Donate to our Instrument Fund
Help Elevate Our Sound
Your donation can fine tune our Orchestra by upgrading our instruments and tools. Let’s hit the right notes together!
To create extraordinary musical experiences, we need the best tools for the trade.
We invite you to elevate our sound by making a gift to our Instrument Fund. Your tax-deductible donation will go directly towards the purchase of high quality instruments, to maintain the exquisite sound of the Orchestra. Every gift makes a difference and will help us strike the perfect chord!
The Impact of Your Gift: The story behind the gift of the Hazelwood Grancino
The 1716 Grancino violin was played by our former Concertmaster Donald Hazelwood from 1965 until his retirement in 1998.
The Grancino violin returned to the Sydney Symphony in 2019 when a generous donor, Vicki Olsson, purchased the violin from Don and loaned it to the Orchestra. Since then it has been played by Associate Concertmaster, Harry Bennetts. Now, in a further extraordinary act of philanthropy, Vicki has gifted the violin to the Sydney Symphony, ensuring that it will remain at the core of our sound forever more. Her only stipulation was that the instrument be renamed the ‘Hazelwood’ Grancino in honour of Don.
Here, Bennetts describes his connection to the instrument and its unique sound, while Don’s daughter Jane – herself a member of the Orchestra since 1995 – shares her memories of the instrument, and describes how Vicki’s gift has enshrined her father’s enormous legacy at the Sydney Symphony.