Australia and the UK announce international collaboration agreement between MSO and the Royal Academy of Music

Photo credit: Jenny Magee

At the Royal Academy of Music in London, High Commissioner to the UK, the Hon Stephen Smith announced a new international agreement between Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the Royal Academy of Music.

The agreement heralds extraordinary international opportunities for Australian and British musicians studying at the MSO Academy and the Royal Academy, two esteemed institutions that are working to further strengthen cross-cultural exchange between Australia and the 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 United Kingdom’s most exceptional young musicians for professional performance careers on the international stage.

With the first intake to commence in 2025, the MSO Academy and Royal Academy will take part in an annual exchange program that will facilitate up to five members of each Academy spending 10-14 days with their international counterparts, deepening people-to-people links across the Australian and British music industry.

While in residence, the members will have the opportunity to rehearse and perform with their hosts and receive lessons from relevant Academy faculty. Members will collaborate on a chamber music project that will include public performances in London and Melbourne with a program that features a new work written for the ensemble by MSO’s Cybec Young Composer in Residence and one work written by a Royal Academy composition student.

This is the MSO’s second major international partnership with a leading institution in the UK, following on the successful launch of a long-term partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2022.

The MSO-Royal Academy of Music partnership continues to build on the legacy of the UK/Australia Season of Culture 2021/2022 jointly led by DFAT and the British Council and delivers on the intent of the Australian Government’s national cultural policy Revive, which supports Australia’s cultural industries, musicians, artists and performers.

Sophie Galaise, Managing Director, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, said:

“Supporting emerging artists and musicians is a core strand of the MSO’s DNA and the impetus for creating the MSO Academy. This new agreement offers our academy fellows an extraordinary opportunity to collaborate with and learn from our international colleagues, while deepening meaningful engagement with the United Kingdom and further increasing the global profile of Australian musicians.”

Principal of the Royal Academy of Music Professor Jonathan Freeman–Attwood CBE said:

“As we head into our third century, international collaboration and creating music remains as much at the Academy’s core as when we were founded. Now, more than ever, we need music to cross borders, and to create projects that educate and inspire the next generation of musicians. This partnership with MSO will give our students an unparalleled opportunity to expand their learning and performance opportunities. We look forward to developing an artistic and educational alliance with MSO and jointly expanding our creative reach.”

The Hon Stephen Smith, High Commissioner to the UK said:

“This is a great moment in Australia’s deep cultural relationship with the United Kingdom. The Royal Academy of Music and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are cultural powerhouses in the UK and Australia. This greater exchange of people and skills will strengthen the quality of art fostered at these great institutions.”

“This collaboration is a clear demonstration of the creative value of our modern partnership. I am delighted that these two world class organisations will foster deep people-to-people links and increase the global profile of Australian musicians.”

The MSO will further enhance opportunities in the UK for Australian musicians with the launch of the ‘Melbourne Symphony Orchestra UK Foundation’ later this month. The Foundation will raise funds necessary to ensure ongoing collaborations, commissions and exchanges that bring the MSO and emerging artists to global prominence. The Foundation will contribute funds towards the new collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music as well as previously announced agreements with the London Symphony Orchestra and LSO Live.