Musicus Medicus – Mendelssohn Magic (feat. Teresa Yang)
Mendelssohn Magic
Venue:
Verbrugghen Hall
Sunday 24 May 2:30pm
See event for details
Join the NSW Doctors Orchestra for their 2026 charity fundraising concert,
Mendelssohn Magic.
Carmen – Prelude & Aragonaise (Bizet)
Fully Free (Catherine Likhuta)
Violin Concerto in E minor (Mendelssohn)
- featuring Teresa Yang, recipient of the NSWDO Instrumental Scholarship
Enigma Variations (Elgar)
Conducted by Dr Joanna Drimatis
The NSWDO is a volunteer-run charity orchestra made up of doctors and medical students from across NSW who come together for fundraising concerts.
The Beecroft Orchestra – Mozart’s Sister
The Beecroft Orchestra will present a special performance of the Maria Anna Mozart Concert Tour on 29 March 2026, bringing the powerful story of Maria Anna (“Nannerl”) Mozart to life through a unique blend of film, live orchestral music and narration.
Part of a national concert tour inspired by the AACTA Award-winning documentary Mozart’s Sister, the performance shines a spotlight on Nannerl Mozart, a remarkable musician whose legacy has long been overshadowed by her younger brother, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Presented as an immersive visual concert, the Beecroft performance combines excerpts from Mozart’s Sister, live orchestral performance, and live narration to re-tell Maria Anna Mozart’s life and examine why the contributions of so many women have been lost to history.
At the heart of the program is the film’s original score by acclaimed Australian composer Jessica Wells, brought to life on stage with visuals from filmmaker Madeleine Hetherton-Miau.
“Mozart’s Sister had such an incredible release and this tour is a beautiful next chapter. Hearing Jess Wells’ score brought to life by orchestras will open Maria Anna Mozart’s story to new audiences, and give people a powerful new way to experience her legacy.”
Madeleine Hetherton-Miau, Director, Mozart’s Sister
“Composing the score for Mozart’s Sister was a huge privilege! Too often, brilliant contemporary compositions don’t get programmed simply because audiences don’t recognise the names behind them. This tour changes that (who doesn’t love Mozart?), while championing diverse composers and new work.”
Jess Wells, Composer, Mozart’s Sister.
Steel City Strings – Home
Home is shaped by people, place, and shared experience. For our opening 2026 concerts, Artistic Director Adrian Davis reflects on a decade of music-making and invites you to join us in celebrating what home means to our community...
Home celebrates a decade of Steel City Strings bringing classical music to the Illawarra, ten years of music-making rooted in community, place, and shared experience. This concert also marks a moment of heartfelt gratitude as we farewell two extraordinary longstanding volunteers, Yve Repin and Lyndall Fowler, whose dedication, generosity, and belief in this orchestra have helped shape who we are today. Reflecting on our mission, their contributions, and the community we have built together, one word kept returning: home.
Inspired by the beautiful place in which we live and create, Home brings together music that speaks to belonging, memory, and connection. At its heart are two beloved pillars of the string repertoire: Dvořák’s evocative Nocturne in B minor and Mendelssohn’s youthful yet radiant String Symphony No. 10, works that feel like familiar rooms we return to again and again. Alongside these classics, we are proud to present two world premieres that expand the idea of “home” within the string tradition. Barry Conyngham’s Under the Escarpment, written by the internationally recognised composer and Wollongong local, draws inspiration from the dramatic landscape that surrounds us. Adriel Sukumar’s Visions of Home is a deeply personal work, shaped by reflections from Steel City Strings musicians and community members on what home means to them.
The program also features music by Andrew Ford, celebrating Australia’s unique wildlife, and Elena Kats-Chernin, whose music reminds us of the sense of home we find in those we love. As an immigrant, I am often drawn to the idea of home; the longing for the place left behind, intertwined with the slow, beautiful process of building new attachments and identities in a new land. With every concert, I look out into the audience and wonder how many have found a sense of home here: in the loved ones cheering us on, the devoted listeners, the student experiencing wonder for the first time, or the newcomer who feels a quiet wave of nostalgia and belonging. Home is an invitation to gather, to listen, and to celebrate the many ways music can make us feel that we belong.
Warmly,
Adrian Davis
Artistic Director
Home | Wollongong – 21 March
Home | Berry – 22 March
Riders to the Sea | Works of Elizabeth Maconchy
Gente, gente! Productions proudly presents Vaughan Williams' One act Opera Riders to the Sea along side works by Elizabeth Maconchy in Hunters Hill and Leichhardt
Riders to the Sea
Maurya, an elderly Irishwoman of the Aran Islands, has lost her husband, father-in-law, and four of her six sons at sea.
While she is sleeping, her daughters Cathleen and Nora receive word that a body who may be their brother Michael, Maurya's fifth son, has washed up on shore in Donegal, far to the north.
