely at odds with a lot of the nasty noises that were being produced in the 1980s, for example. And I thank him for that because it probably stopped me from making a lot of bad sonic mistakes.The producer I was using at the time was a friend of his and I found myself having a conversation with the producer about the song we were working on at the time - a song called Cross the Border - I had in mind Brian Eno's backing vocal style. I knew that the producer, Rhett Davies, had worked with Brian Eno. I turned up to Air Studios, another very famous studio in London, to do the vocal session and in came Brian Eno. So there was a moment where I was standing in the studio, standing next to Brian Eno who was singing my lyrics and my backing vocal line. That was a real moment for me because he was a real hero of mine.CAROL DUNCAN: At what point did you realise that you had been successful enough to truly pursue anything that you wanted to do?IVA DAVIES: I spent most of my career not quite believing that things would work. In fact, I remember very clearly - we'd been working for years and years, working around these pubs, the first album came out, and I remember the first royalty cheque turned up. The accountant for the management company asked me into the office and said, 'Well, here's the cheque for the Flowers album for you,' and I looked at it and I'd been broke for years. My parents had to keep paying the odd rent payment for me and so on. We weren't earning any money at all, the album had only just come out, and I saw this cheque and it was for $15,000.I looked at Gino, who I had lunch with today - same accountant, and I said, 'Gino. This is amazing. This is incredible. I know I'm just going to fritter this away. I know I'll never get any more money out of this business. What's the deposit on the cheapest, cheapest, cheapest house in Sydney? Well, I bought the cheapest house in Sydney with that deposit, but of course, it wasn't the last cent that I made out of the music business.But for many years, for a long time, I really didn't consider that it was going to last, that I was going to make any money out of it. It's that classic thing where, luckily my parents didn't call me on the phone and say, 'When are you going to get a proper job?' they were very supportive. I think I was the one secretly calling myself and saying, 'When are you going to get a proper job?'CAROL DUNCAN: What are you still learning?IVA DAVIES: I'm still learning technology because unfortunately, it won't sit still! The industry standard for recording is a system called Pro-Tools, you very possibly use it in the studio there and it's certainly in every recording studio in the world. I've been working with Pro-Tools for a very long time but, of course, like any other software, there's a new release of it every five minutes. So I'm actually getting to the stage when I really am going to have to run to catch up! So unfortunately at my age, I'm still having to learn technology because it's the basic tool of my trade and that's never going to stop.CAROL DUNCAN: Are you still as excited by it as you were in the mid-1970s when you and Keith Welsh started 'Flowers' and when you went and harassed your management to allow you to buy that first Fairlight for $32,000?IVA DAVIES: I think I take it a bit more for granted these days because things have exploded in the way that they have. You can imagine the climate in which a piece of technology like the Fairlight came out; it was just mind-numbing. It was unlike anything anybody could ever imagine, whereas I suppose every time there's a new release of Pro-Tools, it's got a couple of lovely new features but it is a development of something which has been around for much more than a decade now.However, having said that, there seems to be a whole new generation of software writers who are incredibly interested in music and incredibly interested in playing with sound, and these are the people who are coming up with all the new noise generating bits - soft synthesisers and all that sort of stuff. That's kind of where the interesting new area is.CAROL DUNCAN: And Keith Welsh has been on this whole journey with you?IVA DAVIES: Indeed. In the music industry the whole time. He and I have been working closely over the past three years and we've started playing again and we re-released the entire catalogue. We put out a compilation called 'White Heat' which is about to go platinum.CAROL DUNCAN: What would you want the young Iva Davies to know?IVA DAVIES: That's a good question! I think I probably did seize most opportunities that came my way so I wouldn't necessarily say, 'just go as fast as you can with every opportunity that you can', I probably would have said, 'Put more attention to the money and where the money is going and who's getting it!' As a forensic accountant, I'm a kind of 'overview guy' as opposed to a 'detail guy'.

