Donald Hazelwood
Don Hazelwood is an icon of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and his retirement will mark the end of an era. He is a first-class musician who is highly respected by all his colleagues and the conductors who have had the privilege of working with him. - Edo de Waart, 1997
Australian violinist and concertmaster Donald Leslie Grant Hazelwood was born on 1 March 1930 and grew up in Urana, New South Wales. He began to play the violin at four years old, and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium from 1948.
He began his playing career in 1952 in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, playing violin 2 for Eugene Goossens. In 1962 he became co-concertmaster with Robert Miller, and in 1965 was appointed concertmaster, remaining in this job until his retirement in 1997. In his 1997 tribute concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, he played the Dvořák Romance in F minor. He was also president of the Sydney Symphony Benevolent Fund for twenty-three years.
Donald Hazelwood (1930-2025)
His other roles included positions as artistic director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's National Ensemble (1988-9) and director of the Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp (1989-91 and 1996).
He represented Australia at the 1974 Expo in Spokane, Washington, USA, playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and was one of two Australian musicians to play with the World Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985 in Stockholm, Sweden. He appeared many times as a soloist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's orchestras, with music including Barry Conyngham's Ice Carving, Peter Sculthorpe's Irkanda IV and the Bruch G minor and Elgar violin concertos. Other concerti he played were the Bach A minor, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev and Sibelius - always from memory.
He was leader of the Austral String Quartet, making two world tours. He also toured Asia four times with the Hazelwood Trio, the last tour being in 1997. The other members of the trio were his wife, Anne Menzies, on clarinet, and Rachel Valler playing piano.
He played a 1716 Giovanni Baptista Grancino violin.
Donald Hazelwood died in Sydney on 8 March 2025, aged ninety-five.