Maroondah Symphony Orchestra

Maroondah Symphony Orchestra - Welcome

The Maroondah Symphony Orchestra is a community orchestra based in Ringwood, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Weekly rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings from 8.00pm to 10.15pm throughout the year, with the exception of December and January, at the Maroondah Federation Estate, Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood. The Estate is a well lit and comfortably air conditioned facility which provides an enjoyable and accoustically sound venue for rehearsal. We have particular vacancies in violas and double basses.

We produce about 4 concert programs every year, with one or two repeats at different venues.

An annual concert, sponsored by the Philip Island Cultural Committee is performed at Cowes, Philip Island, Victoria.

In addition to orchestral performances, the orchestra combines with local choirs to present a choral concert. These combined performances have included Vivaldi's Gloria and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy.

Our next concert is on 31 August at 2.30 pm at Luther College Chapel,53-57 Plymouth Road, Croydon. Melway 36 H12. We will be performing -

W A Mozart - Titus Overture
Dmitri Shostakovitch - Cello Concerto No 1, with soloist Adele Xiang
Piotr Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6, Pathetique

Tickets at the door $20/$15, Secondary school students and younger: free

Enquiries 9808 4184 or 9561 6492

Willem van der Vis conducting

Musical Director

Our Musical Director is Willem van der Vis, who is well known in Melbourne as a conductor, teacher and cellist.

New Zealand born Willem gained a B.Sc (Hons) in physics before focusing on music, playing principal cello with the Dunedin Sinfonia and New Zealand Symphony Training Orchestra.

In 1979 he moved to Australia, where he became a member of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Other orchestras he has played with include the New Zealand, Tasmanian, State Orchestra of Victoria, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

As an orchestral cellist, he was always fascinated by how a conductor interacted with and communicated music to an orchestra. This led him to complete his B.mus(conducting) at the WAAPA and the VCA (Robert Rosen); and subsequent conducting studies in Moscow, England, and the Czech Republic. He is presently enjoying further study with John Hopkins in Melbourne.

Willem is now Musical Director of the Maroondah Symphony Orchestra, the Murray Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra, and Margaret Sutherland Strings. He has also conducted the Stonnington and New Monash Symphony Orchestras, the Ballart Symphony Orchestra and Choral Society, the Murray River Three Choirs Festival, the Kooyong Chamber Players and many stage shows. He works actively in music camps and workshops around Australia, including Orchestra Victoria's mOVe Bending 2004, where he also led workshops in the practice of conducting.

Created on 11/04/2006 01:11 AM by maroondah
Updated on 31/07/2008 11:44 PM by kazzabo