Canberra School of Music – Exit stage left

July 14, 2025

I read Peter Tregear’s article and I agree with some, though not all, of his summation.

What the ANU administration has wrought upon what was on the way to becoming one of the great institutions of learning for musicians — akin to the Julliard School of Music, (at which my father spent most of a year studying the teaching of excellence in musicianship) — is a condemnation of the stupidity and arrogance of university academics as administrators.

I have worked at ANU and consulted for a number of years at USyd; with many wonderful academics and truly woeful administrators. Academia and the performing arts are ghastly bedfellows.

I disagree with Tregear that musicology is of equal importance to musicianship. I could be persuaded if I see a concert hall audience stand in applause of a paper on musicology. I have seen this happen for outstanding performances.

But I write to correct a misapprehension on the part of Tregear concerning the conception of the CSM.

No history of the CSM is accurate without appreciation of the role that Sir Richard Kingsland (whose contribution to Australia is vastly underrated) played in creating the CSM.

I know, I was there.