CHAMBER MUSIC AUSTRALIA25 YEARS IN THE MAKING OF MUSIC

by Anthony Grigg

In its relatively short life of 25 years Chamber Music Australia has had a significant impact on the performance of chamber music in Melbourne and Australia. Through the

stimulus of its two competitions, the Melbourne International and the Asia-Pacific Chamber Music Competitions, the standard of training and performance of chamber music in Australia has grown to a level that was only a visionary dream 25 years ago.

Marco van Pagee was the individual who had this dream. Marco came to Australia from the Netherlands in the 1980s to teach viola, chamber music and orchestral studies at the Victorian College of the Arts. He was so concerned about the paucity of chamber music teaching and playing within Australia that in 1988 he decided to see what could be done to raise its profile. With the support of the then Director of the VCA, Professor Nicholas Braithwaite, and a dynamic organising committee chaired by former Victorian Premier and Minister for the Arts, the late Sir Rupert (Dick) Hamer, and administered by Margaret Harrison, the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (MICMC) was born and had its first iteration in the University of Melbourne’s Melba Hall in July 1991.

THROUGH THE STIMULUS OF CMA’S TWO COMPETITIONS THE STANDARD OF TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE OF CHAMBER MUSIC IN AUSTRALIA HAS GROWN TO A LEVEL THAT WAS ONLY A VISIONARY DREAM 25 YEARS AGO.

MARCO VAN PAGEE

While the first competition was an artistic and audience success, it contained no Australian ensemble in the finals, a pattern which repeated itself at the second MICMC in 1995. It was clear to at least the musicians involved with the training of young musicians in Australia that more needed to be done to encourage young Australian ensembles and raise them to a standard where they could compete internationally. To this end the Committee established the National Chamber Music Competition, to be held every four years between the cycle of the MICMC. The first was held in 1997; in 2005 it was renamed the Australian Chamber Music Competition and in 2009 was expanded and rebranded as the Asia-Pacific Chamber Music Competition so as to embrace the region in which Australia lives.

Dick Hamer continued as inaugural President, a position he held until November 1999, to be followed by William (Bill) Forrest AM (1999–2012); both men were ably supported throughout these years by Michael Bertram as Deputy President (1992–2011). An Artistic Committee, chaired by Marco van Pagee as Artistic Director (a position he relinquished in 2009) was also set up to advise the Board on artistic matters.

Processes for managing applications, auditions and selection of finalists were agreed, along with the concept of and structure for a competition jury with international membership and clear rules for determining the competition winners. Jury chairs have included Kenneth Tribe AC, William Lyne CBE AM, Julian Burnside AO QC (and now Chair of the CMA Board), Stephen McIntyre AM, Carl Vine AO and Wilma Smith.

A range of prizes was established, with a focus on giving the competition winners further performance opportunities in Australia and overseas. Musica Viva and Wigmore Hall were particularly generous and supportive in this regard. Links were made as early as 1989 with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to ensure that the competitions would receive significant promotion and air-time across the ABC’s local and international networks.

MICMC was registered with the World Federation of International Chamber Music Competitions as early as 1996 and continues as an active member, hosting the Federation’s General Assembly in both 1998 and 2009. And in 2004 MICMC changed its name to Chamber Music Australia (CMA) in order to reflect an organisation embracing the two quadrennial competitions and supporting young chamber music ensembles in their early years of development.

IT WAS CLEAR THAT MORE NEEDED TO BE DONE TO ENCOURAGE YOUNG AUSTRALIAN ENSEMBLES AND RAISE THEM TO A STANDARD WHERE THEY COULD COMPETE INTERNATIONALLY.

Internationally famous violinist Isaac Stern became the Honorary Patron of the 1995 MICMC and in so doing added to the international credibility and growing stature of the Competition. He remained in this role until after the 1999 competition, giving real support through a filmed interview in New York by Margaret Throsby and the ever-supportive ABC.

Besides these mainstream activities CMA has over the years embraced a number of other related activities that have variously come and gone as resources and personnel have changed. Masterclasses by members of the competition juries were introduced after the first competition and lasted until 2005. Chamber Music in the City,

held after each competition and performed by the competition finalists, grew out of 1995’s Chamber Music Marathon in the Myer Mural Hall and continues to this day. Links were forged with Australian Youth Music, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville and the Melbourne International Arts Festival through the Chamber Music Sunset Series, while an ongoing administrative association has existed since 2005 with the Mietta Song Recital Award. More recently CMA has undertaken the artistic coordination of the Governor’s Recital Series at Victoria’s Government House on behalf of the State Governor and Arts Victoria.

