Growing up in the musical family, born to saxophonist Clive Amadio, Len forged a formidable career in the arts from the 1960 onwards. Beginning his career in the concerts department at the Australian Broadcasting Commission in Sydney, Len quickly became a game changer in arts funding in Australia. In 1964, he then went on to be concert manager in South Australia and joined Don Dunstan’s premier’s department in 1970. He then became the First Director of the Arts in South Australia in 1981, where he worked for 10 years, after which he was Senior Advisor for 4 years. During this time, Len met Ruth Alexander, one of the founders of AYO and was asked to work as a concert manager at 1958 National Music Camp. Len Amadio made a significant contribution to the Australian Youth Orchestra through executive, advisory and mentoring roles and through contributions to the establishment of the Alumni program.
Alumni Interview
Question: Len, when did your connection with AYO begin?
Answer: It began in, I think, March ’57, when I was a young concert officer in the ABC, and the ABC was in the midst of organising the very first AYO concerts in the Sydney Town Hall. And I was asked to go upstairs from the concert apartment, which was then down around the corner of, in Pitt Street from Park Street, and meet a Mrs. Ruth Alexander who would pull up in a taxi and have a list of the orchestra for the printed program. And she knew that I was going to be the person waiting. So, the taxi pulled up and [in] this American accent, the little lady said, “Are you Amadio?” And I said, “Yes.” She said, “This is the list. Make sure that you check all the names and the spelling. I don’t want any mistakes, right?” I said, “Mrs Alexander, don’t worry, we will.” And that’s how I started.
And then we had the concerts within the next week or so. And I got to know, and I got to know John Bishop because he conducted concerts. And then Ruth said to me, “Why don’t you come down and have a look at the music camp at Frensham?”, which was the following January in ’58. So, I went down for a weekend, stayed in Mittagong, saw what they were doing with the orchestras and it was pretty small then, the camp didn’t have as many people as it built up over the years.
That was fascinating and then I was asked to go to a music camp and be a concert manager. And I did that in 1960 and ’62 and ’63, I think. And I did it with another friend who was the concert officer in Melbourne, Geoff Fiddian. We were joint concert managers, which meant we’d do what the orchestral staff do at music camp. We’d move all the risers and the chairs and set up the stage and make sure everything was ready for the concert and dismantle everything after. So, I was a glorified concert manager.
Anyway, that was fascinating. And then, of course, the AYO played in a couple of youth concert series in Sydney with Barenboim in ’58. I remember that very clearly. And I’d been involved with the ABC Youth Concerts Committee for some three or four years up to that stage. So, I was really fascinated by the whole concept of youth concerts for young people to the age of 16-25. And then I saw this whole National Music Camp Association that had started off, you know, with a music camp and then developed an orchestra which was brought together. Hopefully they were going to try to do it on an annual basis. And the ABC had been very cooperative. Ruth Alexander was a very persuasive woman who managed to get Charles Moses who was then the general manager of the ABC to schedule the AYO into youth concerts in Sydney and Melbourne in over a few years in the late 50s early 60s. So, that’s how the whole thing got off the ground.
So, I had a very good association then. When I went to Adelaide in ’64, I continued going to hear the orchestra whenever they performed and I went to music camps as just a guest. I didn’t work in the music camps again until about the mid-90s when I was asked to go to camp along with Pat Brislan to be house coordinators, which meant looking after the young boys and the young girls to make sure they all got to bed at time and didn’t go mad crazy and everything else. So, I did that for quite a few years right through the late 90s, and then they had a restructuring of the board in 1994, and I was nominated and went on the board for 14 years.
So, I sort of had this relationship with the organisation on various levels, apart from acting for three months in between general managers in ’95. And then another interesting development was I think it was round about the beginning of 1975 when I’d been working in the state government in South Australia for Don Dunston when he was premier. And I got a phone call at somebody’s house. I was having a meeting somewhere at somebody’s house. And someone said, there’s a phone call for us. I said, “Well, who knows? I’m here.” Anyway, there’s Ruth Alexander in Melbourne saying, saying, “Len, we’re doing the Asian Tour in three weeks’ time, and the person is going to be leading the tour, the senior person is ill. And Len Porter, who is the wonderful administrative head of the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium” – who is married to John Bishop’s daughter, so there’s the connection there – “is going to be an assistant tour manager, is going to be the tour manager, and we need someone to take over from him. Would you be free to do it?”
