Andrew Wailes was the inaugural winner of the prestigious Australasian International Choral Conducting Competition. He is widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading conductors specializing in symphonic choral repertoire, and enjoys a busy schedule of performing and teaching engagements both in Melbourne and around the country.

Andrew commenced his musical training as a chorister in various Royal School of Church Music choirs and as a Flautist, and later studied advanced orchestral conducting with the late Robert Rosen, and voice with David Ross Smith. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and Certificates in Applied Music (Orchestral and Choral Conducting) from Monash University, and has worked extensively with international choral conductors including John Rutter, Peter Godfrey and Simon Halsey (UK), Stephan Parkman (Denmark), Rodney Eichenberger and Jo-Michael Scheibe (USA), as well as many of Australia’s leading conductors.

For over a decade, Andrew has directed the Melbourne University Choral Society, and during that time he has overseen the development of MUCS into one of Melbourne’s most respected large choirs. He has directed an impressive number of large scale choral and orchestral works with the choir since becoming its conductor the end of 1992. These include works such as Orff’s Carmina Burana; the Melbourne premiere of Carl Vine’s Choral Symphony; Handel’s Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus and Dixit Dominus; Charpentier’s Te Deum; Brahms’ Schicksalslied; Verdi’s Quattro Pezzi Sacri; Kodaly’s Budavari Te Deum; Mozart’s, Requiem, Solemn Vespers of the Confessor and Great Mass in C minor; Haydn’s The Creation and ’Nelson’ Mass; Fanshawe’s African Sanctus and Rachmaninov’s massive cantata The Bells to name but a few.

Andrew has also prepared MUCS for performances for organizations such as the ABC, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ochestra Victoria, and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, of works such as Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mahler’s ’Resurrection’ Symphony II and Symphony VIII, Verdi’s Requiem, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe and Bizet’s Carmen. Many of his concert performances have been broadcast on 3MBS-FM.

In recognition of his dedicated service to MUCS, Andrew was awarded Life Membership of MUCS in 2005; only the second life membership ever awarded by the choir in over sixty years.

Andrew holds numerous important posts apart from his position as MUCS Conductor. He has been the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra since 1998, making him one of the youngest persons ever to hold that position in 150 years. He is also Andrew is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Australian Children’s Choir, having led that choir on numerous tours throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia.

An experienced teacher at tertiary level, Andrew has taught and directed choirs at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Music, the School of Music Conservatorium at Monash University, the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music, and at the Australian Catholic University, where he currently directs the St Patrick’s Campus Choir and has lectured and supervised conducting to honours level.

A former Principal Conductor of the Australian Classical Players Orchestra, Andrew is also Musical Director of the Box Hill Chorale, and a former Conductor and Life Member of the Monash University Choral Society. In 2007 he takes up a new position as Symphony Orchestra Director at Blackburn High School.

Andrew has appeared as guest conductor of orchestras including the State Orchestra of Victoria, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra and Camerata Academica Freiburg (Germany), the Victorian College of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Sinfonia, the Christchurch Sinfonia (New Zealand), Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Stonnington Symphony Orchestra, and has directed student ensembles at both Melbourne University and Victorian College of the Arts. Andrew is also a regular guest conductor of various orchestras and choirs at summer schools around the country.

Andrew has assisted Maestro Valery Gergiev as backstage conductor and extra chorus director for the Kirov Opera’s acclaimed performances for the Melbourne International Festival, and has prepared and directed choirs for the Perth International Festival’s performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with the Australian Youth Orchestra, and co-conducted the world premiere season of Julian Yu’s opera The Posessed for Australia’s leading contemporary music ensemble, Chamber Made Opera. In 2006 Andrew was nominated for a prestigious Green Room Award for best opera conductor, for his work on Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Lyric Opera of Melbourne).

He also conducted the opening ceremony of the opening of the new SBS Television Studios at Federation Square, and appeared with the legendary American Rock band Kiss and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Telstra Dome.

He has recorded and directed choral music for many major televised events including 6 AFL Grand Finals, the AFI Awards, Melbourne’s Millennium Celebrations, the opening of Stadium Australia, the Kiss Symphony at the Telstra Dome, 5 International Comedy Festival Galas and most recently at the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

He has prepared choirs for most of Australia’s professional symphony orchestras, and numerous professional recording ensembles for film and television. Andrew has also been engaged regularly as a chorus-master with the Australian Intervarsity Festival Choir in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide and has appeared as conductor at major festivals including the Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Castlemaine State Festivals.

In 1999 Andrew was the winner of the prestigious Australasian International Choral Conducting Competition in Brisbane, and appeared with the acclaimed Candomino Choir from Helsinki, Finland. He has also appeared with major choirs from the USA, Sweden, Germany, Finland, England, South Africa, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand as guest conductor.

In 2004 Andrew undertook orchestral conducting engagements in Southern Germany, and led a concert tour of Europe and the UK with The Australian Children’s Choir, directing the ACC and various European ensembles in cities such as Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Edinburgh, Cambridge and London. More recently he toured China, appearing in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Xi’an, Shanghai and Huangyan. He also undertook a two month study tour of during which time he observed the work of various conductors, orchestras, choirs and opera companies in cities such as Moscow, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, London, and Manchester.

As a singer, Andrew’s experience is extensive both as a chorus member and as a soloist, having performed as soloist in works as diverse as Handel's Messiah, C.P.E. and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, Orff's Carmina Burana, Mozart's Requiem, Ramirez' Missa Criolla, Stravinsky's Mass and Rachmaninov's Vespers for Sydney University. In 2002 he performed the title role in Handel’s Acis and Galatea with Past Echoes Early Music Ensemble, and performed the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 in Canberra for the 54th Intervarsity Choral Festival, and Bernstein’s Mass with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

He made his professional operatic debut with the Australian Opera (OA) as an Apprentice in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1994, and has performed extensively with ensembles including Opera Australia, IHOS Opera, the National Youth Choir of Australia, Collegium Musicum of Western Australia, the Vocal Consort and with numerous professional recording ensembles. He has regularly been a soloist with the Australian Intervarsity Festival Choir, and was a founding member of the Geelong Early Music Ensemble (with which he toured Victoria for Musica Viva). In 1995 he sang opposite Judi Connelli Rhonda Burchmore and Nancye Hayes in Miss Ceremonial Velvet at the Victorian Arts Centre. As a recitalist he has appeared for groups such as the Music Lover’s Society of Victoria and the Victorian College of the Arts, performing works such as Britten’s Serenade for tenor horn and strings, and Canticles (both at the Victorian College of the Arts) Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel and Five Mystical Songs and Schumann’s Dichterliebe.

Andrew is a former President of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association (AICSA), and is Artistic Director of the Music Glenelg Take Note Music Festival in regional South Australia and South West Victoria, and is in demand throughout Victoria as a workshop leader, guest conductor and adjudicator.