A not-for-profit, unaffiliated association, registered charity.
Our Purpose
“To bring to Melbourne live, fine music and provide performance opportunities and support for talented musicians.”
We achieve this through two channels of activity:
By providing Live and Free fine music at The Scots’ Church at lunch time on many Tuesdays through the year (see 2025 concert program)
And by arranging for musicians to play one-hour concerts at Independent Living Retirement Villages
Both channels bring live fine music to Melbournians while assisting qualified and dedicated musicians as they embark on their chosen career.
The Short Story of Music Matinee
In 2017 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 Our contribution has been further enhanced by finding paid work for our musicians at Independent Living Retirement Villages..
THE FULL STORY OF MUSIC MATINEE
Early History
In 2017, 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 of 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. Initially the musicians were unpaid and they performed to gain experience of playing in a public concert.
The number of Music Matinee committee members has been kept small and is currently eight (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 Since.
Due to support from the musicians, ANAM, VCASS and MUCM the number of performances has increased from nine in 2019 to twenty in 2024.
Our concert program for 2025 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 now generally between 70 to 110 at each lunchtime concert.
Our only income continues to be from donations. These funds now enable us to pay the musicians for performing at our concerts and to provide annual scholarship prizes to musicians at VCASS and ANAM .
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 have also established another way to support our musicians and bring the joy of music to \a wider audience by finding paid performance opportunities for them at Independent Living Retirement Villages. These concerts give the musicians income as well as the opportunity and experience of performing in public before different audiences. From small beginnings we anticipate this will significantly increase.
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 journey 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
And in addition, we are now providing the musicians with paid work and exposure to a different audience.
The members of Music Matinee are delighted that their contribution to Melbourne music has been so much more than their initial plans.
The future.
While our “live and free”concerts will remain the mainstay of Music Matinee’s contribution to music in Melbourne we will continue to strengthen our relationship with ANAM, VCASS, MUCM and Melbourne Opera and provide skilled and dedicated musicians with the opportunity, experience and support to forge a career in their chosen profession.
It is also important the committee has a succession plan to ensure the continuation of its good work and achievements and that it fosters new people and new ideas.
However, to ensure this ongoing success we require the support of Melbournians, whether by attending our concerts, making donations or assisting as volunteers. Please help us if you can.
Music Matinee Inc.
Web: www.musicmatinee.org
Email: musicmatinee.org@gmail.com
Tel: 0411 407 282
10/2/2025
Alright reserved @musicmatinee 2018
2025 Concert Calendar
Tuesday 4 Feb Josh Hooke - piano
Tuesday 18 Feb Changing Wilds Ensemble - piano and strings
Isabel Heide - violin, Gemma Kneale - cello & Georgina Lewis - piano
Tuesday 4 Mar Issy Hart - soprano
Tuesday 18 Mar Charlie Wu - piano
Tuesday 1 Apr Connie Chamber Collective - guitar and soprano
Christelise de Graaf - soprano and Meredith Connie - guitar
Tuesday 15 Apr Berta Brozgul - piano
Tuesday 6 May Australian National Academy of Music - brass
Tuesday 20 May TBA
Tuesday 3 June Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - various
Tuesday 1 July Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School - various
Tuesday 5 Aug Diego Yu - piano and strings
Tuesday 2 Sep VCASS* - various
Tuesday 16 Sep ANAM* - various
Tuesday 7 Oct Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - various
Tuesday 21 Oct Jonathan Xian - piano
Sunday 26 Oct, 2 pm A Celebration of Music (at Wesley College, St Kilda Rd campus)
Tuesday 18 Nov Trio Conte' - piano and strings
Tuesday 2 Dec VCASS* - Christmas theme
Tuesday 16 Dec Voice - Christmas theme - to be confirmed
*VCASS - Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School
**Australian National Academy of Music