Iva Davies is one of Australia's most accomplished musicians and composers with a career spanning over 30 years with his band Icehouse, and as a composer for film and theatre. I produced this feature music show with him in 2014.The number one song on the Australian pop music charts in 1980 was The Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star', accompanied through the year by such gems as Michael Jackson 'Don't Stop Til You Get Enough', The Village People 'You Can't Stop The Music', Split Enz 'I Got You', The Vapours 'Turning Japanese' and Queen 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'.In May 1980, Australian radio stations started playing a song by Sydney band, Flowers. 'Can't Help Myself' made it into the Australian Top 10 and was the first song from their debut album, 'Icehouse'. I think I was first in line at my local record store to by the single and was enormously envious of my older brothers who would regularly see Flowers playing at the local pub. IVA DAVIES: We came from quite a distinct stream of music which generated by the punk movement out of Britain, but then it morphed into a strange hybrid because of technology. There was an explosion of technology, especially synthesiser technology, at that period, so we were a kind of punk band with synthesisers which was a bit odd. But clearly, these other people were not, including Michael Jackson! There were all sorts of strange things going on, strange fashions; it was a very interesting time."The first song we put out was called 'Can't Help Myself' and we'd been playing all these classic punk venues for about three years before we put out that first record. I remember being told it had become a disco hit in Melbourne and I was semi-horrified. I was very pleased it was a hit, of course, but a disco hit - we weren't a disco band!By the time we got to 1980 we'd been playing quite a few of our own songs but still had lacings of the odd cover version of things not even particularly fashionable at the time, things like T-Rex songs, but by then we'd really turned into an original band and signed with a small independent label in Sydney called Regular Records and we'd recorded our first album, and although they constitute really the first 10 songs I ever wrote, they did have a certain flavour about them that I guess was, again, a hybrid of punk with synthesizers.CAROL DUNCAN: Iva, you mustn't have been very long out of the Conservatorium by this stage?IVA DAVIES: I dropped out of the (Sydney) Conservatorium when I was about 21, so I was about 23 or 24 by this point.CAROL DUNCAN: So how did you decide to steer your songwriting and music releases in that environment at that time?IVA DAVIES: It's a terrible admission to make considering that 'Can't Help Myself' made it into the Top 10, that I was probably fairly unaware of radio except for 2JJ. That's a terrible admission for somebody who's trying to break into getting airplay on radio!CAROL DUNCAN: Something like The Vapors 'Turning Japanese' would have been all over 2SM (in Sydney) at the time. 2SM would have been the number one commercial pop music station in the late 1970s.IVA DAVIES: Indeed, and I missed a great deal of that. I think we were pretty well buried in our own world and our own world had been dominated by what I'd listened to as I grew up, quite a lot of classics, psychedelic and heavy rock bands including Pink Floyd and so on. And then when Johnny Rotten (the Sex Pistols) arrived, the world was turned upside-down quite literally.He put all of those big bands out of business overnight and London was the place to be. I remember very clearly when Keith (Welsh) and I, our bass player and co-founder of Flowers, we'd been playing almost every night of the week, sometimes nine shows a week. There were clubs all over Sydney, there were clubs all over Melbourne, there were really great bands everywhere and on any given night down the road there'd be Midnight Oil and INXS and any number of bands.When we arrived in London for our very first international tour, we looked at each other and said, 'Let's get a copy of New Musical Express (NME) and go and see a band 'cause this is where it's all coming from!' And there was nothing on!I was absolutely gobsmacked that Sydney was a hundred times more active than London on a club scene. It absolutely mystified me. All the pubs shut early, there was nowhere to go!CAROL DUNCAN: Who did you admire at the time?IVA DAVIES: I didn't buy albums of anybody, I didn't consume music. I was very curious about music but most of what I listened to was via 2JJ. 2JJ was a very progressive station; I think it's been forgotten to some degree. 