MUSICA Viva Australia has today (June 3) announced that incoming artistic director Paul Kildea will assume artistic leadership of the organisation in mid-2019 following the 20-year tenure of Carl Vine, which concludes at the end of this year.

In a newly expanded role, Kildea, born in Canberra and now based in Melbourne, will be responsible for creating an artistic vision for all Musica Viva’s activities, including its concerts programs, artist development projects as well as the country’s largest private music education program.

“With Paul’s appointment, we complete the carefully planned leadership transition that began with the recruitment of Hywel Sims as CEO and Anne Frankenberg in the new position of Deputy CEO,” Musica Viva chairman Charles Graham said.

Kildea trained as a conductor in Opera Australia’s young artist program and was subsequently appointed head of music at the Aldeburgh Festival in the UK and director of the chamber music series at the Perth International Arts Festival.

He is also a former artistic director of both the Four Winds Festival on the NSW south coast and London’s Wigmore Hall, where he revitalised the artistic program.

He holds a doctorate from Oxford University in addition to honours and master’s degrees in piano performance and musicology from The University of Melbourne, where he is now an honorary principal fellow

His 2013 Penguin published book, “Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century” is considered the definitive book on the subject and Sovereign Films recently acquired global film rights to his latest book, “Chopin’s Piano: A Journey Through Romanticism” (Penguin, 2018).