Patrick Burns Wins 2017 Hephzibah Tintner Conducting Fellowship

Patrick Burns, 33, has been chosen as the 2017 recipient of the $50,000 Hephzibah Tintner Conducting Fellowship.

The Fellowship is awarded to an emerging conductor who will contribute to the cultural and artistic life of Australia. It provides training and mentorship opportunities for two years. The Fellow will take part in the conducting processes at The Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Burns joins previous conducting fellows Simon Hewett and Simon Thew who noe have established careers. Hewett works with the Hamburg Ballet, and Thew with The Australian Ballet and Birmingham City Ballet.

Finalists for the Fellowship performed selections from Bizet’s Carmen, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony with the Opera Australia Orchestra in Sydney last month. The judging panel comprised Nicolette Fraillon, Music Director and Chief Conductor of The Australian Ballet, Anthony Legge, Conductor, Opera Australia and Raff Wilson, Director of Artistic Planning, Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Patrick studied at the Queensland Conservatorium before undertaking a Master of Music in Melbourne under Professor John Hopkins. He is an alumnus of the Symphony Australia conductor development program, in which he worked with professional orchestras in Australia and New Zealand. Recent competition successes in the 2015 Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition, Bulgaria (Jury’s Special Prize) and the 2016 Black Sea Opera Conducting Competition, Romania (Orchestra’s Choice Prize) led to performances with the State Opera of Bulgaria, Rousse and The Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, Bulgaria.

In 2017, Patrick served as an Assistant Conductor at the National Theatre of Serbia in Belgrade, working on a new production of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino and conducting Verdi’s Otello. Additional awards have included the Australia Council Conducting Fellowship, two Ivy May Pendelbury Scholarships, an Artstart grant and an Italian Travel Scholarship from the Dante Alighieri Society of Melbourne.

Aside from professional engagements, Patrick has a passion for community music. He has worked with the Ballarat Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Citi Opera, Opera Studio Melbourne, Preston Symphony Orchestra and charity fundraising group Feature Set in support of Oz Child. Patrick works on occasion for the inspirational School of Hard Knocks Association. He is currently Chief Conductor with the Ipswich City Orchestra and President and Music Director of Melbourne’s XL Arts.

The Hephzibah Tintner Foundation was set up in memory of Hephzibah Tintner a ballet dancer and actor who died from cancer on 21 June 2001 at 30 years of age. Fellowship recipients are recommended by an Advisory Committee of representatives from leading Australian cultural organisations including Opera Australia, the Sydney Dance Company, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and The Australian Ballet.