Abbott, Graham

Sydney-born Graham Abbott is a Music Education graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium and later studied conducting with Myer Fredman.

His forty-year conducting career saw him work with all the major Australian orchestras, opera companies and choirs. He was Conductor-in-Residence at the University of Adelaide (1986-88), Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1993-97), and Musical Director of Melbourne Chorale (now MSO Chorus, 1994-97).

In 1997, Graham was acting Chorus Master of the Chorus of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, during which time he conducted concerts with the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Ulster Orchestra.

Graham’s opera repertoire included The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Fidelio, The Barber of Seville, La traviata, Il trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, Aida, L’Elisir d’amore, Don Pasquale, The Pearl Fishers and Pelléas et Mélisande. He was also Assistant Conductor for the Australian premiere season of John Adams’ Nixon in China at the 1992 Adelaide Festival.

A lifelong passion for the life and work of Handel saw Graham conduct Messiah more than 80 times in Australia, the UK and New Zealand. His repertoire also included many of the oratorios (Saul, Solomon, Belshazzar,Joshua, Israel in Egypt, Alexander’s Feast and the Australian premieres of Athalia and La resurrezione) and operas (Alcina, Julius Caesar, Orlando and the Australian premiere of Ariodante), and much of Handel’s orchestral music. He also conducted the first Australian performance of Handel’s complete Roman Carmelite music with the Adelaide Chamber Singers.

Graham Abbott retired from conducting at the end of 2024.

Graham is also one of Australia’s most highly-respected music educators. He has programmed, conducted and presented education concerts and other community outreach activities with most of the major Australian orchestras. He produced and presented Keys to Music on ABC Classic from 2003 to 2017 and has worked as a speaker, teacher and examiner around Australia. He also established Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Unwrap the Music series in 2010 and continued to present and conduct that series until 2022. He has worked as a tour leader for Hayllar Music Tours since 2018 and now regularly leads tours for the company within Australia and internationally.

Graham received a Special Conductor’s Award in the 1995 Melbourne Green Room Awards marking his debut with Opera Australia conducting Handel’s Julius Caesar for the company. And in 2007 he was awarded the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award by the University of Melbourne in recognition of his services to Australian music as both conductor and educator.

Graham has conducted the West Australian Symphony Orchestra on many occasions.

He made his professional opera conducting debut in 1991 conducting The Marriage of Figaro with W.A. Opera Company and WASO. Later that same year he conducted his only Perth Messiah with WASO. Some years later, Graham conducted Lindy Hume’s production of Handel’s Orlando for W.A. Opera, again with W.A.S.O. in the pit.

Graham conducted a recording of Carl Vine‘s Concerto Grosso for ABC Radio with WASO and also did a number of schools’ concerts with the orchestra.

During Graham’s tenure as the producer and presenter of Keys To Music with ABC Classic (2003-17), he conducted many Keys To Music concerts with WASO which were recorded in the PCH with a live audience for later broadcast. He particularly remembers doing educational treatments – with a single rehearsal – of amazing repertoire in Perth as WASO was especially supportive of Keys To Music and its aims. Among the works performed were Debussy La Mer, Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Ravel G major Piano Concerto, and Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms.

Graham conducted at two Perth Festivals; in 2004 conducting the Dvorak Stabat Mater with the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the Intervarsity Choral Festival Chorus. The following year he conducted Lindy Hume’s staged version of the Bach St Matthew Passion with the Adelaide Chamber Singers and an ensemble of Perth-based instrumentalists.

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