MSO Concert Audiences Surpass 300,000 in a Record Box Office Year
Annual Report - Season 2023

The 2023 MSO Annual Report highlights a healthy year of growth with MSO performances in concert halls across Victoria, attracting an audience of 304,623. The resulting box office revenue of $17.6m represents the highest grossing box office year in MSO history.

“Positive outcomes across the organisation are evidence of the hard work and dedication of our team where each person has played a role in navigating the complexities of the 2023 environment, ensuring that the MSO continues to thrive,” says MSO Chairman David Li AM.

Mr Li paid tribute to the leadership of the MSO. “The many successes of the MSO are shared throughout the organisation. As we well know, it takes the work of many individuals to make one orchestra. It is also imperative to acknowledge the organisation’s committed leadership teams headed by our resilient Managing Director, Sophie Galaise and our amazing Chief Conductor, Jaime Martín. Working together with their teams of talented and passionate people they have achieved extraordinary results in 2023.”

In 2023 the MSO engaged more than 500 employees, over 200 additional artists and 190 volunteers, remaining one of Australia’s largest employers in the performing arts.

Delivering 177 live performances, the Orchestra also presented 194 education workshops, 18 schools’ performances, and 56 audience talks, conversations and learning events across the year, attracting 36,199 students, teachers and lifelong learners to the MSO. A further 4.03m people across 88 countries engaged with the MSO via radio and in the digital realm, with an additional 20m views in China.

Throughout the year, Chief Conductor Jaime Martín led the MSO in a diverse array of concerts with highlights such as the Ryman Healthcare Season Opening Gala: Zenith for Life, featuring 2023 Artist in Residence, Siobhan Stagg, Benjamin Britten’s moving War Requiem, and Ray Chen’s virtuosic performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

MSO Managing Director Sophie Galaise thanked its broad community for their support.

“The music performed by the MSO continued to foster shared understanding and build long-lasting connections within our community and around the globe.” says Galaise.

“The ongoing success of the MSO has been made possible by the people of Victoria, our subscribers, Patrons and donors, live audiences and digital viewers. And of course our incredible artists and musicians, who displayed exceptional passion and commitment to the MSO”.

Diversity and artistic creativity continued as a mainstay of the 2023 season. The MSO welcomed 199 Australian artists, soloists and ensembles, and more than 20 international guests. It performed 168 Australian works and presented the world premiere of 17 MSO commissions from composers such as 2023 MSO Composer in Residence, Mary Finsterer, Elena Kats-Chernin AO and the MSO’s Cybec Young Composer in Residence, Melissa Douglas.

The MSO continued to celebrate Australia’s First Nations artists and provide opportunities for them to shine. The MSO’s Musical Acknowledgement of Country Long Time Living Here, composed by MSO First Nations Creative Chair, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, opened MSO concerts across the State. On the 25th anniversary of National Sorry Day, the MSO presented its inaugural First Voices Showcase, celebrating one of the MSO’s most exciting artist development programs: the First Voices Composers’ Program.

Concert highlights included the presentations of One Song: The Music of Archie Roach, and Buŋgul, which paid tribute to the late Australian legend Dr Gurrumul Yunupingu. The next generation of First Nations artists took centre stage with contemporary voices including Mo’Ju, Ngaiire, and Electric Fields performing with the MSO in an ongoing series of hugely popular contemporary music collaborations.

Members of The Ensemble Dutala Residency performed with the MSO including One Song: The Music of Archie Roach, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO’s Eumeralla: a war requiem for peace, and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl Free Concert—A Tchaikovsky Spectacular. They also took part in a masterclass with visiting musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 2023 the MSO undertook a year-long program of regional touring across Victoria, delivering on its commitment to ensure access to world-class orchestral music and learning opportunities for regional communities. Reaching a total of 7,981 people, the 2023 tour visited eight regional communities: Shepparton, Warragul, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Horsham, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Wangaratta. Offering pathways for regional children to connect with orchestral music, the MSO reached 2,448 students across 13 specially-curated activities.

The MSO also announced a new partnership with the Australian Music Centre and ABC Classic, which will see the creation of a new audio library of Australian music featuring more than 400 works co-/commissioned by the MSO over the past 30 years. For the first time in its 22-year history, the ABC Classic 100 became a live concert event under the creative direction of MSO Principal Conductor in Residence, Benjamin Northey. The concert was broadcast live on ABC Classic Radio, and made available on ABC iView where it has generated more than 2.88 million views.

The year marked further expansion of the MSO’s international reach with a new agreement between the MSO and the Royal Academy of Music (UK). The three-year program of collaboration and exchange aims to enrich the training of the Royal Academy and MSO Academy members, preparing Australia and the UK's most exceptional young musicians for professional performance careers on the international stage.

In May, a delegation of MSO musicians and management staff travelled to Yogyakarta in Indonesia, and for the first time, to Bandung in West Java, for 12 days of cross-cultural engagement, delivering the MSO’s annual Youth Music Camp and Arts Management Workshops in both locations. While in Bandung, a partnership proposal plan between the MSO and the West Java Province was signed, supporting the Implementation Program of the cooperation between West Java and the Victorian Government.

Reflecting on his second year with the MSO, Maestro Martín praised the musicians and acknowledged their artistry and commitment to such high levels of performance.

“It has been an incredible journey working alongside the MSO’s outstanding musicians and collaborating with artists from Australia and across the globe.” says Martín. “Our season program was one of great joy. We performed works that had their premiere hundreds of years ago, as well as those making their world premiere with the MSO.”