VIOLIN 1985 : Eighth Prize
Dene Olding is one of Australia’s most outstanding instrumentalists and has achieved a distinguished career in many aspects of musical life. As a soloist, he appears regularly with the Australian symphony orchestras and has given the Australian premieres of Lutoslawski’s Chain 2, Carter’s Violin Concerto, and the Glass Violin Concerto, as well as concertos by Ross Edwards and Bozidar Kos, and Richard Mills’ Double Concerto, written for him and his wife, violist Irina Morozova.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, in 1985 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship and was a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. He rejoined the Sydney Symphony as Co-Concertmaster in 2002, having held the position from 1987 to 1994. Other concertmaster positions have included the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He is also first violinist for the Australia Ensemble and a founding member of the Goldner String Quartet. As a conductor he has made appearances with the Sydney Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia, and as conductor-soloist with chamber orchestras in Australia and America.
His recordings include Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart sonatas, concertos by Martin, Milhaud, Hindemith and Barber, the premiere recording of Edwards’ violin concerto, Maninyas, the complete Beethoven string quartets and a Rachmaninoff disc with Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Dene Olding plays a 1720 Joseph Guarnerius violin.
Australia
Year of birth: 1956