George Ellis conducted the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in front of 110,000 people and for an international television audience of 3.8 billion people. He has conducted concerts in Paris, London, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Florence, Amsterdam, Brussels, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Athens and Kuala Lumpur. He has conducted the Queensland Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Canberra Symphony Orchestras and Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne. He has also worked with international popular artists including Lou Reed.
He has presented concerts for international events including the Sydney Festival, Athens Olympic Torch Relay, Jakarta Arts Festival, Greek Festival of Sydney, Sydney International Crave Festival, and for the NSW Premier’s Department of Protocol and Special Events at the Sydney Opera House.
George Ellis conducted Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in Bruce Beresford’s film Mao’s Last Dancer and was Musical Director of stage productions including Sugar, Some Like it Hot, Man of La Mancha and Neil Armfield’s Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. He conducted the opera Little Women for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was Assistant Conductor for Opera Australia’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata.
His concerts have been broadcast on national television and radio including the world premiere of Matthew Hindson’s Violin Concerto. He has performed with esteemed classical instrumental and vocal artists including Diana Doherty, Lorina Gore, Simon Tedeschi, David Hobson, David Pereira, Gerard Willems, Kathryn Selby and popular artists including Megan Washington, Guy Sebastian, John Williamson, Deborah Conway, David Campbell, Augie March, The Church and conducted Anthony Callea on ABC TV for a performance for Queen Elizabeth II.
His composition Pop Mass received first prize in the orchestral and choral composition section of the Sydney Eisteddfod. His Celebration Overture was given its world premiere by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur and his musical Matters of Consequence was premiered at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He also composed the soundtrack to award-winning short film Frank. His orchestral arrangements have been performed by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen and by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in combination with popular Australian singer/songwriter Josh Pyke.
George Ellis has presented countless education programs for the Sydney Opera House Proms series, Sydney Symphony Sinfonia, Queensland Symphony, Canberra Symphony and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras and theatre companies including Monkey Baa Theatre. He lectures in Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney and gives orchestral workshops around Australia.
A portrait of George Ellis by Dutch/Australian artist Evert Ploeg was selected as finalist in Art Gallery of NSW Archibald Prize and won the People’s Choice Award.
