Some decades ago, I found myself strolling down the corridors of the Juilliard School in New York. Its walls almost groaned under official portraits of past directors. My companion, a fellow American music history buff, pulled me up. “Oh,” she declared. “Here’s an Aussie!”

I had barely heard of Ernest Hutcheson (1871-1951), the Australian pianist, composer, teacher and administrator. Born in Melbourne, he was a child prodigy from the age of five. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and briefly taught in Berlin before settling in New York City, where he made his debut. He may have been the first pianist to have played three Beethoven concertos (the Third, Fourth and Fifth) in a single concert, with the New York Symphony conducted by Walter Damrosch in the Aeolian Hall in 1919.

Australian composer Ernest Hutcheson (1871-1951). Photo by an unknown artist. Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/2010.22/ernest-hutcheson.

Hutcheson joined the faculty at the Juilliard School at its inception and successively became its Dean (1926–1937) and President (1937–1945). At Juilliard, he championed the use of radio broadcasts in music education and taught many leading students. He also appeared at the famed...