Big G Biography
Maestro Big G, aka George Ellis is one of Australia’s leading orchestral conductors and composers, having worked with the country’s greatest musicians and commanded the world stage in events such as the Opening Ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games and the Athens Torch Relay. |
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His experience spans more than 16 years of performance with orchestras, choirs, opera and musical theatre. George has conducted the Sydney, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphonies - the latter in conjunction with popular band Augie March.
He was the presenter and musical director of the hugely popular Sydney Opera House Babies Proms series for six years, which has seen him entertain and educate children all around the country about the magic of orchestral music.
He has worked with thousands of young people during his career, including guest conducting the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra for a children’s concert, the Millennium Children’s Chorus at the Athens Olympic Games, the Australian Youth Choir, Sydney Youth Orchestra and the children’s musical theatre Snugglepot and Cuddlepie in Adelaide and Perth. George has done education concerts with Orchestra Victoria and Sydney Sinfonia and has been assistant conductor to Simone Young for Opera Australia’s production of La Traviata through to conducting the Sydney Festival’s famous Spiegeltent.
George’s musical talent crosses many boundaries - he has worked with popular music artists, including Lou Reed, David Campbell, Todd McKenney, Guy Sebastian, Simon Burke, Jenny Morris, Anthony Warlow, David Hobson, Caroline O’Connor and Human Nature to name just a few.
He has appeared on ABC TV, Channel 9 and Channel 7 with his orchestral work for children and has conducted orchestras for the ARIA Awards on Network 10. He has also been orchestrator and musical arranger for artists such as Alex Lloyd and for the Copenhagen National Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen. His concerts have been broadcast on ABC Classic FM, including the world premiere of Matthew Hindson’s Violin Concerto, and he received first prize in orchestral composition.
George has lectured at prestigious music institutions including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Canberra School of Music and presented workshops in music theatre, conducting and singing for NIDA and the Australian Society for Music Education. He is the conductor of the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra.
In 2007, his flamboyant and recognisable persona was celebrated in a portrait painted by artist Evert Ploeg, which was chosen as the 2007 People’s Choice in the famous Archibald Prize.
George conducts, composes, arranges and presents music for Big G Conducts.
Jimmy Thomson
Jimmy Thomson is an award-nominated television comedy and drama writer, journalist and author.
Born in Scotland but now proudly Australian, Jimmy has been nominated three times for the Australian Writers’ Guild award (AWGIE) in sitcom writing.
He recently co-created and co-wrote the ABC drama Rain Shadow and previously created the TV series Crash Palace (Foxtel and Sky UK) and Breakers (Channel 10 and BBC). His production “Song for the Socceroos” (SBS 2006) hit a chord with many Australians, as the country enjoyed the unexpected success of the Socceroos at the 2006 Football World Cup.
His television writing for Dags, Darling and Ally & Doc were nominated for the AWGIE awards.
Jimmy is also a popular children’s author with his book, ‘The Koala Who Bounced' in print for over ten years and translated into Korean. His other successful book ‘Apartment Living’ with ABC Books has led to Jimmy becoming a regular columnist on inner city living for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Jimmy collaborates with George to write the stories and songs for Big G Conducts.
Ask Big G
What is a conductor? A conductor is a musician who keeps the orchestra players in time and playing together when they perform on stage. The conductor also gets all the music together so that musicians have some music to play. In rehearsal, the conductor instructs the musicians what order the music will be played then rehearses the music so that all the music for the concert sounds correct and beautiful. In performance, the conductor also can direct the music to be played louder and softer or faster and slower at different times. The conductor starts the music and also shows the musicians where the music stops.
How do you become a conductor? After high school, a conductor enrols in a music college like a conservatorium or university and learns the art of conducting just like a violin student learns how to play the violin. A conducting student has individual lessons from a professional conductor and conducts the university orchestra in order to learn how to do it. You have to audition to get into music college – they usually ask you to sing or play the piano and they test how well you can read music – these are things you learn as a child and then work on at school.
What is your favourite instrument and why? My favourite instrument is the cello – it can play high; it can play low; it can sound bold and brave; and it can sound soft and mellow. The cello is perhaps not as noticeable as the flute or violin but without the cello, you would miss the rich sound it creates as part of the musical harmony.
What is your favourite piece of music and why? My favourite pieces of music is a song called A Whiter Shade of Pale by a band called Procol Harum. It is a beautiful song with a lovely melody and heartfelt words. My favourite thing about it is that it borrows an organ melody and a bass line that the wonderful classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach used in one of his pieces. When the famous John Lennon from the Beatles first heard A Whiter Shade of Pale in 1967, he told his producer that he wanted to write music just like that!
What is the baton for? The baton helps keep the musicians in time together. A conductor can use just hands for this purpose but the baton (which means stick in French) is clearer for all the musicians to see – especially the ones further away from the conductor. It acts as an extension of the arm.
Why do you wave your arms around in such big motions? As well as keeping the musicians in time together, it is also important, I believe, to enthuse the musicians and help them play as energetically as possible. Good music deserves and warrants it. This is the reason for big arm motions. Sometimes, I can’t help it, the music gets inside me and I get carried away with its beauty and energy and my arms just naturally flow.
What is the hardest thing about leading an orchestra? In rehearsal, a conductor must concentrate on hearing that every note from every musician is correct and accurate -that’s a lot of notes! In performance, striking a balance between accuracy and the energetic enthusiasm I mentioned before from both the orchestral players and the conductor is the important thing.
Can you play an instrument? When I was 7, my brother who was 10 at the time, was learning piano. I wanted to be just like my big brother. So I started learning music too. I don’t know if my mother and father who drove me to lessons every week for many many years knew that I would fall in love with music as much as I did and as quickly as I did. I became engrossed in its beauty. By the time I reached high school I was playing piano, guitar and then started the cello. I was in a band at school and our drummer also taught me how to play the drums. At music college, I also studied oboe and trumpet. And now, I have the huge privilege of getting to create (compose) and conduct music – that is the best instrument of them all!
