BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Should you stay in Australia to build your music career, or travel overseas in search of bigger things? What even are those bigger things?
This new interview series aims to educate you about the best of both worlds. And we’ll give you a hint: there’s no right answer.
Throughout 2019, we’re teaming up with the Australian Youth Orchestra to bring you stories about those who have started to forge their industry path in Australia. But some have remained in the country, while others have stationed themselves across the world.
No matter where you choose to live and work, there is plenty for you to learn. In this interview, we meet Adrian Whitehall.
Adrian took part in his first AYO National Music Camp when he was 16 years old, attending in 2014 (coincidentally, the same year many of our writers took part in the camp’s Words About Music program). In 2017, he performed in two AYO Season concerts, and the following year his skills on double bass were further recognised as he scored places in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra fellowship programs on the back of AYO.
He’s now touring the world with AYO (and you’ll get to see him when they return for a big finish at the Sydney Opera House this August). Taking a break from his busy performing schedule, Adrian tells us why this tour is a particularly special one to him.
Hey, there. So where are you right now?
So we just finished an amazing concert in the Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, with a full house and a standing ovation.
Tell us how you got to be in this place.
I have been doing AYO programs since 2014. I have applied for AYO every year and progressed in my playing.
These programs were really great, as I learnt how to prepare for professional auditions and just develop my playing even more. And, with the success of passing both casual auditions for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, I definitely knew that this was a career I could get into.
Following my AYO audition in last year, I got accepted into National Music Camp and its February Season and the AYO International Tour. Hearing this news was amazing as I have always wanted to go on an AYO International Tour. I have heard from many friends and colleagues that it is an experience that you will never forget, and will open many doors for my career.
On personal level since I was a young boy, I often watch many concerts by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and many other performances in the amazing Concertgebouw hall.
Taking us back, what’s been your history or connection to Amsterdam?
Netherlands is an amazing country, and I have a personal connection with too: when my Oma left Holland after World War II as a 12-year-old, she managed to maintain contact with her relatives in Holland even after her mother died just one year after arriving in Australia. The connections with my great grandmother and great grandfather’s family continues til this day.
It was overwhelming to have all my Dutch family in the audience, some I haven’t seen since I was 7 years old. So to play in a concert hall that I have always dreamed of playing in — Concertgebouw — and to have my family there to watch me, it was truly a special moment in my life.
Thank you for sharing that with us, Adrian. And how would you say being overseas has helped shape your identity as a musician?
I think just being on this tour with AYO has just been a wonderful experience so far, as it is a big tour around Europe, China, and a Sydney concert to finish with.
I think it’s truly amazing to perform in amazing concert halls. It’s what puts Australia on the classical music radar around the world. It just consolidates my dream to be a professional world-class Australian musician.
What do you enjoy doing or discovering outside Australia — when you’re not hard at work?
When I go overseas for an orchestra tour or in general, I just love to explore the places that I visit and just chill out with friends. I also love catching up with people from previous AYO programs, like Antony Hermus from Netherlands, who conducted AYO in the February season last year in Melbourne.
Talk us through your daily life.
At the moment, I’m currently in my fourth and final year at the Sydney Conservatorium of music — one more semester to go!
My practice schedule is generally three to four hours a day. I then have lessons, lectures, and rehearsals for orchestra on top of that. And I sometimes do some programs outside university like AYO or Ensemble Apex and many others.
In my relaxation time, I like writing music and composing, and I am also trying to reinvigorate the Wollongong Symphony Orchestra.
There’s a perception that Australian artists need to go overseas to ‘make it’. But what are some of the benefits you think Australia has to offer you as an emerging artist, too? Is it all about balance?
I do believe in the whole perception of going overseas to ‘make it’, because I guess as an Australian musician it gives another perception of your playing — and could possibly elevate your musical career just by getting lessons, meeting new people, and the music-making side.
However, I do believe people in Australia can make it in their own country. It’s programs like the AYO that really bring out the best of musicians. And when I see that many professional Australian musicians have jobs overseas in Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, or Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra — just to name a few — it really says that anything is possible. And, with the AYO programs I have done, I feel so happy to be part of an amazing program.
Also, being raised in a regional area — Wollongong, New South Wales — I also feel that it’s important to contribute and share our musical skills and knowledge for the regional country young people, who also have a love of music.
What’s the key message from your AYO training that remains with you today, on the other side of the world from where you started?
The key message that I learnt from my training with the AYO is that teamwork is the dreamwork. And when we work hard as individuals and we have passion in our heart, then the team naturally can produce an amazing result.
Being fortunate enough to make it into AYO, I remind myself that this is like the youth Olympics of classical music — and that representing my country, and being a member and a part of the AYO team, is a huge honour. I will always be grateful to AYO for the performance experience and training that they have given to me.
What advice would you give to young people who are undertaking this sort of training, or who have recently completed it, and are looking to build their career outside Australia?
The advice I would give to young musicians is to never give up, go see concerts, listen to a broad repertoire of music — not just classical because you can learn so much by having an open mind to music, and listen and learn from the advice from your teachers and tutors.
Also, dare to dream. Because with passion in your heart and fire in your belly, anything is possible.
And finally…where are you off to next?
We are on our way to China now to perform two concerts, in Beijing and Guangzhou, and then we all fly home to Sydney for our last homecoming concert on August 5 at the Sydney Opera House at 8pm.
I am really looking forward to the Sydney concert, as it will be an amazing concert to see: full of energy and passion and on home soil.
See Adrian and his fellow AYO musicians at the Sydney Opera House this August 5 — the culminating concert in the 2019 AYO International Tour.
READ NEXT: All the world’s a stage | Brighdie Chambers, orchestral management
We’re teaming up with the Australian Youth Orchestra to bring you real-world stories that explore the benefits of a music career in the country or across the globe. Stay tuned for our next interview in All the world’s a stage. In what country would you like to make music?
Images supplied.