Maurya’s sixth and last son, Bartley, is planning to go to the Galway fair to sell horses - she is fearful of the sea winds and pleads with him to stay.
Will the almighty leave her destitute with no son living?
A tender and unflinching look at what it means to be mother, daughter, sister, in a world where men take action, and women must endure.
Elizabeth Maconchy
Student of Vaughan Williams and renowned composer in her own right, Maconchy's works pair beautifully with Riders to the Sea.
Mermaids, life before birth, renewal, solitude, and the quiet radiance of the natural world. These songs move between wonder and desolation, opening out into moments of stillness where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
25th, 28th Feb, 1st Mar | Hunters Hill Town Hall
27th Feb | Leichhardt Town Hall
https://events.humanitix.com/riders-to-the-sea-or-works-of-elizabeth-maconchy
Sydney Youth Orchestra Summer Symphony
Work with Sydney's finest tutors, music educators and conductors who will challenge and inspire you in ensembles perfectly suited to your level, whether you're in your first year of playing or working towards Grade 7. It is our great honour to welcome Dr. Joanna Drimatis as the Summer Symphony conductor for SYO's 2026 Summer School program!
Dr. Joanna Drimatis is an award-winning conductor bringing world-class orchestral expertise to our Summer Symphony program.
Orange Symphony Orchestra – WOW Concert
Presented by Orange Symphony Orchestra:
Two free concerts for autistic children and their families
We will perform two 35 minute concerts of the same program, on the same day, to allow for small family groups to experience the orchestra:
First Concert from 11:00am to 11:35am
Second Concert from 1:00pm to 1:35pm
Conductor: Dr Joanna Drimatis
Concert Master: Lorraine Moxey
Concert Program
The concert program will feature Australian works, which have a lyrical component, and a maximum time of 5-6 minutes per piece.
Repertoire:
Sally Greenaway — The Blue Mountains
Nat Bastch — Hope (for Orchestra)
Graeme Koehne — Forty Reasons to be Cheerful
Matthew Hindson — The Stars Above Us All
Elena Kats-Chernin — Dance of the Paper Umbrellas
Paul Stanhope — The Magic Island
Graeme Koehne — Just Walk Beside Me
A WOW Concert is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW
Steel City Strings – Forest Bathing
FOREST BATHING, or shinrin-yoku, draws on the Japanese concept of finding renewal within the natural landscape – an experience whose physical and psychological benefits are well documented.
The repertoire in this concert reflects the beauty of the natural world, from the majestic stillness of a forest to the tumultuous roar of a coastal landscape.
Music by Caroline Shaw, Elena Kats-Chernin, Peter Sculthorpe, and Adrian Whitehall, alongside two powerful new commissions by Katia Beaugeais and Gabriel Frømyhr, offers respite from the hectic pace of the modern world – creating tranquil spaces for self-reflection, perhaps the essential wellsprings of mindfulness.
Program
The Nature of Space – Adrian Whitehall
South Eastern Sketches – Gabriel Frømyhr
The Evergreen – Caroline Shaw
Interval
Forest Bathing – Katia Beaugeais
Sonata for Strings No. 2 – Peter Sculthorpe
Singing Trees – Elena Kats-Chernin
The Beecroft Orchestra – Concertino (feat. Frank Giraldo)
CONCERTINO
Sunday, 29th June, 2025 2.30pm
Cheltenham Girls High School new Performance Hall
The Promenade, Cheltenham, 2119
Soloist: Frank Giraldo, Oboe
Program
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No 3
Colin Brumby: Concertina for Oboe-Soloist Frank Giraldo
Emilie Mayer: Symphony No 1
Musicus Medicus – Stars & Planets (feat. Claire Edwardes)
Stars and Planets
Venue:
Verbrugghen Hall
Sunday 1 June 2:30pm
See event for details
Embark on a Symphonic Voyage with the NSW Doctors Orchestra: 'Stars and Planets'
Join the NSW Doctors Orchestra for their 2025 charity fundraising concert, Stars and Planets. This performance showcases the works of contemporary Australian female composers Sally Greenaway and Anne Cawrse, opening with the picturesque The Blue Mountains, followed by the enchanting Dare to Declare Marimba concerto, featuring acclaimed soloist Claire Edwardes as she captivates with dynamic rhythms and intricate textures.
The concert continues with a whirlwind tour of celestial classics, including Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Gustav Holst’s The Planets (featuring Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter), and concludes with the beloved themes from John Williams’ Star Wars Suite.
The NSWDO is a volunteer-run charity orchestra made up of doctors and medical students from across NSW who come together for fundraising concerts. The proceeds of this concert will go towards 2 amazing charities - the Sydney Eisteddfod NSWDO Instrumental Scholarship, and Mummy's Wish (Rare Cancers Australia) who support mums diagnosed with cancer who have young children.
