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Musica Viva
Musica Viva, also known as Musica Viva Australia, is a national organisation in Australia dedicated to chamber music.
Music Viva was founded in Sydney in 1945 by Romanian-born Vienna-educated violinist Richard Goldner, who had fled Nazi Germany in 1939. The co-founder was a German-born musicologist, Walter Dullo. At its inception, Richard Goldner's Sydney Musica Viva, as it was then called, was a string ensemble comprising 17 European immigrants, who were excluded from playing in Australian orchestra's by the Musicians' Union of Australia. Funded entirely by Goldner, the name was chosen in honour of Hermann Scherchen, conductor of an orchestra in Vienna named Musica Viva.
The first concert of Sydney Musica Viva was presented at Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 8 December 1945. Let down by Sydney's unreliable post-war power supply, the concert took place in darkness save the headlights of several cars parked in the doorway of the auditorium, and lighting provided by a generator in the foyers.
Richard Goldner's Sydney Musica Viva performed 10 concerts in 1946, and 20 in 1947. In 1948, the ensemble toured Melbourne, Adelaide, and New Zealand, and eventually reduced to just five players, including Goldner as violist. They were popular with recent European refugees as well as locals. However, the schedule was exhausting, Goldner's financial resources were drying up, and he was forced to give up playing after injuring his hand in 1952. Musica Viva paused their activities, but re-formed in 1953 or 1954 as a concert agency with the help of Fred Turnovsky and Paul Morawetz, named Musica Viva Society of Australia. Goldner took the role of music director, with the group being guided by Charles Berg and Ken Tribe.
Goldner continued as honorary music director until 1969, and Musica Viva eventually became the largest not-for-profit chamber music organisation in the world.
In 2011, the Academy Award-winning film producer Suzanne Baker published a book titled Beethoven and the Zipper: The Astonishing Story of Musica Viva, which detailed how Richard Goldner had invented and patented a zip fastener for the Australian Army, and used the proceeds to establish Musica Viva Australia.
Since 2019 and as of November 2023[update] the artistic director is conductor and author Paul Kildea. He succeeded composer Carl Vine, who had been in the role for the previous 20 years.
As of November 2023[update] the CEO is Anne Frankenberg. She occupied the newly created role of deputy CEO in 2019.
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Musica Viva
Musica Viva, also known as Musica Viva Australia, is a national organisation in Australia dedicated to chamber music.
Music Viva was founded in Sydney in 1945 by Romanian-born Vienna-educated violinist Richard Goldner, who had fled Nazi Germany in 1939. The co-founder was a German-born musicologist, Walter Dullo. At its inception, Richard Goldner's Sydney Musica Viva, as it was then called, was a string ensemble comprising 17 European immigrants, who were excluded from playing in Australian orchestra's by the Musicians' Union of Australia. Funded entirely by Goldner, the name was chosen in honour of Hermann Scherchen, conductor of an orchestra in Vienna named Musica Viva.
The first concert of Sydney Musica Viva was presented at Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 8 December 1945. Let down by Sydney's unreliable post-war power supply, the concert took place in darkness save the headlights of several cars parked in the doorway of the auditorium, and lighting provided by a generator in the foyers.
Richard Goldner's Sydney Musica Viva performed 10 concerts in 1946, and 20 in 1947. In 1948, the ensemble toured Melbourne, Adelaide, and New Zealand, and eventually reduced to just five players, including Goldner as violist. They were popular with recent European refugees as well as locals. However, the schedule was exhausting, Goldner's financial resources were drying up, and he was forced to give up playing after injuring his hand in 1952. Musica Viva paused their activities, but re-formed in 1953 or 1954 as a concert agency with the help of Fred Turnovsky and Paul Morawetz, named Musica Viva Society of Australia. Goldner took the role of music director, with the group being guided by Charles Berg and Ken Tribe.
Goldner continued as honorary music director until 1969, and Musica Viva eventually became the largest not-for-profit chamber music organisation in the world.
In 2011, the Academy Award-winning film producer Suzanne Baker published a book titled Beethoven and the Zipper: The Astonishing Story of Musica Viva, which detailed how Richard Goldner had invented and patented a zip fastener for the Australian Army, and used the proceeds to establish Musica Viva Australia.
Since 2019 and as of November 2023[update] the artistic director is conductor and author Paul Kildea. He succeeded composer Carl Vine, who had been in the role for the previous 20 years.
As of November 2023[update] the CEO is Anne Frankenberg. She occupied the newly created role of deputy CEO in 2019.