Simon Hewett has just returned home to Brisbane, after conducting the world’s oldest orchestra for a German ballet in Dresden. Not long before that, he was raising his baton in Milan – at Italy’s renowned La Scala opera house. For the past twenty years, his performance passport has become a who’s who of famous music venues worldwide.
But in 2020 Simon swapped Europe for Brisbane and in 2021 took up the top job at the Queensland Youth Orchestras (QYO) – an orchestral training ground for the state’s best and brightest musicians, aged 8 to 25 years.
“It’s easy to believe some of the schtick about Queenslanders somehow being bogans or uncultured,” Hewett says. “But for a very long time, Queensland has produced young instrumentalists who are incredibly talented. It’s not because there’s something special in the water here …
“Rather, it’s because we have a Government-funded instrumental music program in schools that gives kids access to orchestral instruments and lessons. QYO has always taken the most talented of those kids and trained them to a very high level. We have really strong cultural infrastructure in this state and QYO is a vital part of that system.”
He’s speaking from first-hand experience. Simon grew up in Indooroopilly and joined QYO at 15 years of age. He has fond memories of his five years as a QYO student (and subsequent years as a QYO conductor, whilst studying both conducting and clarinet at the University of Queensland).
“Joining QYO was massively reassuring because I’d finally found a peer group who liked the same things I did.” Simon’s confidence soared when the late John Curro, QYO’s founder and long-time Director of Music, affirmed his talent.
“I felt a great sense of relief when somebody I deeply respected acknowledged my potential to do this thing I loved, and so desperately wanted to do,” he said.
Fast forward thirty years and Simon is now in the role of his long-time mentor. One of Simon’s first orders of business as QYO Artistic Director was taking his young charges to perform in Austria in 2023. His motivation was to remove any hint of imposter syndrome in his young performers.
“I wanted them to feel what it’s like to stand on a stage halfway around the world and think ‘hey, I’m from Brisbane and I got a standing ovation in Vienna’,” Hewett says.
That imposter syndrome he’s intent on overcoming in young performers also extends to their postcode! “I think there’s a lack of self-belief in Brisbane,” Hewett says. “Ours is a city full of incredible talent and promise, and I’d like to see that vitality reflected in our built environments.
“We need a long-range perspective that envisages civic pride,” Hewett says. He concedes that, partly because of the city’s subtropical climate, most Brissie locals and visitors spend much of their time outdoors.”
“Notwithstanding, Hewett believes it’s time for some big-picture thinking. “We need a vision for the future of Brisbane, where we’re building things that make the world take notice.”
For his part, Simon continues to accept invitations to conduct orchestras around the world but Brisbane and QYO will always be home.
For more information about Queensland Youth Orchestras (QYO), visit: www.qyo.org.au for details.
Image: Simon Hewett – photo by Alex Jamieson