The Beecroft Orchestra – The Vegetable Plot
CONCERT 1
The Vegetable Plot and Orchestra
Sunday, 13th April, 2025 2.30pm
Cheltenham Girls High School new Performance Hall
The Promenade, Cheltenham, 2119
Conductor-Joanna Drimatis
Vegetable Plot Songs
Thus Spake Zarathustra- introduction- Richard Strauss
Carmen Suite No. 2-Habanera- Bizet
Pictures at an Exhibition-Baba Yaga- Mussorgsky
Nutcracker Suite- Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Flowers-Tchaikovsky
Sorcerer’s Apprentice-Dukas
Run Towards Tomorrow-Tamsyn Eastgate
Rock Hopping- Maria Grenfell
The Beecroft Orchestra – Brandman, Lobbia, Sibelius (feat. Aija Draguns & Elsen Price)
I look forward to sharing the stage with Assistant Conductor Aija Draguns for this program with The Beecroft Orchestra…
Brandman, Lobbia, Sibelius
Sunday September 22, 2024, 2.30pm
Cheltenham Girls High School new Performance Hall
The Promenade, Cheltenham 2119
Conductor-Joanna Drimatis
Assistant Conductor: Aija Draguns
Double Bass Soloist:Elsen Price
Program
Margaret Brandman: Fiesta de la Luz
Simone Lobbia: Soundscapes of Poetry-Double Bass concerto
Sibelius: Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite-First movement only
Sibelius Symphony No 5
Gente, gente! – Dialogues des Carmélites
New Opera Company Debuts – Inspiring Timely, Timeless Women’s Story
An exciting new opera company debuts in Sydney this June with one of the world’s great, tragically romantic works: the inspiring, moving and spectacular Dialogues des Carmélites (Dialogue of the Carmélites) by Francis Poulenc.
Gente, gente! (“People, people!” or perhaps “Hey, everyone!” – a quote from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro) is a grassroots, not-for-profit opera company with a focus on less commonly performed works that can make a powerful, relevant impact in our world.
AND with a commitment to increased involvement of women in every aspect of production.
It both showcases and gives industry experience to exciting emerging artists, most of whom are breaking into our national and state opera companies.
Dialogues of the Carmélites is a three-act neo-romantic opera inspired by the true story of the Martyrs of Compiegne
– an order of nuns executed for refusing to renounce their vocation during the final, savage days of the French Revolution.
Their story has inspired works of art, plays, poetry, music… and this 1957 opera, hauntingly beautiful and
– with its themes of courage under fire, dying for your beliefs and women facing down discrimination and violence – both timely and timeless.
Directed by Bec Moret with musical director/conductor Joanna Drimatis – for four performances in the atmospheric ambience of the Pitt Street Uniting Church – this debut production showcases a cast of outstanding young professional singers and a large ensemble backed by a 16-piece orchestra.
It will be performed in the original French with English subtitles.
Musicus Medicus – The Space Between the Stars
I look forward to conducting the Musicus Medicus (NSW Doctors Orchestra) Charity Concert is 26th May, 2024 at The Concourse, Chatswood at 2.30pm.
"The Space Between the Stars""
Proceeds donated to Daniel Ferguson LGMD Foundation Ltd and Sydney Eisteddfod
Tickets-https://www.theconcourse.com.au/.../musicus-medicus-nsw.../
The Beecroft Orchestra – Memories of Spain
Beecroft Orchestra presents a Spanish inspired program, featuring guitarist Andrew Blanch performing Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, and selections from Carmen (Bizet), Capriccio Español (Rimsky-Korsakov), España (Chabrier), along with Miriam Hyde's Happy Occasion Overture.
OCMF – Cultured
Developed and presented by Orange Chamber Music Festival Incorporated, Cultured is a community event that combines music, visual arts, heritage and literature- by staging musical interactive activities in the Cultural Precinct, at the heart of Byng St.
Cultured invites the local community and visitors to experience classical music, whilst interacting with the displays of the Orange Regional Gallery, the Orange Regional Museum, the Orange City Library and the open spaces of the Civic Square.
Activities include: interactive performance in association with the Orange Regional Museum’s exhibition Orange 412, a free talk, performance and talk by musician and illustrator Lisa Stewart, live performance in response to selected original artworks of the permanent collection of the ORG, and a finale performance by a youth orchestra, made of young musicians of the Central West- joining to perform orchestral classics at the open spaces of the southcourt.
Cultured will be held on Saturday 9th March in and around the spaces of the Orange City Library, Orange Regional Museum, Orange Regional Gallery and Southcourt, coinciding with the 4th iteration of the Orange Chamber Music Festival- March 7-10, 2024.
All activities are free, inclusive, and interactive.
