About Us

The South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is one of Melbourne's oldest community orchestras, with a continuous record of performing in the South Melbourne Town Hall since its formation in 1946. It is an amateur orchestra, managed by a committee of its members. Four concerts a year are performed per year, typically just before Easter, mid-June, mid-September and late November/early December, with about ten rehearsals for each. The concerts are held on a Sunday afternoon.

Rehearsals are held weekly on Monday evenings from 7:30 - 10:15ish. We do not hold auditions, but generally suggest to prospective players who enquire that they come along for a couple of rehearsals to judge the playability of the music for themselves.

Through the generosity of the City of Port Phillip and latterly also the Australian National Academy of Music, the orchestra has had the use for both rehearsals and concerts of the South Melbourne Hall which has outstanding acoustic properties, although at present the Hall has been closed by the City of Port Phillip for repair, refurbishment and reconfiguration for approximately the next two years, so rehearsals and concerts are being held elsewhere.

The present Conductor is Lynette Bridgland, who completed her Bachelor of Education in Music at Victoria College in 1982, and a post-graduate diploma in conducting at the University of Surrey in 1990. From 1992-2003 she was Director of Music at Fintona Girls School and has a great deal of experience in conducting orchestras, bands, choirs and musical theatre productions. She is currently teaching music at Our Lady of Sion College.

The orchestra is proud to have collaborated with many outstanding soloists—drawn from its own ranks, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music and the wider Australian musical world. Concertos have been performed with single and multiple pianos and with instruments from all four orchestral families—strings, woodwind, brass and percussion—and have ranged from the Baroque era, through the Classical and Romantic periods and into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Lynette has studied extensively in music, having gained her Bachelor of Education in Music at Victoria College, her AMusA Piano and a post-graduate Diploma in Music—Conducting at the Univerity of Surrey, where she studied under Sebastian Forbes and Nicholas Conran. During her time in England she held the position of Conductor of the Univerity of Surrey Symphonic Wind Band and also conducted the Univerity Symphony Orchestra and Choir. Lynette completed the Conductors' Graduate Seminar with Jerry Nowak and the Advanced Conductors Seminar with Larry Wagner and was selected to participate in the Symphony Australia Conducting course, under the direction of the Finnish conductor Maestro Jorma Panula.

Lynette has a long career in music education, firstly as Music Coordinator at Canterbury Girls Secondary College. As well as teaching classroom music she conducted the Concert Band, which culminated in an invitation for the Band to participate in the 1989 International Youth Music Festival for the 2000th year celebrations for the City of Bonn, followed by a concert tour of Europe. From 1992 to 2003 Lynette was Director of Music at Fintona Girls' School and is currently teaching music at Our Lady of Sion College.

Lynette's involvement in music includes the Associate Conductor of the Eastern Youth Laureate Wind Symphony in 1992 and guest conductor in 2000. For six years Lynette conducted the Alexander Concert Band at the Border Music Band, Albury. She was the Musical Director of the Western Productions, including Cabaret, Damn Yankees, Annie, Jesus Christ Superstar and the awards night for the Victorian Theatre Guild. Lynette is often invited to be a guest conductor for schools and community groups and to adjudicate at music festivals. In 2000 Lynette received an Excellence Award from the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors' Association, Victorian Branch.

Lynette is very proud of the long assocation with the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra—now in its 31st year—in which she has conducted works from all styles and forms of orchestral music and is delighted to rehears and perform with the regular members of the orchestra and the special guests who have appeared with the orchestra over the years.

Orchestra Management

• Hilary Bush
  President
• David Alderson
  Treasurer
• Chris Davey
  Secretary
• Adam Lawler
  Librarian

Contact Details

Postal address:

PO Box 1042
South Melbourne, VIC 3205

To receive notification of future concerts, or to enquire about the orchestra in general, please email our Secretary, Chris Davey.

To enquire about joining the orchestra, please email our Secretary Chris Davey or our conductor Lynette Bridgland.