About our conductor

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Andrew Wailes enjoys a busy performing and teaching schedule both in Australia and increasingly overseas, as a conductor, chorus-master, workshop leader, professional singer, and an experienced adjudicator. He is widely regarded as one of Australia's leading symphonic choral conductors, having directed many of Melbourne's major choirs over a more than twenty-five-year career that has seen him perform an impressive repertoire of major symphonic choral works, as well as a wide range of orchestral, opera, chamber and a capella music. 

Andrew began his musical studies as a flautist, and as a chorister in various Royal School of Church Music choirs, later studying advanced orchestral conducting with the late Robert Rosen and voice with David Ross-Smith. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree and Certificates in Applied Music (in Orchestral and Choral Conducting) at Monash University, and following studies in Political Science and Law, concentrated on his musical career, studying conducting with leading international choral specialists including Simon Halsey, and John Rutter (UK), Jo-Michael Scheibe, and Professor Rod Eichenberger (USA), Stefan Parkman (Denmark), as well as some of Australia's leading conducting pedagogues.

Andrew has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra since 1998 and is now the RMP’s second longest-serving conductor in its 170-year history. In 2024 Andrew celebrated 30 years directing the Melbourne University Choral Society, and he has led the Box Hill Chorale for 25 years. In 2024 he also took up a new appointment as Conductor and Musical Director of The Star Chorale. He also regularly returns to Queensland as Conductor and seasonal Music Director of the Sunshine Coast Oriana Choir and The Sinfonia of St Andrew's in Brisbane. 

For over 20 years, Andrew was the Artistic Director of The Australian Children’s Choir, successfully leading the ACC on major international tours (to England, New Zealand, China, Canada, USA, Czech  Republic, Germany, Austria) and extensively around Australia, and directing hundreds of high profile performances and recordings. 

In 2022 Andrew commenced a new role as Chorusmaster of Opera Australia's new professional Melbourne Children's Chorus in Melbourne. In 2022 he also prepared and managed the orchestra and chorus for internationally acclaimed tenor Andrea Bocelli's East Coast tour of Australia, including sold-out concerts in Sydney's Qudos Olympic Stadium, Hope Estate in the Hunter Valley, and Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. He will again tour with Bocelli in 2025, performing at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Andrew is a former Principal Guest Conductor of The Australian Classical Players' Orchestra, the Chamber Strings of Melbourne, and has directed Faculty Choirs and ensembles at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Music, Monash University, Melba Conservatorium, and Victorian College of the Arts. For ten years he also lectured in conducting and directed choral studies at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, and has also lectured in Music History and Performance Acoustics at the Quantum SAE Institute.  

In 1999 Andrew was the winner of the prestigious Australasian International Choral Conducting Competition in Brisbane. He has appeared as guest conductor with major choirs and orchestras from the USA, Finland, Sweden, UK, South Africa, Ireland, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and New Zealand, with groups such as the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Camerata Academica Freiburg, and Orchester der Universität  Stuttgart (Germany), Bach Choir of London (UK), Guangzhou Philharmonic  (China), Christchurch Sinfonia (NZ) Yale Glee Club and Harvard-Radcliffe  Collegium Musicum (USA), Candomino Choir (Finland), and local ensembles such as Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Opera Orchestra, Chamber Made Opera, Lyric Opera of Melbourne, VCA Symphony Orchestra, Royal  Australian Navy Band, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, the Academy of  Melbourne, Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, The Impossible Orchestra, Brisbane Symphony Orchestra, the Sunshine Coast Oriana Choir, Sinfonia of St Andrew's in Brisbane, and Stonnington Symphony Orchestra. 

With these and other ensembles Andrew has conducted a wide range of repertoire, across all styles and major periods of musical history, including hundreds of major symphonic choral works including: Handel’s Messiah (all versions), J.S. Bach’s  Easter Oratorio, St Matthew and St John Passions, Beethoven's Mass in C and Choral Fantasy; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and Quattro Pezzi Sacri, Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony (No.1), Towards the Unknown Region and Dona Nobis Pacem; Rachmaninov’s Vespers, and The Bells; Tchaikovsky's Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and "Moscow" Coronation Cantata, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Schicksalslied; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, The Musicmakers, The Spirit of England and Sea Pictures; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Haydn’s The Creation and Missa in Angustiis; Mozart’s Requiem, Great Mass in C minor and Solemn Vespers; Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Te Deum and Requiem; Prokofiev’s  Alexander Nevsky; Faure's Requiem, Rutter's Requiem and Gloria, Carl Vine's "Choral" Symphony No. 6, Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass and Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna.

