So you want my arts job: Chorus Master

Paul Fitzsimon has been Opera Australia’s Chorus Master since 2019. Here, he shares the secrets of his trade.

Australian conductor Paul Fitzsimon has been Chorus Master at Opera Australia since 2019 and has worked as répétiteur and conductor with the company since 2012, most recently conducting performances of La Bohème at the Sydney Opera House in early 2022.

Fitzsimon majored in piano performance at the University of Melbourne and later completed his orchestral conducting studies at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and through the Symphony Australia Conductor Development Program. He was the recipient of the Brian Stacey Award for Emerging Conductors in 2008.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's former National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts