Fiona Allan
Arts Leader
ANAM General Manager (1995-1997)
I remember Prime Minister Paul Keating launching the Creative Nation cultural policy in late 1994; within it was the announcement that a National Academy of Music would be formed and that "The Academy will be situated in Melbourne. It will develop highly gifted musicians to international standards and enable them to establish careers from an Australian base".
Some months later, I had a call from Professor Warren Bebbington, then Dean of the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne, which was auspicing the initial development of ANAM. Warren asked whether I'd be interested in a contract to come to Melbourne and work with him and the board, chaired by former Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen, to develop and deliver ANAM's first two years of training programs in partnership with tertiary music departments around the country, whilst the South Melbourne Town Hall was being refitted to be ANAM's permanent base.
This all seemed pretty exciting to me: the chance to work with some very big and impressive thinkers to determine the opportunity and the future of ANAM as an elite training school. So there I was, in my first real leadership role, as ANAM's first employee, operating out of a University of Melbourne terrace house in Parkville, setting everything up from scratch. My initial weeks were spent travelling around Australia consulting on how the Academy could best meet the needs of highly gifted young musicians, meeting with heads of tertiary music departments and the state symphony orchestras to set up targeted specialist programs.
The faculty for our programs was a mix of prominent Australian and international musicians: students being able to play in chamber ensembles alongside the likes of Brett Dean and Richard Tognetti, or a section leader from the Berlin Philharmonic, or an international solo pianist. Those first ANAM students are now all over the world on concert platforms and in other creative roles: composers, academics, conductors, and festival directors.
I have many super memories from the time, though the masterclass week with Dame Joan Sutherland at the Brisbane Conservatorium is a standout. I became her de facto driver for the week, navigating the streets of Brisbane in my little rental car as I picked her up every morning from her hotel and then dropped her back in the evenings. One day we made a detour so she could pick up some supplies, finding a very traditional Italian family green grocer with a wonderful display of fresh fruit and veggies, somewhere in West End I think. The grocer just about died of delight when he spotted La Stupenda liberally squeezing his fruit and plied her with much bounty to take home. I'd almost forgotten just how famous she was – she was such a character and always loved a chat and a gossip as we drove around.
My two year contract came to end just as the first director Trevor Green commenced, and I took off on a Churchill Fellowship visiting elite music training programs in North America and Europe. I remain so proud of my role establishing ANAM's initial programs, with its first students and faculty, employing its first management team, and all the detail down to commissioning the first logo, photo shoots and brochures. Thirty years on and ANAM is nearly unrecognisable from our tiny operation out of a run-down terrace house, though the commitment to talent, ambition and cultural leadership has never wavered.
Congratulations to all at ANAM on 30 years of exceptional musicianship.
Fiona Allan headshot by Graeme Allan