With two competitions to manage, one every two years, and with the various surrounding and related activities, the Committee/Board embraced significant fund raising and organisational responsibilities. Under the administrative leadership of people such as Margaret Harrison, Lin Bender AM, Avril Everingham OAM, Sandra Keane and Benjamin Woodroffe, supported by a large number of enthusiastic volunteers, all the competitions have been delivered at a highly professional standard and the organisation has remained solvent, although not without a struggle and the occasional funding crisis. Sufficient financial support has always been and will remain a key concern of the Board. The very first MICMC in 1991 was saved only at the very last moment by Dick Hamer’s effective lobbying of the Kirner Government for financial support. Subsequently substantial annual support from founding patron Dame Elisabeth Murdoch provided until 2012 a base for CMA activities but only in conjunction with ongoing annual support from Arts Victoria. Other significant government agency and corporate donors over the years have included Mercedes-Benz, Qantas, Vic Health, the Melbourne City Council, Victorian Major Events, Tourism Victoria, Daimler-Chrysler, Mirvac, the Ian Potter Foundation, Primus Telecom, J T Reid Charitable Trust, Pratt Foundation, Delatite Winery, the Langham Hotel, Emirates, Musica Viva and Monash University. Equally significant has been the large number of large and small private philanthropists and donors as well as special fund raising events such as the “Artful Cello” auction in 2000, dinners and musical events.

MICMC WAS REGISTERED WITH THE WORLD FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITIONS AS EARLY AS 1996 AND CONTINUES AS AN ACTIVE MEMBER, HOSTING THE FEDERATION’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN BOTH 1998 AND 2009.

Such was the financial strain on CMA after the 2003 MICMC that Arts Victoria instituted a review, undertaken by Ian McRae AO. Amongst other things this review examined a future within either Musica Viva or the emerging Melbourne Recital Centre (MRC). In the end neither of these eventuated as the Board considered that, while these organisations were strong supporters of CMA and were also involved in promoting chamber music, their respective missions as a concert promoter and venue manager were sufficiently different from CMA’s as a competition organiser to warrant finding other longer term solutions to CMA’s financial needs. More recently a closer working relationship in respect of housing the competitions’ grand finals has been negotiated with the MRC but, with the passing of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, securing the longer term financial viability of CMA remains a key priority.

Venues for the competitions have also varied over the years. Initially Melba Hall was able to cater for the audience numbers but this rapidly changed as the interest in the competitions grew, stimulated in part by the live broadcasting by the ABC of every note of every semi-final and final concert. Hamer Hall became the venue for the grand finals, though this was always too large and expensive for this particular form of intimate music. The Melbourne Town Hall was used for the first National Competition in 1997, but again this was not ideal. The Iwaki Auditorium at the ABC’s Southbank headquarters proved its worth in the early 2000s and the semi-finals returned there in 2013.

The South Melbourne Town Hall at ANAM also proved a popular venue with audiences despite the logistics of having to import raked seating courtesy of the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2009 the Melbourne Recital Centre was at last completed and the semi-finals and finals of the first Asia-Pacific Competition were held there with great success acoustically and artistically.

The MICMC and APCMC can be proud of their legacy. Many of the competition winners have gone on to illustrious performance careers and are still in existence. These include the Trio Jean Paul and the Vertavo String Quartet (MICMC 1995), the Aviv Quartet and Kungsbacka Trio (MICMC 1999), the Eggner Trio (MICMC 2003), the Atos Trio and Morgenstern Trio (MICMC 2007), the Amaryllis Quartett and Trio Rafale (MICMC 2011), the Seraphim Trio (NCMC 2001), Benaud Trio (ACMC 2005), Tin Alley String Quartet (ACMC 2005) and the Amber Quartet (APCMC 2013).

Members of these groups are also now teaching others the art of chamber music making around the world. This is the lasting legacy of CMA. It is an organisation that can be proud of what it has achieved locally, nationally and internationally in just a short 25 years.

Anthony Grigg is a current member of

the Board of Chamber Music Australia

and a management consultant in the

arts and education sectors. He is the

external Chair of the Academic Board

of Studies at Melbourne Institute of

Business and Technology and has

previously held positions as Academic

Registrar and General Manager at the

Victorian College of the Arts, CEO

and Registrar of the Psychologists’

Registration Board of Victoria and

Registrar at both Chisholm Institute

of TAFE and Swinburne University

of Technology. He has a PhD in

History from the University of Otago,

New Zealand, and a MEd (Arts

Administration) from RMIT.

Postal Address PO Box 325 South Yarra VIC 3141 Australia Tel +61 (0)3 9682 3411 Fax +61 (0)3 9682 3422

www.chambermusicaustralia.com.au