The
The Federal Government established the Australian
Broadcasting Commission in 1932. The A.B.C. set up small studio
orchestras in each state for live radio broadcasts. The Adelaide Studio
Orchestra was formed in 1934, with William Cade as
Conductor. Some of the players came from the defunct cinema orchestras
and others came from the South Australian Orchestra. This small orchestra
performed light music for radio audiences. In 1936, the A.B.C.’s music adviser, Bernard Heinze
(1894-1982), suggested enlarging these orchestras, with 45 players in
At the Great State Centenary Concert in Centennial Hall on October 22nd, 1936,
Dr Malcolm Sargent, ‘conducting a Gorgeous Orchestral
Concert by the augmented Adelaide Symphony Orchestra of 65 players’ gave the
first performance of local composer Miriam Hyde’s overture, Adelaide, in the
presence of the Governor, Sir Winston and Lady Dugan. The soloists were Vina Barden (soprano) and
Frederick Williamson (tenor). Other items in the programme
were Resphigi-Rossini La Boutique Fantasque,
Liszt’s Hungarian Fantaisie and ‘On away, Awake
Beloved’ from Hiawatha. Tickets were 2 shillings and 3 shillings
(unreserved) and 5 shillings and 7/6 (reserved). The first Celebrity
Concert in 1936, conducted by William Cade, featured
Australian pianist Eileen Joyce.
Visiting artists who appeared with the Adelaide Symphony
Orchestra in its early years included Arthur Rubinstein, David Oistrakh, Claudio Arrau, Marcel Dupré, Jeanne Gautier, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Noel
Coward. William Cade formed the Adelaide
Wireless Chorus (later renamed the Adelaide Singers), which Sir Granville Bantock described as ‘the finest of its type that he’d ever
seen’. Conductors visiting from overseas included Sir
Hamilton Harty (1936), Malcolm Sargent
(1938-39), Georg Szell, Sir
Thomas Beecham and Otto Klemperer.
William Cade retired as a conductor of A.B.C.
orchestras in 1948, after 14 years.
The Music Teachers’ Association of South Australia expressed their concern at
the lack of a permanent orchestra in
- Robert Brown