The Moorabool Light Orchestra Team

Leader of the Orchestra

Robert Wrzaszcz has been in the music scene for many years in Melbourne and abroad, performing as soloist, in quartets, musical theatre, chamber ensembles and Symphony Orchestras.

He regularly performs with The Melbourne Sinfonia Orchestra and has performed internationally in the Sapporo Concert Hall in Japan in2001, as part of a 120-piece orchestra under the direction of Swiss Conductor Charles Dutoit.

Robert graduated from The University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music in 1998, studying violin with string specialists and educators Dr. Anthony Doheany, William Hennesy and Fintan Murphy.

Having completed a Postgraduate Degree in Music education, Robert is Head of Strings at Bacchus Marsh Grammar where he currently teaches classroom and instrumental music.

President of the Moorabool Light Orchestra

From Michael Love President of the MLO

I came to the MLO from a very basic musical background, starting with learning the piano from Grade 4 through to Year 9, to teaching myself the trombone in Year 9 at high school. My musical journey took me to many competitions around Victoria, and on to being a member of The Victorian State Youth Concert Band playing for royalty during Victoria’s 150^th celebrations. A few years later we were invited to do a 3 day stint playing at the World Expo in Brisbane followed by a 10-day tour of New Zealand. At teacher’s college I played the keyboards alongside Damian Howard (Brother to Shane Howard from the Aussie band Goanna) in our college band ‘Hard Act To Follow’ for a couple of years. Then the JOB got in the way and then I moved countries and the trombone was left in storage.

Since work and family life started getting hectic, playing music took a bit of a backseat and the trombone did not come out of the case for many years. I thought about selling it at one stage but then I saw a group of musicians-talented musicians playing/rehearsing at BMG. It was not until one day at work when one of the members found out I had played the trombone that I should come along to a rehearsal. Were they that desperate? It had been 20 years since I played it.

I went along one Tuesday night not knowing what to fully expect and was welcomed by Barry and other members. I’m glad I made that first step. I quickly found out that these people were very talented indeed.

Now I have been asked to take on the role of President for the MLO. 2019 was a year of learning the ropes and finding out how much work Barry and Barb had done over their many years of involvement with the orchestra. We now have a very dedicated and enthusiastic team of volunteers stepping into their shoes and taking over the reins.

Unfortunately, there has not been much music played in 2020 due to the pandemic situation but the team have been working behind the scenes putting things in place ready for the orchestra to play as soon as it is safe to do so.

I look forward to working with the MLO and the team to see that these talented musicians have a place to play and an audience to appreciate and enjoy their talents. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Committee members

We are a committee voted into position each year to voice the needs of the orchestra members. They help deal with the logistics of running the organisation. We also try and find the balance between creating an opportunity for our members to perform as well as creating events that our audience loves to come back and watch each year.