TSO and UTAS come together to hold National Conducting Academy

With the aim of fostering new musical talent, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and UTAS will host a National Conducting Academy Summer School in Hobart to ensure future musical leaders get the best possible opportunity to learn how to conduct an orchestra.

The move comes in the wake of recent funding changes to national training arrangements, with the creation of a new National Conducting Academy formed in partnership by the TSO and UTAS in Tasmania.

The Summer School will commence in January 2018 as an ongoing model under the leadership of Course Director, Johannes Fritzsch, who is the highly regarded former Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Graz and Graz Philharmonic Orchestra (Austria) now living in Tasmania working as an Adjunct Professor to UTAS.

The TSO’s Director of Artistic Planning, Simon Rogers, said Mr Fritzsch was an important asset for the program, bringing his many years of experience as a conductor and natural authority in this area, coupled with passion and interest in training.

“Under the previous program, much of the national training was done with the TSO. We still want the TSO to be actively involved in conductor training and continue to make a strong contribution to national training activities, for which we rightly have an enviable reputation,” said Mr Rogers.

“The TSO is a special environment – the players are very passionate about training, they are incredibly patient and nurturing of talented young musicians, and have made a huge contribution to the future success of many musicians in Australia and around the world.”

As part of fostering new conductor talent, the TSO recently engaged their first Assistant Conductor, Elena Schwarz, who participated in the previous conductor program with the TSO.

“Without a course such as this, there is simply no clear pathway for emerging conductors,” Mr Rogers said.

“The TSO is already widely known for our training activities nationally and will always seek to be very active in this space. With our new relationship with UTAS, there is an opportunity for us to jointly develop a real niche in this specialist area.”
Becher Townshend