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23 unusual facts about Sydney Conservatorium of Music


Alison Bauld

Bauld was born in Sydney and studied piano with Alexander Sverjensky at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music.

Brett Leighton

He was 1977 Student of the Year at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, where his teacher was David Rumsey.

Chalk Farm Salvation Army Band

Less than 24 hours after landing on Australian soil, the band played its first festival in Adelaide, later travelling to Tasmania, Melbourne, Canberra, Wollongong, Newcastle and Sydney where a capacity audience greeted the band for its final major concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Damien Ricketson

degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1995, he continued his studies for two years at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen.

David Ahern

In 1970, Ahern returned to Australia where, influenced by the Scratch Orchestra co-founded by Cardew, he formed the AZ Music ensemble at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, which included such composers and performers as Roger Frampton.

Engelbert Humperdinck

In 1914, Humperdinck seems to have applied for the post of director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia, but with the outbreak of World War I it became unthinkable for a German to hold that position, and the job went instead to Belgium's Henri Verbrugghen.

Erin Holland

Holland is a classically trained soprano singer holding a Bachelor of Classical Voice degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Essie Ackland

She studied at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music under Roland Foster, and had further training under Joseph Bradley and Emily Marks.

George Golla

They recorded frequently together and in quartets and other combinations; nurtured and featured many young talents including brassman/multi-instrumentalist James Morrison, drummer David Jones and countless others that they taught at the NSW Conservatorium.

Hideki Isoda

He served as Associate Dean (Technology and Distance Learning) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney 2007-2013, and is currently on the faculty at the Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, South Korea.

Howie Smith

In 1973, under a Fulbright grant, he set up the first tertiary level jazz studies program in Australia at the New South Wales State Conservatorium (now named the Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

John Boswell Maver

As a student of the NSW Conservatorium of Music, he studied piano with the noted pianist/composer Frank Hutchens (a pupil of Tobias Matthay), and composition with Raymond Hanson.

Kathy Wemyss

She became active in academic circles, completing a post-graduate degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music which combined her interests in music education, indigenous music and brass instruments.

Lloyd Powell

Goodman took over Powell's teaching duties there when the latter was examining in Canada, and later became a teacher at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for 50 years.

Michael Brimer

To rebuff this, he asked Daniel Herscovitch, lecturer in music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, to review the tapes of the performance broadcast by ABC Classic FM.

Nigel Butterley

He attended Sydney Grammar School, but music wasn't taught at the school at that time, so he sought training from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Paul Furniss

After high school, Furniss worked as an electrical engineer until the advent of the Jazz Studies program at the NSW Conservatorium of Music, when he became involved both as a student and lecturer.

Phil Stack

Stack studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in his earlier years and is now a regular feature at major music festivals in the rock and jazz genre.

Rai Thistlethwayte

After finishing high school in 1997 he was awarded a scholarship to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he commenced a Bachelor of Music in jazz piano in 1998.

Satu Vänskä

In early 2009 Satu helped launch the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Sensational Sundays concert series, playing Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata.

Sophie Ramsay

Sophie tells Kate and Paul that she has applied to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Tania Davis

Tania was educated at SCEGGS Darlinghurst in Sydney before acquiring a first-class Bachelor of Music honors degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and then moving on to gain a postgraduate diploma in performance with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Zane Banks

Subsequently he completed a Bachelor of Music degree with First Class Honours on the classical guitar at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Gregory Pikler and Phillip Houghton, and he is currently undertaking Doctoral studies there under the supervision of Richard Toop and Matthew Hindson.


Anona Winn

She then studied piano and eventually opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music, which the latter was possible due to a scholarship from Dame Nellie Melba.

Edward Goll

In 1915 Henri Verbrugghen, the inaugural Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, offered Goll a post there, but he accepted an alternative offer from the University of Melbourne Conservatorium, and also became musical director for Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne.

Ernest Llewellyn

He was educated at Kurri Kurri State School, Maitland High School, and, for six months, at the NSW Conservatorium of Music in Sydney.

Sydney University Musical Society

Recent SUMS performances include; Mozart's Great Mass in C minor and Fauré's Requiem in 2010; Duruflé's Requiem in 2011 and Verdi's Requiem, which SUMS performed with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Symphony Orchestra, Choir and Chamber Choir in June 2012.

Tim Hopkins

He graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and came to the attention of Australian jazz musicians Vince Jones, Paul Grabowsky, Mike Nock, James Morrison, Don Burrows, top kiwi musicians Kim Patterson, Kevin Field, Frank Gibson Jnr, Nathan Haines, Mark de Clive Lowe, Andy Browne, Roger Fox, King Kapisi and Gray Bartlett.