2JJ were playing things that had been bought on import - they hadn't even been released in Australia yet - and so it was fascinating.We were hearing things we thought before anybody else in the world had heard them, things like Elvis Costello, XTC, mainly British bands but the odd thing coming out of America. There was a real movement of punk and new wave.CAROL DUNCAN: So you and Keith have taken off to London, you're going to see all the bands, but there's no-one home?IVA DAVIES: There's no-one home! I remember thinking at the time, 'Well where did The Cure come from and where did The Clash and The Damned and The Jam come from? Where are they all'?I had imagined that London was heaving with little clubs with all those names playing in them every night but it was really something created through the tyranny of distance, I guess. We had amplified that whole thing that had started with Carnaby Street, The Beatles, and Rolling Stones; and in my mind, and I'm sure in the minds of many other Australians, this was the mecca that we were going to visit. But it turned out it was really as much a product of BBC1 and radio and record companies than it was of an active pub music scene which was exactly what we had in Australia.CAROL DUNCAN: So, what did you do, turn around and come home?IVA DAVIES: We went off touring. We went off touring with Simple Minds who were just starting to break through in Europe. They'd a quite successful album, and we did a reciprocal deal with them where we said, 'OK, if we are your support band in Europe, that will help us, and you come to Australia and be our support band there because nobody knows you. In fact, to this day, and I'm sure Jim Kerr from Simple Minds would take credit in saying that tour we did with them really broke Simple Minds in Australia - it was off the back of that tour that they started achieving success here. Of course, many many albums and many many successes later I still catch up with Jim Kerr quite frequently.CAROL DUNCAN: I remember seeing the two bands at the Manly Vale Hotel.IVA DAVIES: Very possible! That was one of many hotels in that northern beaches area, and I ended up living on the northern beaches by accident. It was quite tribal. There was a very big pub at Narrabeen called the Royal Antler and it was our first proper gig, I guess, and almost residency. At one point we and Midnight Oil were alternating weekends. We never met them, but there was this kind of unspoken rivalry for the same audience of mad, drunken surfies.CAROL DUNCAN: It was one of Sydney's great beer barns.IVA DAVIES: It was and they were mad, of course, mad drunken surfies and probably a few other substances, as well. But they were great nights. It was a big place; I think it held something like 1500 people. And you're right, we probably did attract slightly different audiences, and certainly we also had the other side of us which was playing the inner city hotels which, of course, were very driven by the punk movement, so we'd look out on a place like the Civic Hotel and there'd been a sea of black and safety pins.CAROL DUNCAN: Why did the name change come about? Was it as simple as swapping the band name and album title?IVA DAVIES: It was, but we actually had no choice. What we hadn't realised was that while we were happily going along as Flowers in Australia and New Zealand, as soon as we signed to an international record company and they said, 'We're going to release this around the rest of the world, we need to do a little check on the name. It hadn't even occurred to me that a band name is like a company trading name and, unfortunately, there were at least three other acts around the world trading on the name 'Flowers'. One of them being the very, very famous session bass player, Herbie Flowers, who you probably know best for being the creator of that wonderful bass line that introduces Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side'.So there were objections and we simply had no choice, we had to come up with another name. This has happened to a number of Australian bands. It happened to Sherbet who became Highway, and The Angels who became Angel City. Our logic was fairly simple - people here in Australia and New Zealand only know us by two things, that is the name of the band 'Flowers' or the name of the album 'Icehouse'. So, we became Icehouse.A band name becomes its identity in a far bigger way that just a set of letters. I've had this discussion with my 17-year old son who has got a collection of friends in a band and they haven't been able to think of anything. I keep asking what the band is called and they're called something different every day. I said 'you better get it right because it will end up owning you'.CAROL DUNCAN: Your son has actually played with you?IVA DAVIES: Yes, oh you know about this! I had a fairly mad idea last year, although the idea had been around since 1983. I remember we were touring in Europe and we had a number one song in Europe so there was a lot of pressure on me. I was doing millions of interviews and we were playing very big festivals of 30,000 people.We were playing on one and I was standing on the side of the stage next to my band and Peter Tosh's band was playing - Peter Tosh was the co-founder of Bob Marley's Wailers - and it was a big band, 9 or 10 people on stage, backing singers and whatnot, and I said to my bass player, "See the guy at the back going chukka, chukka, chukka on the guitar, the laziest job in the world? I want his job. I had a conversation last year with somebody about this moment and they said, 'Why don't you do it?'Our manager thought I was mad, a number of promoters thought I was mad, too, but what we did was completely re-invent Icehouse as an eight-piece reggae band. We added some extra guys from Melbourne to give us a brass section and we re-arranged