This year we are shining a spotlight on some of the wonderful ACO staff working behind the scenes to help bring you the music you love and keep the Orchestra touring. This time we catch up with Special Projects Manager, Kylie Anania, who looks after things that are outside the box...
Which part of your role at the ACO do you find the most exciting or rewarding?
The thing I love most about my job (other than the music and the team) is the variety. I get to work across so many different projects and bring ideas to life that sit a little outside the day-to-day. This includes working with our fundraising boards in the USA and UK and creating opportunities to connect our supporters with the visiting international artists who come to play with the ACO. On occasion, we even get to hear them perform in private homes around Sydney, which is always memorable. Seeing the impact of these experiences on our supporters is incredibly rewarding.
Can you tell us about a little “only at the ACO” moment you’ve experienced lately?
One of my favourite “only at the ACO” moments was over the course of the ACO’s 50th anniversary last year. I had the chance to coordinate a series of events for our long-term supporters at the Government Houses in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, as well as with the Governor-General at Admiralty House. It was incredibly moving to see the Orchestra welcomed so warmly in these iconic places, and to share those moments with the people who have supported the ACO for so many years. For me, it really brought home just how deeply the Orchestra is embraced across the country, and how much affection there is for what the ACO does.
What is your favourite ACO performance to date (and why)?
One of my favourite ACO performances was the first concert I brought my baby to, when he was just 14 weeks old. Richard Tognetti gave him a warm welcome from the stage, and it is a moment I will always treasure. More recently, at our Bach & Pärt concert, we welcomed 19 wheelchair users into The Neilson at ACO On The Pier. For me, those two experiences, both part of the ACO Relaxed series, capture what is so distinctive about what the ACO can offer: creating space for all kinds of different people to engage with the Orchestra in ways that feel open, inclusive and genuinely welcoming. That breadth of inclusion is both unique and incredibly valuable, and I feel very proud to be part of it.
If you could invite supporters to experience one ACO performance or project, what would it be?
I’d invite supporters to come on the road with the ACO when we do a regional or international tour. Touring gives such a vivid sense of the energy, commitment and collaboration behind every performance, and it is a wonderful way to see the Orchestra’s impact in communities across the country and the world. When we are away, we love to organise activities with local cultural groups that give guests a richer sense of the place than they would otherwise have. We bring them into art spaces, homes and behind the scenes. It is the absolute best!
Image: Kylie Anania (second from left) with Jill Colvin, Samuel Hopkins, Richard Tognetti and Satu Vänskä.