A strong advocate of emerging and local composers, Andrew has commissioned and conducted numerous first performances of new works by Australians such as the late Peter Sculthorpe and Colin Brumby, Gordon Kerry, Carl Vine, Stephen Leek, Christopher Willcock, Stuart Greenbaum,  John Peterson, Jane Hammond, Stefan Cassomenos, Nicholas Buc and Dindy Vaughan.  

As a chorus master, Andrew has prepared choirs for many leading international conductors including the late Sir Charles Mackerras, Valery Gergiev, Diego Masson, Marcus Stenz, Diego Matheuz, Andrea Battistoni, Carlo Bernini, Ludwig Wicki, Douglas Boyd, Christopher Bell, Sir Andrew Davis and David Hill, and for groups such as the Kirov Opera, Opera Australia, Australian Youth Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Australian Ballet, Orchestra Victoria, Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival, the Melbourne Festival and Perth International Arts Festival. Major works Andrew for which he has prepared the chorus include Mahler's 8th and 2nd Symphonies, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Britten's War Requiem, Dvorak's Stabat Mater and Requiem, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and numerous film scores including The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Bizet's opera Carmen.

As a conductor, Andrew has directed choirs for many major televised events, including the opening of Federation Square in Melbourne and Stadium Australia in Sydney, the opening ceremony of the Parliament of the World's Religions, the closing ceremony of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, the Melbourne Cup, the ANZAC Day Dawn Service and Battle for Australia at the Shrine of Remembrance, the President's Cup, the Logies, the Australian Film Industry Awards, and the 2016 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to name a few. Andrew also directed the Our Christmas Gift massed choir for the Salvation Army for many years and has regularly directed performances in conjunction with Australia's Defence Force ensembles at major military and civic events at the Shrine of Remembrance. He has been a session conductor or prepared choirs for chart-topping albums by artists including John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John, Mark Vincent, Hayley Westenra, Silvie Paladino, Judith Durham, and Missy Higgins, and regularly collaborates with legendary Australian producer and arranger Chong Lim AM.

A trained singer, Andrew has a great deal of experience as a chorister in various chamber, liturgical, and symphonic choirs, and also as a professional consort singer and as a soloist in concert oratorio, and opera. He has performed on stage professionally with groups such as Opera Australia, IHOS Opera, Past Echoes Early Music Ensemble, and is a former member of the National Youth Choir of Australia. He has also performed live and recorded backing vocals for popular artists, including Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, Andrea and Matteo Bocelli, Michael Crawford, Delta Goodrem, Tim Minchin,  John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John, Tim Campbell, Silvie Paladino, and Mark Vincent.

Andrew founded the RMP Aria Oratorio competition in Melbourne in 2006 and advises International Music Festivals in both the USA and Europe. He is also an experienced Adjudicator, having served in that capacity at various competitions around Australia, the USA, China, and New Zealand. In recent years he has served as a Judge at the Washington D.C. International Choral Festival, USA, as a juror at the China International Choirs Festival, in Beijing, and the Shanghai International Choral Festival in China. In 2019 Andrew was also a guest Adjudicator at the 7th World Orchestra Festival in Sydney and has also adjudicated at the City of Hobart Eisteddfod, the North Queensland Eisteddfod in Cairns, the Mackay Eisteddfod, the City of Toowoomba Eisteddfod and many Victorian metropolitan and regional eisteddfodau. In 2023 Andrew also served as an Australian juror for the preliminary rounds of The Belvedere International Singing Competition - one of the largest competitions for young opera singers in the world.  In 2024 he also adjudicated at the Monash Youth Music Festival.  

An intrepid traveler, Andrew has also regularly led Australian ensembles around the world, frequently conducting orchestral and opera performances throughout China (over 100 concerts in 25 cities). He has organized and led choir tours to countries such as England, Germany,  Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, France, Poland, Hungary, China, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the USA, and Canada. With these ensembles, he has conducted in many of the world's most important venues, from Carnegie Hall and Washington National Cathedral in the USA to Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Edinburgh Castle, and Coventry Cathedral in the UK, to the Xian Concert Hall, Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall, The Shanghai Grand Theater and Guangzhou's Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in China, Salzburg Cathedral, the Great Hall of the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Vienna Musikverein in Austria, L'église de la Madeleine in Paris, Smetana Hall in Prague, and even the Papal Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican.

Andrew has performed at all of Australia's major venues, from the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, and Angel Place City Recital Hall, to Hamer Hall, the MCG, Melbourne Town Hall and Melbourne Recital Centre, Perth Concert Hall, Adelaide's Elder Hall and Festival Theatre, Hobart's Federation Concert Hall, Llewellyn Hall in Canberra, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and St John's Cathedral in Brisbane.