every one of the hits that we'd been playing in the classic repertoire as reggae songs.We put two shows on - one in Melbourne, one in Sydney - as a kind of Christmas party because my feeling was that the reason we were doing it is because reggae makes you want to dance and smile and laugh, and we had the best possible time, it was just fantastic. We've just released the recording of the Sydney show and re-named the band DubHOUSE - the album is DubHOUSE Live.I wanted to get my children to come. My daughter is OK because she's 20 but my son was under age, under the drinking age, and the only way I could get him in was to put him in the band. So I said to him, 'Look Evan ...' he's17 and a very good guitarist, 'I'm sorry, you're not going to get a rehearsal, you're not going to get a sound check. Here's a recording of a rehearsal of Street Cafe done in this style, you've got the guitar solo, go home and learn it and I'll see you on stage."And so the poor guy was thrown on stage with absolutely no preparation whatsoever, but fortunately, he had done his homework and had a great night.CAROL DUNCAN: How do the kids see your career, Iva?IVA DAVIES: Well the strange truth is that they didn't. I finished the last tour that we did back in the day, as it were, when my daughter was six weeks old. Effectively, we didn't play again and my children grew up.In 2009, our long-time tour manager, Larry, who works for a very big audio production company - he'd been working for with us since 1984 - came up with the idea for Sound Relief (concerts held in Sydney & Melbourne for 2009 bushfire relief) and actually volunteered us, so we were the first band on the bill for Sound Relief.By that time in 2009, my daughter would have been 14 or 13, and my son 12 or 13, and that was the first concert they ever saw me play. So they'd grown up all those years not knowing anything about it, or relatively little.CAROL DUNCAN: Did they think Icehouse was cool or were you 'just Dad' and therefore couldn't possibly be cool?IVA DAVIES: Strangely enough, I seem to have breached the cool barrier into the cool area. A very strange thing happened, before that Sound Relief show and before my daughter really got to appreciate my association with it. She came home from school one afternoon, waltzed in the door and announced, 'I LOVE THE EIGHTIES! I love EVERYTHING about the eighties!'Strangely enough, the eighties are going through a whole new generation of cool at the moment. Except for the hair, and a lot of the clothes.CAROL DUNCAN: When you look at that part of your career, the pop/rock part of your career, what do you see, Iva?IVA DAVIES: I'm proud that we worked very hard, I believe, to maintain a kind of class and a quality. That went through everything, even the recordings themselves. I went through the graduation from vinyl to CD, which was a massive turnaround, and it happened incredibly quickly.I remember having a talk to a record company about it and they said, 'Last year we manufactured 80% out of vinyl and 20% out of CD, this year we're manufacturing 80% out of CD and 20% out of vinyl, and the following year we're not making any vinyl at all. That's how fast it turned around. But 'Measure for Measure', our fourth album is one of the first three fully digital recordings ever made in the world, which was a real milestone, so it's the first completely noiseless recording that was made for the new format of CD. It's moments like that that I reflect on and think, well, that's because we really put a lot of care and attention into these things.CAROL DUNCAN: Iva, you're also seen as one of the pioneers in Australia of bringing in synthesizers, computers, the Fairlight and so on. You mentioned an interesting word there, 'noiseless', and that's perhaps where the feud happens between the vinyl purists and people who are very happy to purchase their music in a digital form whether on CD or via digital download. How do you see the vinyl vs CD war when it comes to audio quality?IVA DAVIES: I noted with some amusement touched with horror a program that Linda Mottram did on 702 in Sydney where there was this discussion about vinyl, and she spoke with a so-called expert who was out of a university, and with due respect to that professor I desperately wanted to call in and say, "Can I just tell you about what actually happens when you're making pieces of vinyl and why they sound the way they do, and how it is absolutely possible to make CDs sound exactly like vinyl IF that were the endgame that you wanted to have in mind.I won't go into it now but the fact of the matter is it's all about a process called mastering. The way that tapes, mixes, were mastered for vinyl had to be very particular because of the intolerance of vinyl - vinyl can't carry very much big bass. I found that out with the Flowers album when I insisted to the co-producer that we put lots of bottom end into it and then realised a bit later on when the mastering engineer said to me, "I can't cut this to vinyl, it's got too much bass in it." They're the sorts of mistakes that you make when you're young.I'm a firm believer in anything that