Australia’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Directed by First Indigenous Conductor

Aaron Wyatt recently conducted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in a free outdoor concert, performing Deborah Cheetham AO's piece titled Long Time Living Here. The piece was a musical Acknowledgement of Country, which is "a way to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and ongoing custodians of the land."

Performing alongside the MSO in the piece were members of Ensemble Dutala — Australia’s first ensemble for classically trained First Nations musicians of which Wyatt is artistic director.

“This opportunity with the MSO represents such a huge step forward, both for me as an individual and for Indigenous representation in Australian classical music,” Wyatt told NITV news. “It’s a shame that it’s taken this long really, it’s kind of surprising that it’s 2022 and I am the first.”

“The weight of low expectation that has been placed on the shoulders of First Nations People since colonization began, we have the longest continuing and most successful music practice in the world here on this continent and it only makes sense to me that this should translate into opportunity,” added Aboriginal Australian soprano, actor, composer and playwright Deborah Cheetham. “We should be included everywhere there is musical art.”

The full concert can be heard here on ABC Classic. 

From left to right: Aaron Wyatt, Allara Briggs Pattison, Deborah Cheetham, Preston Clifton, Jackson Worley, and Maya Hodge (Photo credit: Liam Hennebry/Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)

Originally from Perth, Wyatt is a violinist, conductor, programmer, and assistant lecturer at The Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at Monash University, Melbourne.

“[Music] was always a part of my life, I originally studied science and engineering at [university], and I enjoyed that,” Wyatt told ABC radio presenter Virginia Trioli on his music studies. “[But] I just couldn’t see not having music in my life so that inspired the change to music as a profession,” he added.

Over the last 10 years, he has appeared regularly as a casual musician with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) and maintains an interest in conducting.

As a researcher, Wyatt is focusing on the area of animated graphic score notation. He is currently working on the Decibel ScorePlayer app for the iPad which will allow for the network synchronized playback of such scores.