This activity is generously supported by:
Orange Credit Union | Orange Regional Arts Foundation | Create NSW | Orange City Council | Kinross Wolaroi School
Symphony in a Day
More details to be announced soon.
Symphony in a Day
Auditorium, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta
Conductor – Dr Joanna Drimatis
Berlioz – Symphony Fantastique
Recorders and More
Coming up with The Beecroft Orchestra…
Recorders and More
Cheltenham Girls High School new Performance Hall: The Promenade
Conductor – Joanna Drimatis
Soloist – Alicia Crossley on Recorder
Telemann – Selections from Suite in A minor for Recorder, Strings and Basso ContinuoBeethoven – Symphony No 7
Brahms – Hungarian Dance No 1-Guest Conductor Ben Perche
Telemann – Selections from Suite in A minor for Recorder, Strings and Basso Continuo
Lyle Chan – Bilitis/Movement 2
Christopher Gordon – Selections from “Ladies in Black Suite”
AUSTA WA Festival 2023
Thank you AUSTA WA for the invitation to adjudicate and lovely comments. I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Introducing another one of our fabulous AUSTA WA String Fesitval adjudicators...
Dr Joanna Drimatis!
Dr Joanna Drimatis is a highly-respected champion of Australian music and contemporary classical music – contributing comprehensively through her output as a conductor, performer, musical director, researcher and educator.
After initial studies in Music Education and Violin Performance, Joanna completed a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin (Violin / Orchestral Conducting). In 2009, Joanna graduated with a PhD in Musicology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Her thesis research focused on Symphony No. 1 by Australian composer Robert Hughes and was awarded the University of Adelaide’s inaugural Doctoral Research Medal. Her research has continued, focusing on the music of Australian composers Robert Hughes and Raymond Hanson, and has been given national attention through radio broadcasts on ABC Classic and in Peter McCallum’s book, “The Centenary of the Con”.
As Music Director of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra and Conductor for the Adelaide Youth Orchestra association, Joanna initiated numerous collaborations, commissions and premieres, with select performances broadcast on NZ Concert FM and ABC Classic. As a violinist/violist Joanna has played professionally as an orchestral musician both in Australia and overseas which include the Strawberry Creek Festival (USA), International Institute of Music (Germany) and she has been a selected participant in the conducting program at Aspen Music Festival (USA). Joanna has worked as a sessional academic at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and conducted orchestras such as the Australian Doctors’ Orchestra, NSW Doctors’ Orchestra, Sydney Youth Orchestra, Mosman Symphony, Woollahra Philharmonic and the Orange Chamber Music Festival Ensemble.
In 2008 Joanna’s orchestra, the Adelaide Youth Sinfonia, was the feature of an ABC Classic FM documentary, ‘From Pen to Performance’, documenting the rehearsal preparation and performance of an Australia Council-funded new work by Australian composer, John Polglase. Joanna has also been guest conductor in New Zealand for the Christchurch Symphony, Nelson Symphony, University of Canterbury Chamber Orchestra and St Matthews Chamber Orchestra and in Australia for the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, Burnside Symphony Orchestra and SBS Youth Orchestra. In 2022, Joanna has enjoyed conducting productions of The Marriage of Figaro, the Australian premiere of ‘Emilie’ by Kaija Sariaaho and the world premiere of ‘Threading the Light’ by Felicity Wilcox for young Sydney-based opera company The Cooperative.
Joanna has also given presentations on string and orchestral pedagogy with emphasis on the use of Australian repertoire for training orchestras. This work culminated in an invitation for her to present a workshop on this topic at the 2019 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, USA. After holding the position as Head of Strings at MLC School Sydney from 2016-2022, Joanna is now the newly appointed Music Education Specialist for the Australian Music Centre as well as Music Director / Chief Conductor of the Beecroft Orchestra. In 2020 Joanna was awarded an APRA/AMCOS Art Music Luminary award for her advocacy, programming and performance of Australian music.
You can register for the AUSTA String Festival here: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=1014580
NSW Doctors Orchestra – Celebration!
The Concourse, Chatswood
Sunday, 2nd April, 2023
"Celebration"
Conductor: Dr Joanna Drimatis
Program
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto (Soloist: Oliver Shermacher)
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Dr David Banney: Celebration (premiere)
Marquez: Danzon No 2
Jessica Wells: Uplift
NSW Doctors Orchestra – Harp to Heart
Verbrugghen Hall at the Conservatorium of Music, Sydney
Guest conductor Joanna Drimatis
Soloist Alice Giles playing Boieldieu’s harp concerto
The program will also include :
Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony
“Roar” by Australian composer Maria Grenfell
The Beecroft Orchestra – Concert One
The Beecroft Orchestra will be presenting their first concert for 2022 featuring Jeffrey Cheah performing Rodrigo’s ‘Fantasia Para Gentilhombre’.
