ROSS FIDDES
Composer and Conductor
A solicitor with offices in New Lambton, Ross Fiddes practises
predominantly in the commercial, small business, property and estates
areas of law.
His credits in the musical field include having been the founder and
musical director of a number of musical performing groups, including
The Sound Construction Company and the Novocastrian Arts Orchestra, for
which he was chief conductor from 1991 to 1995, during which time the
orchestra performed four main concerts each year. In Newcastle, he has
been musical director and conductor for Opera Hunter for Die
Fledermaus, Master Peter's Puppet Show, Amahl & the Night
Visitors, Carmen, Oliver, Les Misérables, and in 1997, his
own Abelard & Heloise. For other music theatre companies, he
has conducted and/or musically direcoted A Hand of Bridge, The Unicorn,
the Gorgon & the Manticore, My Fair Lady, The Bear, his own work
The Proposal, and again - in 1998 - Abelard & Heloise. This work
was performed in concert on 11 and 12 October 1997, and again in a
semi-moved staging on 1 August 1998 (with the composer as conductor) as
a preview to its later staging. For the 1997 concert performances, Ross
and librettist Paul Kavanagh received Newcastle theatre's highest
award, the CONDA (City of Newcastle Drama Award) for Outstanding
Achievement in Newcastle Theatre.
Ross's children are also somewhat accomplished musicians. His son
Andrew is a professional musician based in Sydney, performing mainly on
trumpet, and his daughters Samantha and Jaclyn performed the lead role
of Mary Lennox as principal and understudy respectively, in the 1995-96
Australian production of The Secret Garden which played to rave reviews
and full houses for nine months in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