doesn't have moving parts and that is digital. I'm afraid I've moved on from anything old-school quite happily.CAROL DUNCAN: Did you call in?IVA DAVIES: No, I didn't, I just thought it's probably too difficult a conversation to have in detail over the radio but it does infuriate me because I'm sure if you got any mastering engineer on to the radio they'd say to you it's mainly because people don't understand how these things are made.CAROL DUNCAN: What gave you the confidence to leap into these new technologies?IVA DAVIES: Perhaps it was more out of ignorance than anything, I certainly didn't see any risk involved, but the main driver for me was that these were new toys. Every time something new was invented, my eyes would light up and I'd think, 'Imagine the possibilities!'I remember expressly that conversation I had with our management where, out of sheer co-incidence they'd moved offices from where they were in Bondi Junction to the top storey of a two-storey building in Rushcutters Bay and the ground storey was where they made Fairlights, believe it or not. Management were oblivious to this, they had no idea what was going on down there. But I did and I came to the managers one day and said, 'I desperately want to get one of these machines, they are amazing.'Of course, I was proven correct because they revolutionised music forever. I think apart from the technology of recording, the sampler - which is what a Fairlight was - was the single most influential piece of technology ever created. I said this to my management, that I was desperate, that I'd really like one, but the catch was they were $32,000. That was in 1981 or 1982 so you can imagine how much money that was then - it was half a small house.But I got one, and interestingly enough my management were quite philosophical about it. They said, 'Well, it's a lot of money, but according to our calculations you'll pay for this with the first two projects you use it on.' And they were right. The first project I used it on was my very first film score for Russell Mulcahy's 'Razorback', which is about 95% Fairlight.The great irony of that was that I kept producing bits of music, because Russell Mulcahy was out in the desert filming scenes and he kept dragging up Peter Gabriel's fourth album, the one with Shock The Monkey on it, and they were out in the desert with this blasting away on a ghetto blaster and I got it into my head that this was what Russell likes. So I kept producing Gabriel-esque soundscapes and so on, and the producers of the movie kept coming back to me and saying, 'No, no no - that's not what we want, we don't want this.' In the end I was getting various clues from them but didn't really know, but I had another go along the lines of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' - a fairly mad piece of classical music. I constructed all this with the Fairlight, it was a quasi-orchestral thing. I took it back to them and they said, 'Yes! That's exactly it!' and I said, 'Well, if you wanted that sort of thing why didn't you go and get a classical composer.'In its day, 'Rite of Spring' was a controversial piece of music, and Iva Davies shares a birthday with Stravinsky.Considering that it was 1913 when that piece first hit the stage for Diaghilev's ballet company. It wasn't just the music; it was actually the subject matter of the ballet that I think was fairly upsetting to a lot of people. It's all about primal sexualism, basically, so you can imagine that to an audience of 1913 that sort of idea was fairly horrifying.CAROL DUNCAN: In 1984, you've got Razorback, also 'Sidewalk' - the third album from Icehouse, at this point did you consider that you didn't actually have to be a pop star?IVA DAVIES: No, I had a very strange life prior to that because I had a completely Jekyll and Hyde existence. I took up the guitar when I was 13, and taught myself, and it was probably also the year that I started taking oboe lessons. I had these two parallel lives and completely separate lives. I had a set of classical people - when I was in high school I played in a wind quintet and we used to rehearse every Saturday morning. We all had our first cars at that point. They were my friends and we went off and won the City of Sydney Eisteddfod and so on. They never, ever met the guys that I was in the acoustic band with. Ever! Because I just had these two lives. So my course was fairly accidental all the way through, it was probably always going to be accidental.To this day, I keep remembering things that I did. I remembered that I was in the orchestra that was primarily made up of members of the Sydney Symphony and the senior Conservatorium orchestra, of which I was a member, for the staging of the two first Australian ballets in the Opera House. I would have been about 19 and, of course, that's a fairly big moment for the Opera House to have a night featuring Australian opera in that building, and I'd completely forgotten about it. There are things from both lives that I've forgotten about.CAROL DUNCAN: 1985, your double life really starts to change as you start working with the Sydney Dance Company.IVA