2009 Competition Artistic Adviser
Throughout his career, Dene has appeared as Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony and has conducted the Sydney Symphony and the Auckland Philharmonia. He is often sought to lead/direct concerts with many other orchestras. He has also been the Artistic Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Festival Chamber Music Concert Program. He has appeared regularly at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music for the last fifteen years and at many festivals in Australasia and Europe.
He has performed over forty concertos and worked with some of the world's leading conductors including Edo de Waart, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Stuart Challender, Sir Charles Mackerras, Jorge Mester, Gunther Herbig, Werner Andreas Albert and David Porcelijn. He gave the Australian premiere performance of Lutoslawski's Chain 2 with the composer conducting, Elliott Carter’s Violin Concerto and the Violin Concerto of Philip Glass. In addition, he has performed world premieres of violin concertos by Ross Edwards and Bozidar Kos and the Double Concerto for violin and viola by Richard Mills, written for himself and his wife, Irina Morozova.
Dene attended the Juilliard School In New York from the age of fourteen as a scholarship student of Ivan Galamian and Margaret Pardee. He graduated in 1978 with the Master of Music Degree and was awarded the Morris Loeb Prize. Other studies included master classes with Nathan Milstein and further lessons with Herman Krebbers and Gyorgy Pauk. In 1985, he was awarded the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to further his musical studies and during that year, became a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Violin Competition.
Solo recordings include a sonata disc of Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart for ABC Classics with his father, Max Olding, the CD premiere of concertos by Frank Martin and Milhaud and concertos by Samuel Barber and Ross Edwards (Maninyas) - winner of the 1994 A.R.I.A. award for "Best Classical Recording" and the prestigious Cannes award. He has also recorded the Hindemith violin concerti with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Werner Andreas Albert for CPO. His numerous chamber music CD’s have also received acclaim.. Most recently, the recording of chamber music of Ernest Bloch with the Goldner Quartet and pianist Piers Lane for the Hyperion label was selected as Gramophone magazine’s “Record of the Month”.
As a member of the Goldner String Quartet and the Australia Ensemble, he regularly tours to Europe, Asia and New Zealand. He has been awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia and has received numerous awards and accolades for his performances in all spheres of music-making. Currently, he is Artistic Adviser and frequent jury member for the Michael Hill International Violin Competition held in New Zealand biennially. He also directs the annual Music in the Hunter Festival , a chamber music event that takes place in the Hunter Valley wine-making country near Sydney. He manages to combine a passion for Aikido and sailing with his busy musical career and spending time with his wife, Irina and son, Nikolai.
Dene Olding plays a fine Joseph Guarnerius made in Cremona in 1720.
