Music Matinee Inc.
A not-for-profit, unaffiliated association, registered charity.
Our Purpose
“To bring live and free music into the City of Melbourne and provide performance opportunities and support for talented musicians.”
The Short Story of Music Matinee
Six years ago, a small group of friends felt Melbourne needed a venue offering Live and Free classical music, thus Music Matinee was formed. The Scots’ Church agreed to house the performances. Today we offer wonderful concerts on many Tuesdays at lunchtime through the year and we have achieved significant recognition within the Melbourne music community.
THE FULL STORY OF MUSIC MATINEE
Early History
In 2018, a small group of friends decided they would like to add to the Melbourne music experience by organising live and free performances of top-quality music at lunch time for the enjoyment those working in the city and visitors.
They had experienced and enjoyed such events during their travels and it seemed to be absent in Melbourne.
A venue in the CBD was considered important and after discussion The Scots Church on the corner of Collins and Russell Streets agreed we could use their church. Music was important for them and such performances would bring people in and enhance the church’s role in the community.
Identifying and arranging talented musicians evolved with the assistance of experienced musicians known to the group and later the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS), the Melbourne University Conservatorium of Music (MUCM) and contacts with Monash University.
Music Matinee was born and the first performance took place in March 2018.
In 2018 there were eight performances at the church usually on the first Tuesday of the month commencing at 1 pm and finishing by about 2 pm. It was classical music performed by young musicians, mainly the top students who had or were completing their formal training and about to start their professional career.
The Scots’ Church proved to be a very popular venue with the performers – a beautiful space with excellent acoustics.
Music Matinee is an unaffiliated, not-for-profit incorporated association and a registered charity. Our only income is donations from the audience and others. The musicians initially received no payment for performing but we supported them in every way we could.
The number of Music Matinee committee members has been kept small and is currently seven, (with the assistance of volunteers). To-date it is all that has been required and the group get along well and enjoy working together.
Progress.
Due to support from the musicians, ANAM, VCASS and MUCM the number of performances have increased from nine in 2019 to twenty in 2022 although some concerts were cancelled because of Covid-19.
Our concert program for 2023 is included on the last page of this history.
The variety of performances has also increased due to our involvement with the MUCM and Tony Gould, the jazz pianist and improviser, performers visiting from overseas, and our contacts with experienced performers.
The audience at The Scots Church has also been increasing and is slowly getting back to its pre-covid level of between 70 and 100 for each lunchtime concert.
We have commenced making payments to the musicians who perform at the concerts, topped up with a share of any surplus we may have at the end of the year.
We have developed our website, www.musicmatinee.org which is the go-to area to discover the most up-to-date concert and performer information.
We are also developing another way to support our musicians by finding paid performance opportunities at Retirement/Independent Living Villages which give the Villages the wonderful ability to have musicians of their choice perform at their facility.
Our contribution to Melbourne Music.
While the original intention was merely to provide Melbourne with lunchtime music it has since become apparent that our contribution is much greater and perhaps more important than that.
What makes Music Matinee important to ANAM, VCASS and MUCM is that we are providing their advanced musicians with the opportunity and experience of performing in public. Apparently, there are few such opportunities in Melbourne for musicians at that stage of their career and the experience Music Matinee provides is enhanced by performing in the lovely Scots’ Church.
Comments received from some participants in our program follow.
“The awe of performing in such a wonderful venue as Scots’ Church cannot be simulated by filming a performance in a practice studio or empty venue.”
Dr Julie Haskell
Instrumental Studies and Chamber Music Coordinator
Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School.
“Thank you for providing this wonderful opportunity to our musicians. It was just great to see how happy they were to be
playing chamber music together again (post an earlier lockdown). And thank you for your continued support to ANAM this year,
It really is appreciated.
Lucy Ericson
Manager, Training Program
Australian National Academy of Music
The members of Music Matinee are delighted that their contribution to Melbourne music has been so much more than their initial plans.
The future.
Our “live and free” concerts and “supporting of the musicians” will remain the mainstay of Music Matinee’s contribution to music in Melbourne. We will continue to strengthen our relationship with ANAM, VCASS, MUCM, Monash University and their musicians and The Scots Church.
Although we have considered seeking ‘deductible gift recipient’ status we have not yet taken that step because of the complexity and restrictions that would prevent us supporting and making payments to our musicians on an equitable basis.
The Committee believe it is important to have a succession plan to continue and further our achievements, and to foster new people and ideas. To this end, we propose to increase our member numbers by two or three.
Music Matinee Inc.
Web: www.musicmatinee.org
Email: musicmatinee.org@gmail.com
Tel: 0411 407 282
28/7/2023