Australian Youth Orchestra Homecoming Concert

David Robertson – conductor, artist, composer, thinker, American musical visionary – occupies the most prominent podiums in orchestral and new music, and opera.  He is a champion of contemporary composers, and an ingenious programmer.  Robertson has served in numerous leadership positions, including Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a transformative 13-year tenure as St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director, with Orchestre National de Lyon, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and, as protégé of Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain.  He appears with the world’s great orchestras such as those of New York, Philadelphia, LA; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; and major ensembles and festivals on five continents.  Since his 1996 Metropolitan Opera debut, Robertson has conducted a breathtaking range of Met projects, including the 2019 production premiere of Porgy and Bess, winning the Grammy Award, Best Opera Recording.  In 2022, he conducted its Met revival, and made his Rome Opera debut.  Robertson is The Juilliard School’s Director of Conducting Studies, Distinguished Visiting Faculty, and serves on the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council.  In the 2024-25 season, he celebrates the Boulez Centennial with the New York Philharmonic, Juilliard Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra; conducts the orchestras of Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Seoul, Leipzig, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and more.  He leads European tours of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Australian Youth Orchestra, and continues his term as the inaugural Utah Symphony and Opera’s Creative Partner.  Robertson is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. 

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Born in Melbourne in 2007, Christian Li first picked up a violin aged five. He captured international attention in 2018 when he became the youngest-ever winner of the Menuhin Competition, winning the joint Junior 1st Prize.

Soon after, in 2020, Christian became the youngest artist to sign with Decca Classics. His debut album featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was released in August 2021 gathering five-star reviews. Following this success, Christian’s second album Discovering Mendelssohn was released in 2023.

In concerts, Christian has made a series of acclaimed debuts including with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, RTV Slovenian Radio Symphony and Macao Orchestra, and has also given recitals in Taiwan, Canada, Norway and the UK. Currently, Christian is the Young Artist in Association with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a title he has held since 2021.

Christian performs on the 1737 ex-Paulsen Guarneri del Gesù violin, on loan from a generous benefactor and uses a bow by François Peccatte. He studies with Dr. Robin Wilson at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and with David Takeno in London. In his free time, he enjoys reading, swimming and cycling.

William Barton is Australia’s leading didgeridoo player and a highly esteemed composer, instrumentalist, and vocalist.

William first learned the instrument from his uncle, Arthur Peterson, an Elder of the Wannyi, Lardil, and Kalkadunga people. At an early age, he began collaborating with traditional dance groups, fusion/rock/jazz bands, orchestras, string quartets, and mixed ensembles.

Throughout his diverse career, he has forged a path in the classical music world, including performances with the London, Berlin, and Bremer Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as historic events at Westminster Abbey for Commonwealth Day 2019, Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, and the Beijing Olympics.

William holds honorary doctorates from Griffith University and the University of Sydney. He has released five albums on ABC Classic, including Heartland 2022 with Véronique Serret and the words of his mother, Aunty Delmae Barton.

William was named Queensland Australian of the Year and received the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music in 2023. He was also an Australian of the Year Nominee. His work with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on the soundtrack of the film “River” won several awards in 2022, including Best Soundtrack Album and Best Original Song Composed for the Screen.

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Peter Sculthorpe was born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1929. Sculthorpe’s catalogue consists of more than 350 works and, apart from juvenilia, a good part of it is regularly performed and recorded throughout the world. The composer wrote in most musical forms, and almost all his works are influenced by the social climate and physical characteristics of Australia. Furthermore, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island music and the gamelan music of Indonesia were significant influences upon his musical language.

His preoccupation with the frailty of the human condition can be found in works such as the choral Requiem (2004) and String Quartet No.16 (2006). The former grew from his concern about women and children being killed in the war in Iraq, the latter from the plight of people in detention.

He was Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney. He also taught at music institutions and universities both within and outside Australia, and held honorary doctorates from Tasmania, Melbourne, Sussex, Griffith and Sydney. In 1977 he was appointed OBE and was the recipient of a Silver Jubilee Medal. He was appointed AO in 1990.