About Us
Our Vision
A music-rich future for all Australians.
Our Purpose
To connect all Australians to something bigger than themselves: to powerful music which awakens the spirit.
Our Mission
With chamber music at our artistic core, Musica Viva Australia creates memorable musical experiences for audiences at every stage of life and for musicians at every stage of development through Concerts, Education programs and Emerging Artist programs.
Our History
Every year Musica Viva Australia delivers live performances, masterclasses, competitions and coaching across all seven states and territories in Australia, touching the lives of over 150,000 people from primary school students to professional musicians and from emerging artists to lifelong audiences.
It's a long way from Vienna, and a long way from Australia of 1945, where Central European refugees Richard Goldner and Walter Dullo put together an ensemble of displaced musicians to perform Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue. There were no thoughts of touring international soloists or culturally diverse teaching ensembles at that time; no national competitions, emerging artist development or systemic music education initiatives: just a group of musicians sharing their profound love for a multifaceted artform which had shaped their lives.
Robert Pikler, Maureen Jones, Richard Goldner and Edward Cockman.
Richard Goldner, Edward Cockman, Robert Pikler and Theo Salzman.
Pascal Quartet, the first international quartet presented by Musica Viva Australia in 1955.
Peter Sculthorpe, responsible for Musica Viva Australia's first Australian commission in 1965.
Amadeus String Quartet in traditional concert dress.
The King’s Singers, legendary UK vocal group, on their first tour with Musica Viva Australia in 1975.
The Brodsky String Quartet in 90s biker gear.
The Petersen Quartet in 2000s streetwear.
Conductor and Violist Kenneth Sillito, leader of the St Martin in the Fields.
Jazz clarinettist and all-round music hero Don Burrows in 1985, just 4 years after the founding of Musica Viva in schools.
In the eight decades since, Musica Viva Australia has become the largest chamber music organisation and the largest music education provider in the world. Much has changed across eight decades but Goldner and Dullo’s original instinct, to build a community around their deep love of music, is a constant. Indeed, it continues to define our stated purpose, to connect all Australians to something bigger than themselves: to powerful music which awakens the spirit.
Further resources
Musica Viva Australia’s story has been told in words, pictures and sound, by biographers, researchers and documentary makers. In 2023, the archives of Musica Viva Australia were added to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register — part of the UNESCO program to preserve the world’s documentary heritage — in recognition of their significant cultural value.
The State Library of NSW has been collecting Musica Viva Australia’s administrative records since 1975. The records include correspondence with touring Australian and international ensembles, promotional photographs, programs, and sound and video recordings relating to the Musica Viva in Schools program and other performances of Australian chamber ensembles.
We celebrated our 80th anniversary in 2025 with ‘Untold Stories’, a series of features about the many individuals who have played key roles, big and small, in the past, present and future of Musica Viva Australia.
Our Untold Stories
Annual & Financial Reports
Each year Musica Viva Australia presents to our stakeholders a report on financial and programmatic results and impacts.