Timothy Walker CBE AM

Striking the right note

Among the many accolades that Tim Walker received upon his retirement from the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) this year were scores of personal tributes from musicians, conductors, trustees, music lovers and even HRH The Duke of Kent. Via video and internet posts, they generously praised the "Aussie straightforwardness", daring and decisive programming, and inspired leadership that characterised his "glorious reign" as chief executive and artistic director of the esteemed orchestra.

Coronavirus had robbed him of an official farewell, and Her Majesty The Queen's awarding of a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), forcing Tim to hastily exit London, but his many colleagues and admirers were permitted a rousing applause.

His name may not be widely known outside concert halls in his home country, but throughout Europe Tim Walker is musical royalty. For 17 years he presided over the LPO's repertoire, revenue and reputation as it maintained a demanding schedule of concerts, tours, festivals, recording sessions and community programs.

"It was pretty much a daytime, evening and weekend job," Tim says. "Apart from touring with the orchestra, I travelled regularly to negotiate tours, audition conductors and soloists and so on. There were also concerts to attend all the time, business dinners, and seeing how people worked with other orchestras. I was lucky to have a night home in a month.

"Typically, we did about 170 performances a year, some 40 of them in London. Up to 50 others could be anywhere from San Francisco to Shanghai, and we also played for an annual country house opera season at Glyndebourne and recorded movie soundtracks for the likes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 3. The record label that I established in 2005 has also now released 150 recordings."

LPO violinist and president Martin Höhmann says Tim leaves the orchestra "at the top of its game in London and internationally", with a talent for producing challenging and relevant performances. "The belief in what the orchestra can do is without limits," he says.

On the other wide of the world, from the relative safety of his Tasmanian rural property, Tim is now reflecting on what part a Diploma in Financial Management from UNE played in his stellar career.

"When I enrolled I was head of music at the Don College in Devonport, where I had been teaching for three years," he says. "I had musical knowledge but felt the diploma would round out my education and equip me for an arts management career. It certainly helped me to apply for the role I sought at the Canberra School of Music (now the ANU School of Music)."

It was the only professional position, in fact, that Tim has ever applied for, and led to a memorable 12-year tenure with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), where he rose to the position of general manager in just two years and appointed Richard Tognetti (the internationally renowned soloist, composer, conductor and artistic director). "I moved the ACO from a part-time to a full-time orchestra and extended its concert and subscription series into all the state capitals, plus regional cities," Tim says. "We did eight national tours a year, and the business skills I had learnt at UNE became a strong aspect of my role."

Later, as chief executive and founder of the World Orchestras organisation, Tim brought some of the world's greatest ensembles to Australian shores, including the Israel Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, BBC Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus. Consultancies for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australian Festival of Chamber Music and Australian Ballet further cemented his arts administration skills, bringing Tim to the attention of LPO recruiters.

"It was the only one of 14 symphony orchestras in Great Britain where the positions of chief executive and artistic director were combined, and that's what interested me," he says. "It was rare for countries to take outsiders to manage organisations like the LPO, but I felt very comfortable, even as an Australian representing this great British institution.

"I think I brought a lot of realism and pragmatism to the role, and that Australian sensibility of 'we've got something to do here, so let's not muck around, and get on and do it'. Australians tend to be quite open, too, and I think people found my transparency refreshing."

While leading one of the world's great orchestras and delivering world-class concerts was Tim's primary objective, Arts Council funding also afforded him opportunities to provide access to music for many of Great Britain's most disadvantaged. The successful London Music Masters and Future Firsts programs that Tim worked on continue to help nurture new generations of musicians, and with corporate backing he organised concerts for homeless, aged and prison groups, and workshops for those with a disability.

"The education and community work was important," Tim says. "It was rewarding work for the orchestra, but also another way of giving back to the community."

Former principal and dean of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Emeritus Professor Sharman Pretty, believes Tim's career is an inspiration to those working in the arts and creative sectors in Australia. "He has demonstrated that, with passion, astuteness, commitment, perseverance and resilience, it is possible to build a career in Australia that, on its own merits, will be recognised and sought after internationally," she says. "The role that Tim held with the London Philharmonic Orchestra ... is a role to which many young Australians with a commitment to arts and orchestral management might aspire and, through his success, can know is achievable."

As the COVID-19 crisis began to unfold earlier this year, Tim transitioned the LPO online, leading his team to stage popular Sunday evening concerts with a strong health and wellbeing focus, as well as informative programs about career development. "We tried to offer a variety of programs that would be useful to different audiences and that was one of our ways of dealing with the inability to give concerts or do overseas tours," he says. "But until there is a vaccine, I don't think concert life will get back to normal, so my retirement, for personal reasons, is perhaps timely."

On the island state where he first learned piano and violin, led his school orchestra and played in the Northern Tasmanian Youth Orchestra, Tim is growing accustomed to a slower pace of life. It's also a time of contemplation.

"The biggest sense of satisfaction, for me, came from attending concerts and seeing other people appreciate the results of my work," he says. "My effort to build the quality of the orchestra, to get the best conductors and soloists and to come up with the most interesting programs, and to have a full house of people applauding something that you have worked to do, that's the ultimate satisfaction - when a concert hits the right notes and moves people to respond. Then to sell that orchestra to other countries with great orchestras in Vienna, Paris, Berlin and New York and so on, and again have sold-out concerts, that's also very satisfying, to see how the company you run is succeeding not only at home but around the world.

"That's the power of music; it hits the head as well as the heart. It transforms you as a person because it enables you to see and feel things that you might not otherwise have considered possible."

Take a bow Timothy Walker, CBE, AM, one of our 2020 UNE Distinguished Alumni Award winners.