Philip Sametz

About

Phillip Sametz has spent his working life advocating for music and musicians – in print, on line, on air, on stage and as tour leader.

He has appeared on all the major ABC radio networks, as presenter and producer. On ABC Classic FM, between 2008 and 2017, he presented The Past and the Curious, Screen Sounds, Sunday Recital and Classic Breakfast, as well as many documentaries and live concert broadcasts. His writing has appeared in Limelight, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review and the Screen Australia blog, and his history of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Play On!, was published by ABC Books.

His annotations and articles appear regularly on ABC Classic albums and in the program books and web pages of the Australian symphony orchestras, Victorian Opera and the Melbourne Recital Centre. In the months before the first wave of Covid-19, he gave the pre-performance talks for Victorian Opera’s production of Salome, and was Master of Ceremonies for Richard Mills’ 70th birthday concert. In 2021 he has led four tours for Renaissance Tours, taking groups to – among other cultural events – the Adelaide Festival and the Coriole Music Festival.

He has helped mentor aspiring young musicians as part of the MRC’s Accelerando program, and in 2019 and 2020 tutored the Words About Music cohort at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp in Adelaide. 

Before taking up a freelance career in 2020, he worked as Alumni Co-ordinator at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and in senior Communications roles for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia and the Sydney Symphony.

Phillip is Director and vocalist of the swing band The Mell-O-Tones, who perform regularly at the Hayden Orpheum Cinemas in Cremorne, Sydney.