Photos - MMM tour of Australia

Sep 8
2 min read

Updated: 8 hours ago

Following an invitation from the Austrian Embassy Canberra, former MMM Principal Investigator Norbert Meyn (Royal College of Music) and co-investigator Nils Grosch (Salzburg University) visited Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney in August 2025 to present the work of the 'Music, Migration and Mobility' Project and connect with researchers and audiences in Australia.

Melbourne

The tour started with the Symposium 'Musical Exile, Migration and Cultural Mobility' at Melba Hall, University of Melbourne, on August 15 and 16. The symposium brought together 80 registered participants, more than 20 speakers and an audience of approx. 200 for the booked out 'Emigre Cabaret Recital' with Norbert Meyn and Melbourne-based pianist Kevin Tamanini.

A pre-concert reception for symposium participants was hosted by Dominc Grossalber, Deputy Head of Mission of the Austrian Embassy (image 5, right and 7, left).

The symposium was co-convened by Nicholas Tochka (primary organiser, University of Melbourne, image 1, 5 and 7), Peter Tregear (University of Melbourne, 2, on the big screen), Nils Grosch (University of Salzburg, 1-4) and Norbert Meyn (Royal College of Music, 6, 7). The keynote session (Nils Grosch) about Music and Mobility was chaired by Paul Kildea (Musica Viva, 4, right), with former MMM co-investigator Peter Adey (Monash Unversity, 4, left) as respondent. During the symposium, the mobile MMM exhibition 'The Story of Emigre Musicians from Nazi Europe in Britain and Australia' was shown in the foyer of Melba Hall. The full programme of the symposium can be downloaded below.

Canberra

On Monday August 18, the Austrian Ambassador in Australia, her Excellency Elisabeth Kögler (image 1) hosted a packed event (mainly organised by Alexander Kokic-Schmidt, image 2, middle) with the MMM exhibition, an introductory talk by Nils Grosch (image 2, left) and the Emigre Cabaret Recital with Norbert Meyn and Kevin Tamanini (4). The embassy is not far from the Australian Parliament (8). Wild Kangaroos can be found less than a mile away (9)!

Sydney

Then, on Wednesday August 20, the Goethe Insitute Sydney hosted a sold-out event, with many first and second generation Emigrants from Austria and Germany attending. After a warm welcome from the director Christoph Mücher (image 1) and Ambassador Elisabeth Kögler (2 and 3), Nils Grosch (4 and 5) spoke about Music and Mobility and the influence of migration on musical life in Britain, for example at Glyndebourne. Kevin Tamainini (6) and Norbert Meyn then performed their recital programme for a third time. The reception after the concert was full of animated conversation, and words of thanks were recorded in the visitors book of the MMM exhibition (9). The exhibition was displayed until Monday August 25. Following the event, Norbert Meyn and Nils Grosch met colleagues at Sydney University and Conservatorium (image 18: Norbert Meyn with Anke Ryan and Simon Lobelson of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music).