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The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (= ASO) is a South Australian orchestra based in Adelaide, established in 1936. The orchestra's primary performance venue is the Adelaide Town Hall, but the ASO also performs in other venues. It provides the orchestral support for all productions of the State Opera of South Australia and all Adelaide performances of the Australian Ballet. It also features regularly at the Adelaide Festival, and has performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, WOMAdelaide and several other festivals in Adelaide.
In 1936 the South Australian Orchestra was supplanted by the 50-member Adelaide Symphony Orchestra led by William Cade, and sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (later the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or ABC). The orchestra reformed in 1949 as the 55-member South Australian Symphony Orchestra, with Henry Krips as its resident conductor. The orchestra reverted to its original title, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in late 1975.
The ASO's highlights have included its 1998 performances of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, the first Australian production since 1913 (although it was widely and erroneously claimed to be the first ever in Australia). The orchestra participated in the first fully Australian production of Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2004. In 2007, the orchestra partnered with Hilltop Hoods to prepare a re-orchestrated release of their album "The Hard Road", titled "The Hard Road: Restrung".
In 2009 Premier and Arts Minister Mike Rann proposed and provided government funding to the ASO to commission a major orchestral work about climate change. The ASO's world premiere of Gerard Brophy's The Blue Thread, inspired by the River Murray, was performed at the Concert for the Earth at the Adelaide Town Hall on November 27, 2010. The Rann government proposed and arranged funding for two further ASO commissions, the first an orchestral tribute to the cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, and the second commemorating the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli. The world premiere of Our Don by Natalie Williams was performed by the ASO in August 2014. The world premiere of an ANZAC Requiem by composer Iain Grandage and librettist Kate Mulvany was performed on April 22, 2015. In 2015 the Hilltop Hoods collaborated for a second time with the 32-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the 20-piece Adelaide Chamber Singers Choir for their next re-orchestrated album titled "Drinking from the Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung".
In 2016, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra formed its first artistic leadership team, comprising principal conductor, Nicholas Carter, its new artist-in-association, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, and principal guest conductor and artistic advisor Sir Jeffrey Tate. Carter was the youngest Principal Conductor in the orchestra's history, and the first Australian conductor to be appointed to a principal conductor position with a major Australian orchestra in almost 30 years. Carter completed his term as principal conductor in 2019. In 2017, the orchestra was central in the Adelaide Festival's staging of Barrie Kosky's Saul - a production from Glyndebourne Opera in the UK, and again in 2018 for the Adelaide Festival's Glyndebourne Opera production and Australian premiere of composer Brett Dean's new opera, Hamlet. These performances were received with critical acclaim and numerous Helpmann Awards. In 2018, the artistic leadership team evolved to include the orchestra's new emerging artist-in-association, Grace Clifford; Australian composer and the orchestra's then-new composer-in-association, Cathy Milliken; and the orchestra's then-new principal guest conductor, Mark Wigglesworth. As of 2025, the artistic leadership team consists of Concertmaster Kate Suthers, Emerging Composer in Association Jakub Jankowski, Conductor Laureate Nicholas Braithwaite, and Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth, and the orchestra consists of 75 musicians. In May 2024, the orchestra announced the appointment of Mark Wigglesworth as its next Chief conductor, effective January 2025, with an initial term of three years
The orchestra's primary performance venue is the Adelaide Town Hall, but the ASO also performs in other venues such as the Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Elder Hall at the University of Adelaide and its own Grainger Studio (named after composer Percy Grainger).
The ASO provides the orchestral support for all productions of the State Opera of South Australia, as well as the Adelaide performances of The Australian Ballet. The orchestra is a regularly featured ensemble at the Adelaide Festival, and also appears as part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, OzAsia Festival, Adelaide Guitar Festival and WOMADelaide. |
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William Cade (Resident Conductor, 1939)
Bernard Heinze (Guest Conductor, 1939)
Percy Code (Interim Resident Conductor, 1949)
Henry Krips (Resident Conductor, 1949-1972)
Elyakum Shapirra (Chief Conductor, 1975-1979)
José Serebrier (Principal Guest Conductor, 1982-1983)
Piero Gamba (Chief Conductor, 1983-1985)
Albert Rosen (Chief Conductor, 1986)
Nicholas Braithwaite (Chief Conductor, 1987-1991)
David Porcelijn (Chief Conductor, 1993-1998)
Arvo Volmer (Chief Conductor, 2004-2013)
Nicholas Carter (Chief Conductor, 2015-2019)
Mark Wigglesworth (Chief Conductor, 2025-Present) |
