Alastair McKean
Director
Alastair McKean comes from Wangaratta. He was educated at Wangaratta High School, and subsequently attended the University of Sydney, where he obtained a BMus (Hons) in composition, studying under Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards. Alastair went to Border Music Camp as a student from 1989 to 1991, and was then a violin tutor, concert manager, and deputy director, before being appointed Director for the 1997 Camp. He was made a Life Member at the 40th Camp, in 2014.
From 1997 until 2000, he worked at the Australian Youth Orchestra, before being appointed Orchestra Librarian at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2017 he was invited to take the newly created position of Head of Library at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He was elected President of the international Major Orchestra Librarians Association for the 2023-24 season, the first one from outside the US or Europe.
Alastair has written program notes and given talks for, among others, the SSO, the MSO, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and ABC Classic FM. He has sung in choirs for many years, and highlights of his on-stage career include terrifying small children with his narration of Peter and the Wolf, page-turning for the great composer Thomas Adès, and playing cannon in the MSO’s performances of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Alastair would like everyone to know that the Viola is the KING OF INSTRUMENTS.