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Sir Bernard Heinze AC
1974 Award
Orchestra Conductor and Musician
Born in Victoria, Heinze studied violin in Melbourne and Europe. He turned down posts in Europe to become Ormond Professor of Music at the University of Melbourne, 1925-55. Discouraged by Australian audiences' lack of interest in music he initiated the Young People's concert series, now attended by 200 000 children each year. He was conductor of the Victorian Symphony Orchestra, 1933-56, and life conductor of the Melbourne Philharmonic from 1928. In 1929 Heinze was appointed music adviser to the Australian Broadcasting Commission. There he oversaw the inception of its State orchestras, celebrity concerts, youth concerts and fine music broadcasting.
He introduced audiences to Buckner, Shostakovich, Bartok and Walton, and promoted Australian composers. By the time he became the first Australian to be knighted for services to music, in 1949, the Sydney and Melbourne orchestras were of world standard. He retired in 1965. Bernard Heinze was hailed as the most influential figure in Australian music, critics declaring: 'there is not a fibre of our musical life that has not been modified by his career.'
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