The Australian Ballet’s Chief Conductor and Music Director, Nicolette Fraillon, has announced she will leave the position she has held for nearly 20 years. Fraillon will stay until the end of the 2022 season, ending her long reign with performances of Romeo and Juliet in Melbourne in October and Sydney in December.

Nicolette Fraillon. Photo © Kate Longley

Fraillon will also retire as Artistic Director of Orchestra Victoria, a role she assumed in 2014 when OV became a wholly owned subsidiary of TAB. OV plays for Victorian Opera and for TAB and Opera Australia when they are in Melbourne, among many other activities.

In a statement Fraillon said, “we are all only custodians of the companies for which we work, and of the art forms we serve – and it is the right time to transition the baton to a successor, someone to musically partner Artistic Director David Hallberg.” She said she looked forward to helping in the search for her successor.

Fraillon was appointed in 2003 by Hallberg’s predecessor, David McAllister, about 18 months after he had become Artistic Director. He had been told the choice of Music Director would...