DAVIES: I have to give credit to our managers to some degree who recognised - Ray Hearn was managing us from the beginning. I think he considered himself to be a very erudite individual, he was very widely read, he'd seen every movie possible, and he had a huge record collection. He wasn't a musician but I think he spotted in me the potential that if I kept on that very two-dimension wheel of 'write an album, record an album, tour an album, write an album, record an album, tour an album ...', that I would burn out, that I needed something else to do. So it was he who went and pursued the soundtrack idea with Russell Mulcahy, and it was he who introduced me to the Sydney Dance Company who were a very dangerous company at that point. People forget that they did ballets entirely naked and this was quite revolutionary stuff in its day. They had a very young, hip audience. So it was a very smart move. But it was also a move that was good for the dance company. I had also forgotten until reminded about a month ago that in the Opera House's entire history this has never been repeated, but they did a very dangerous thing. They put two shows on a Friday and a Saturday night, one at a conventional hour and then a whole other audience would turn up at 10.30 at night and we'd do it all again. The staff at the Opera House thought this was going to be an absolute disaster, 'Nobody's going to go to the Opera House at 10.30pm to see a show', but they did and they were all my audience and they were coming to see what all the fuss was about. It was the most successful season the dance company has ever had.CAROL DUNCAN: Were you worried about your pop/rock audience coming over to see what you were doing and being disappointed?IVA DAVIES: I've always utterly failed to understand what the problem is between the various tribes of music. I started of as a bagpipe player when I was six, and although I went through that very, very particular stream of classical musicians, and they are, and they are a very exclusive lot - a lot of them, and they are a very intolerant lot - a lot of them, I think things have improved. But at that time they very much looked down their nose at 'popular music' and rock and roll, but by the same token it was equally prejudiced the other way around. I've never understood why. I don't get that you have to be one or the other but not all of them. In my head, there was absolutely no problem with my audience turning up to the ballet.CAROL DUNCAN: What gave you the confidence to follow both streams?IVA DAVIES: Only because I can kind of speak both languages. I had a discussion with somebody the other night about music and it is another language. It's certainly a language when you read and write it and I learned how to do that. But my dialogue with rock and roll musicians has to be completely different because most of the people I played with all these years don't read and write music. But rock and roll musicians communicate in a different kind of way. So because I'm comfortable in both of those languages, I can happily flick between the two of them, at whim almost.CAROL DUNCAN: Which is why I don't' let my kids drop out of their violin lessons - I want them to have that other language.IVA DAVIES: From my point of view, by miles, the single biggest advantage I've had in my work and succeeding in the broad framework of popular music is the fact that I was highly trained. That is the most sure, certain way to cut every corner you can - to actually know what you're doing.CAROL DUNCAN: December 31, 1999, and Icehouse is performing at the Millennium New Years Eve concert outside the Sydney Opera House and there is a moment on your face where it's just occurred to you how very special that moment is.IVA DAVIES: The penny really didn't drop, I mean, there was such a lot of pressure involved in that. The transmission, the TV director, Greg Beness, had synchronised a whole lot of footage to be running in parallel with shooting the performance. We had backups of backups because, of course, everybody thought that every computer in the world was going to blow up at midnight being the Y2K bug and so on. It was going out to about four billion people. It's not as if you can get to the end of it and go, 'Oh, we mucked that up, can we have another go?', 'Oh, they've already counted down; we're in a new millennium'. So I was incredibly aware of all of that and actually I've watched back some of the footage and it takes me a fair old while to settle down, it's (The Ghost Of Time) a 25-minute piece and it took me a number of minutes before I was, 'OK, we're up and running, everything seems to be working, everybody knows where they are, I can hear everything ....'I got to the end of it and stepped off the stage, Frank Sartor the Lord Mayor of Sydney gave me a glass of champagne, Richard Wilkins counted down from 10 and the fireworks went off directly over my head and I went, 'Wow!'CAROL DUNCAN: From this point, your other career really takes off and you head off to work on Master and Commander.IVA DAVIES: Yes, I've said to other young bands over the years, 'Just be aware - you