Richard Alan Bonynge

High Old Boy Richard Bonynge AC CBE is a highly respected conductor and pianist. He was married to Dame Joan Sutherland, widely regarded as one of the greatest sopranos of all time, and conducted virtually all of her operatic performances from 1962 until her retirement in 1990.

After excelling in music at High, Bonynge studied piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and gained a scholarship to the Royal Collage of Music in London. He has conducted operas around Australia and the world including Sydney, New York, London, San Francisco and Vancouver, where he was the founding music director of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. He has also recorded extensively in the ballet genre. 

In 2012, Bonynge was promoted within the Order of Australia to Companion, for “eminent service to the performing arts as an acclaimed conductor and musical scholar, to classical singing and the promotion of opera, and through the collection and preservation of operatic manuscripts.”

These days, he is primarily involved in the philanthropic activities of the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation, often chairing the panel of judges for their annual Bel Canto Award.