Gabrielle thompson Photo SuppliedGabrielle Thompson, Photo supplied.

The Australian World Orchestra is celebrating its 10th birthday – and your anniversary as founder and CEO – how has the project evolved?

The AWO began as a one-off series of concerts – the realisation of a dream of many of Australia’s musical diaspora and a chance to showcase their many achievements to Australian audiences. Following its success, we continued with the project and the AWO has developed into a flagship orchestra performing annually to audiences large and small, reuniting over 300 Aussie musicians, bringing five of the world’s top conductors to Australia, commissioning three works, touring to India and Singapore, and working with music educators to provide programs to the next generation of musicians.

Did you imagine it would be so successful?

No! I always knew that the orchestra would sound amazing (although that doesn’t always ring true with a strike ensemble) and that the initial performances would be very well received, as indeed they were. In 2012 I was not really sure how we would continue, but with the support of a core group of believers here we are today.

What have been the biggest challenges?

As one...