never know who will be listening,' and so it was with thus that one person who was listening to The Ghost of Time on the millennium eve as it was going out, one of those four billion people, was one Peter Weir - an iconic Australian film director.This is how bizarre the next few years ended up being for me in terms of things just popping out of seemingly nowhere. I was sitting in my studio one day up on the northern beaches and the phone rang. A voice said, "Iva, this is Peter Weir. I'm filming Master and Commander on location in Baja, Mexico. I've fallen in love with The Ghost of Time. I want you to reassemble your team and give me a score like that."The whole experience was incredible, to go to Hollywood. I remember I had a colleague of mine, my music editor, had worked quite a bit in Hollywood on 'Moulin Rouge' and other things. He took me to the Fox lot and was very well recognised, but the thing that became immediately apparent was how incredibly well-respected Peter Weir is in Hollywood. Even though you don't necessarily associate him with massive blockbuster success time and time again, he's respected by directors and quality people in Hollywood and that's the difference.CAROL DUNCAN: Is it difficult to do this sort of work, to create something to someone else's demands?IVA DAVIES: I was very fortunate because Peter Weir has immense respect for music. He said to me not once, but twice, 'Music is the fountainhead of the arts,' that's how important it is to him. But having said that, he uses it very sparingly and in a very subtle way. So I had the great luxury to have three months to work on what equated to, in the end, not much more than 35 minutes worth of music. If you go and see a movie like 'Lord of the Rings', the composers had to write music from end to end of the film, so we're talking two and a half hours of music. Three months to produce that amount of music meant that it could be done with care but at a fairly unstressed pace, as it were. And that was fantastic. I have no doubt that Peter Weir quite deliberately planned the whole thing that way, so that it would be NOT a stressful operation. He's a consummate film-maker and he knows exactly what he's doing, so he schedules and plans things very well.Having said that, I always knew that the brief of a score writer is to write what the director wants to hear, not what the score writer wants to hear, so that was very apparent and so be it. Very often these films are the vision of a director and music is just one component of that. It should feed into their vision.CAROL DUNCAN: What are the professional moments that you hold dearest to your heart?IVA DAVIES: In terms of recording, I had a quite surreal moment. I was very influenced by one Brian Eno who was an absolute pioneer of synthesizers and electronic music, and in fact probably invented the term 'ambient music'. Of course, he was a founding member of Roxy Music but went on later to become incredibly successful in his own right and especially as a producer, he produced almost all of the U2 albums - massive albums. But I'd been following him since he was an early member of Roxy Music and especially been guided by his approach to synthesizers, which was very esoteric and completely at odds with a lot of the nasty noises that were being produced in the 1980s, for example. And I thank him for that because it probably stopped me from making a lot of bad sonic mistakes.The producer I was using at the time was a friend of his and I found myself having a conversation with the producer about the song we were working on at the time - a song called Cross the Border - I had in mind Brian Eno's backing vocal style. I knew that the producer, Rhett Davies, had worked with Brian Eno. I turned up to Air Studios, another very famous studio in London, to do the vocal session and in came Brian Eno. So there was a moment where I was standing in the studio, standing next to Brian Eno who was singing my lyrics and my backing vocal line. That was a real moment for me because he was a real hero of mine.CAROL DUNCAN: At what point did you realise that you had been successful enough to truly pursue anything that you wanted to do?IVA DAVIES: I spent most of my career not quite believing that things would work. In fact, I remember very clearly - we'd been working for years and years, working around these pubs, the first album came out, and I remember the first royalty cheque turned up. The accountant for the management company asked me into the office and said, 'Well, here's the cheque for the Flowers album for you,' and I looked at it and I'd been broke for years. My parents had to keep paying the odd rent payment for me and so on. We weren't earning any money at all, the album had only just come out, and I saw this cheque and it was for $15,000.I looked at Gino, who I had lunch with today - same accountant, and I said, 'Gino. This is amazing. This is incredible. I know I'm just going to fritter this away. I know I'll never get any more money out of this business. What's the deposit on the cheapest, cheapest, cheapest house in Sydney? Well, I bought the cheapest house