And I said, “Well, I’ll have to get leave. And I said, Yes, of course I’d love to.” And I did, I got leave. So, I went on the Asian tour in 1975, which went to- We went to Philippines, did about eight concerts in Japan in the middle of freezing winter, South Korea, which had a lot of problems, and Hong Kong Arts Festival. So that was my first sort of touring with AYO, which was extraordinary. And John Hopkins conducted, and Bill Hennessy led the orchestra, and some wonderful stars in the woodwind section and the brass section, all went on to become leading musicians in Sydney and Melbourne orchestras and other orchestras all graduated from that tour. That was quite exciting. And then I did a few other tours in the 2000s: 2001, 2004, 2007. I went along as the sort of like the extra person to do all the odd jobs and help out in any way and keep an eye on them, the kids, that sort of thing, which was great in Europe. And so that’s how it all happened.
Question: Is there anything particular that keeps you connected to the organization and your emotional connection or is there anything?
Answer: Oh, look, I just think, I get a great feeling of excitement and satisfaction seeing young people developing and see how the opportunity they have to play in an orchestra, even at music camps. But absolutely, they get into the main orchestra and they’ve got a tour overseas to look forward to in a year or two. I mean, they are wonderful the way they responded. And I’ve heard so much, so many wonderful performances. I mean, we’ve been as good as major Australian orchestras overseas. I mean, I remember a concert in London, which was wonderful in 1984. I’ll never forget a concert in the Concertgebauer, which blew me out of the seat in 2001, I think it was. A wonderful concert in the concert house in Berlin a bit later when I happened to be in Berlin at the time, during the 2013 tour. They did the Rite of Spring with Eschenbach and Joshua Bell did Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. And the German audience saw their first didgeridoo with William Barton, a Sculthorpe piece. It was an extraordinary evening, really. I can still see it now. It was wonderful. I mean, I just…
But that’s the culmination of all the wonderful associations you have is to hear them, be so proud of them playing so well. Extraordinary. And you talk to the kids and it’s the life-affirming and life-changing thing for them. They’ve all had, there’s not one musician I’ve ever spoken to who’s not been positively affected by the association they’ve had in the orchestra and with their colleagues all together. It’s extraordinary. And I think in this organisation they’ve done something which no other organisation in Australia is doing anything like it. Even the state youth orchestras, which are good staging grounds, AYO is seen as the pinnacle in terms of, you know, training and the level of professionalism and the very good conductors. And it sort of comes together in the most extraordinary way, when you sit in a great concert hall in Europe and you feel a great feeling of pride and excitement and satisfaction.
Question: So, what would you say to someone who might think about supporting the Australian Youth Orchestra?
Answer: Well, if they didn’t know much about it, I’d certainly make sure they did in the conversation and I’d give them the material and give them a few stories and get them a bit excited, hopefully, and say, you know, this is an organisation that’s well worth your supporting financially because you’ll get a great feeling of satisfaction out of doing it. And if you love music and love concerts, you can’t do anything better than supporting young musicians who are going to be the musicians of the future in our symphony orchestras and to give them that, their life’s experience and make it possible for them to do those wonderful things that the Australian Youth Orchestra allows young people to do in terms of music camp and concerts in Australia and ultimately overseas touring and match up against other orchestras, other youth orchestras and other orchestras around the world.
My alumni tours. I could always, for some extraordinary reason, the AYO tour would start just after one of my alumni tours finished. I might have a week in between going from Milan up to Amsterdam to meet the orchestra back in 2001. It just happened to coincide. It didn’t cost the AYO anything. There’s no air fares for me, just accommodation and the expenses and I love doing it. The same thing happened in 2004/7 and I think I was in London in 1994 doing something else when the AYO was doing that tour. John Drummond got them into the Proms when John was running the Proms. So, I remember going to the concert in London, the concert in Aberystwyth, believe it or not, in Wales, the concert in the new concert hall in Birmingham which had only opened a few weeks before. So that was exciting and then I think I went up to, I was in Berlin in ‘13 for that wonderful concert with Eschenbach and Joshua Bell. And then in 2016 I went up to Shanghai and Beijing to meet the orchestra on their way back from Europe and hear them in those new concert halls in China and spend a week going to Hong Kong and went to Taipei, which I’d never been to as well. But that was great fun.
