Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

In 1936 the South Australian Orchestra was supplanted by the 50-member Adelaide Symphony Orchestra led by William Cade, and sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.[1] The orchestra reformed in 1949 as the 55-member South Australian Symphony Orchestra, with Henry Krips as its resident conductor. The orchestra reverted to its original title, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in late 1975, and currently comprises 75 permanent members. Chief conductors of the orchestra have included Elyakum Shapirra, Piero Gamba, Albert Rosen, Nicholas Braithwaite, David Porcelijn and Arvo Volmer. The ASO's current Principal Conductor is Nicholas Carter, who began in the position in 2016. Nicholas is the youngest Principal Conductor in the orchestra's history, and the first Australian conductor to be appointed to a Principal Conductor position with a major Australian orchestra in almost 30 years.

In 2016 the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra formed its first Artistic Leadership Team, comprising its new Artist in Association, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Sir Jeffrey Tate, and the orchestra's own Principal Conductor, Nicholas Carter. In 2018 the orchestra's Artistic Leadership Team evolved to include young violinist and the orchestra's new Emerging Artist in Association, Grace Clifford, Australian composer and the orchestra's new Composer in Association, Cathy Milliken, and British conductor and the orchestra's new Principal Guest Conductor, Mark Wigglesworth. In 2019 the Artistic Leadership Team includes five members – Pinchas Zukerman, Cathy Milliken, Grace Clifford, Nicholas Carter and Mark Wigglesworth.

The ASO's highlights have included its 1998 performances of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, the first Australian production since 1913[2] (although it was widely and erroneously claimed to be the first ever in Australia). The orchestra participated in the first fully Australian production of The Ring in 2004. In 2017 the orchestra was central in the Adelaide Festival's staging of Barrie Kosky's Saul – a production from Glyndebourne Opera in the UK, and again in 2018 for the Adelaide Festival's Glyndebourne Opera production and Australian premiere of composer Brett Dean's new opera, Hamlet. These performances were received with critical acclaim and numerous Helpmann Awards.

In 2007, the orchestra partnered with Hilltop Hoods to prepare a re-orchestrated release of their album The Hard Road, titled The Hard Road: Restrung.[3] In 2015 the Hilltop Hoods collaborated for a second time with the 32-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the 20-piece Adelaide Chamber Singers Choir for their next re-orchestrated album titled Drinking from the Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung.[4] In February 2016, the Hilltop Hoods released their second album of reworked songs featuring the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Drinking from the Sun, Walking under Stars Restrung, which debuted at #1 in the charts.

In 2009 Premier and Arts Minister Mike Rann proposed and provided government funding to the ASO to commission a major orchestral work about climate change. The ASO's world premiere of Gerard Brophy's 'The Blue Thread', inspired by the River Murray, was performed at the Concert for the Earth at the Adelaide Town Hall on 27 November 2010.[5] The Rann government proposed and arranged funding for two further ASO commissions, the first an orchestral tribute to the cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, and the second commemorating the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli. The world premiere of 'Our Don' by Natalie Williams was performed by the ASO in August 2014.[6] The world premiere of an 'ANZAC Requiem' by composer Iain Grandage and librettist Kate Mulvany was performed on 22 April 2015.[7]

• 1996 Tour to China (Beijing, Jinan, Qingdao and Shanghai), Korea (Seoul, Daegu) and Singapore
• 1998 State Opera of South Australia's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle; repeated in 2004 with the first all-Australian production
• 2004 Helpmann Award Finalist for Best Classical Concert Presentation – Requiem & The Grainger Special 2003
• 2004 Helpmann Award for Best Opera – Dead Man Walking, State Opera SA 2003
• 2005 Helpmann Award Winner for Best Opera – The Ring Cycle, State Opera SA 2004
• 2006 2013 Mahler Symphony Cycle
• 2007 recorded The Hard Road Restrung with hip hop band the Hilltop Hoods – went gold (sold over 35,000 units); awarded 2007 ARIA Award for Best Urban Release
• 2008 Helpmann Awards Finalist for Best Classical Concert Presentation – Sibelius Festival
• 2009 Tour to Carnegie Hall, New York as part of the G'Day USA celebrations
• 2010 Sibelius Symphony Cycle
• 2012 Helpmann Award Finalist for Best Symphony Concert – Master Series 3 – Fire Series
• 2013 APRA/Australian Music Centre's Arts Award for Excellence in Music Education – Australian Emerging Composers Creative Workshop with Tan Dun and six young Australian composers
• 2016 Arts South Australia Ruby Award for Sustained Contribution by an Organisation
• 2017 Helpmann Award for Best Opera – Saul, Adelaide Festival 2016
• 2017 The Bush Concert (ASO commissioned work) toured to Harbin for the 34th China Harbin Summer Music Festival
• 2019 winner of Best Independent Classical Album in the AIR Independent Music Awards for Bach Concertos, along with the Grigoryan Brothers and Benjamin Northey.[8]

• William Cade (resident conductor, 1939)
• Bernard Heinze (guest conductor, 1939)
• Percy Code (interim resident conductor, 1949)
• Henry Krips (resident conductor, 1949–72)
• Elyakum Shapirra (chief conductor, 1975–79)
• José Serebrier (principal guest conductor, 1982–83)
• Piero Gamba (chief conductor, 1983–85)
• Albert Rosen (chief conductor, 1986)
• Nicholas Braithwaite (chief conductor, 1987–91)
• David Porcelijn (chief conductor, 1993–98)
• Arvo Volmer (chief conductor, 2004–13)
• Nicholas Carter (2015-2019)[10]

• Symphony Australia