Andrew has been the recipient of several awards and nominations including a  prestigious Green Room Award Nomination (for best Opera Conductor). In 2019 he was the recipient of a Deakin Community Award, and he is proud to be a Life Member or Patron of no less than six Melbourne choirs and orchestras. Andrew is listed in the inaugural edition of the Who’s Who in Victoria, and the International Edition of Strathmore's Who's Who.

In his spare time, Andrew enjoys photography, bushwalking, cooking, following AFL and cricket, history, swimming, good food and wine, and especially traveling. He also occasionally reviews classical concerts for Classic Melbourne.

To email Andrew please contact him at: conductor@mucs.org.au

Visit Andrew's personal website: www.andrewwailes.com.au

PRESS QUOTES: 

"Conductor Andrew Wailes inspires and insists on great attention to detail, honest interpretation and enunciation of text, balance in choral and instrumental accompaniment of the four solo voices, and passionate contrasts of feeling and tone colour… There were spontaneous shouts of “Bravo!” for this grand opening by an accomplished choir, orchestra, soloists, and masterful conductor with an exemplary, exciting, and heartfelt quality performance.” -  (Beethoven’s Mass in C Major)  Classic Melbourne  2020  

“As master of ceremonies, writer of excellent detailed program notes in a 30-page glossy booklet, musical director, conductor, and stage manager, Andrew Wailes’ energy and passion is both authoritative and infectious.”  (Carols in the Cathedral) Classic Melbourne 2022

“Proper rehearsal preparation and Wailes’ attention to both choir and orchestra was clear from the outset, with a considerable amount of articulation and phrasing providing a stark contrast to many other local performances in recent years. There was a remarkable sense of ensemble from all on stage, with pleasingly consistent rhythmic precision, and clear articulation of text a constant feature. Even in some of the stunningly rapid passages, every note was clearly and crisply delivered by both vocal and orchestral forces, Wailes delivering both energy, self-assurance, and a neat focus throughout the two-and-a-half hour epic.” (Handel’s Messiah ) Classic Melbourne 2018 

"Under Andrew Wailes’ exceptionally clear, attentive direction, Mozart’s Requiem was immensely satisfying ... The degree to which all singers watched the conductor was very noticeable, and ensured unity of musical purpose and a high degree of precision. The sopranos were exceptionally impressive in their beauty of tone within a wide dynamic range and in their ability to maintain pitch and a gleaming tone on soft high passages..." (Mozart's Requiem)  Classic Melbourne 2023

“The Kyrie set the solemn tone of the mass, with Maestro Wailes paying great attention to detail. He conducted with conviction, a clear beat and good eye contact with the musicians who responded accordingly. Wailes brought out the best of the orchestra and chorus, with a good understanding of the nuances, dynamics, and tempi. The choral singing and performance demeanor were superb.”  (Mozart’s “Great Mass in C minor) J-Wire  2018 

“The combined choirs of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Society and the Melbourne University Choral Society, under the leadership of Andrew Wailes, outlined the passion of this work with aplomb. The dedicated preparation was obvious on all levels: first-class diction, intonation and vocal power were all abundant.” (Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem) - The Age, 2001 

"Andrew Wailes directed his music makers with the inspirational precision and the attention to detail that is his hallmark. All the works on the program required considerable sonic power for full effect. If Elgar’s motivation for composing was, as he said, “to fix the sounds and longing for something very great” then he needed a sizeable and capable instrument at his disposal – something to produce a visceral experience for performers and audience alike.” (Vaughan Williams’ Toward the Unknown Region and Elgar’s The Music Makers) Classic Melbourne 2014 

“The highlight of the program was Prokofiev’s great cantata, Alexander Nevsky. After hearing this wonderful performance I have to wonder why it is not heard more often.  However, its massive concept and complexity could only be tackled by a few choirs in this country – and they would need the support of a great orchestra.  On this occasion, both factors were present plus, in Wailes, a conductor who could hold it all together. The choir impressed with the rounded sound needed for Russian music, and singing that was harmonious and full... I could not imagine a better performance – even in Russia!” (Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky and Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances)  Arts Hub Review 2012 

“Wailes, who cuts a dapper, self-possessed figure on the podium, showed an impressive compulsion, driving his forces along with insistent power. It is hard to recall when this oratorio has been treated with such attention given to its dramatic potential…”  (Handel's Messiah)  The Age, 2001

 “Conductor Andrew Wailes was in complete control of all his forces throughout, ensuring confident entries from the choir and band, as well as a good balance between the two. The RMP orchestra… played with purpose and attack. … The singers are disciplined and  attentive …” (Mendelssohn’s Elijah), The Australian, 2004