in Sydney with that deposit, but of course, it wasn't the last cent that I made out of the music business.But for many years, for a long time, I really didn't consider that it was going to last, that I was going to make any money out of it. It's that classic thing where, luckily my parents didn't call me on the phone and say, 'When are you going to get a proper job?' they were very supportive. I think I was the one secretly calling myself and saying, 'When are you going to get a proper job?'CAROL DUNCAN: What are you still learning?IVA DAVIES: I'm still learning technology because unfortunately, it won't sit still! The industry standard for recording is a system called Pro-Tools, you very possibly use it in the studio there and it's certainly in every recording studio in the world. I've been working with Pro-Tools for a very long time but, of course, like any other software, there's a new release of it every five minutes. So I'm actually getting to the stage when I really am going to have to run to catch up! So unfortunately at my age, I'm still having to learn technology because it's the basic tool of my trade and that's never going to stop.CAROL DUNCAN: Are you still as excited by it as you were in the mid-1970s when you and Keith Welsh started 'Flowers' and when you went and harassed your management to allow you to buy that first Fairlight for $32,000?IVA DAVIES: I think I take it a bit more for granted these days because things have exploded in the way that they have. You can imagine the climate in which a piece of technology like the Fairlight came out; it was just mind-numbing. It was unlike anything anybody could ever imagine, whereas I suppose every time there's a new release of Pro-Tools, it's got a couple of lovely new features but it is a development of something which has been around for much more than a decade now.However, having said that, there seems to be a whole new generation of software writers who are incredibly interested in music and incredibly interested in playing with sound, and these are the people who are coming up with all the new noise generating bits - soft synthesisers and all that sort of stuff. That's kind of where the interesting new area is.CAROL DUNCAN: And Keith Welsh has been on this whole journey with you?IVA DAVIES: Indeed. In the music industry the whole time. He and I have been working closely over the past three years and we've started playing again and we re-released the entire catalogue. We put out a compilation called 'White Heat' which is about to go platinum.CAROL DUNCAN: What would you want the young Iva Davies to know?IVA DAVIES: That's a good question! I think I probably did seize most opportunities that came my way so I wouldn't necessarily say, 'just go as fast as you can with every opportunity that you can', I probably would have said, 'Put more attention to the money and where the money is going and who's getting it!' As a forensic accountant, I'm a kind of 'overview guy' as opposed to a 'detail guy'.

We are featuring Andrew Raciti on this week’s show.  Andy is the acting principal bass of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also the head of the double bass studio of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Before joining the Milwaukee Symphony in 2006, Mr Raciti was associate principal bass of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia. He has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.   We talk about Andy’s experiences growing up in Milwaukee, studying at UW-Madison, studying with Paul at Rice, the Sydney Symphony, the Northwestern University bass studio, how Andy approaches lessons, the Laborie endpin, his Tester bass, and several other topics.  We also feature excerpts from Zivojin Glisic’s Concerto for Double Bass and String Orchestra with Andy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chamber Orchestra. Enjoy!   About Andrew:   Andrew Raciti is the acting principal bass of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also the head of the double bass studio of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Before joining the Milwaukee Symphony in 2006, Mr Raciti was associate principal bass of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia. He has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.   In the summers he has been the principal bass of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and performs orchestral and chamber music at the Grand Teton Music Festival. He is also a regular professor of the Filharmonica Joven de Colombia in South America. In 2011 he performed the United States premiere of the Concerto for Double Bass and String Orchestra by Macedonian composer Zivoin Glisic. A recognized authority in bass pedagogy and performance, Mr Raciti has published articles in the quarterly for the International Society of Bassists. He is currently involved with the  BATUTA foundation of Colombia, South America, where he is developing the bass portion of a comprehensive string pedagogy that will be used throughout its 17,000 member nationwide network.   Visit Andrew Raciti's Double Bass Studio Facebook Page