3MBS Melbourne 103.5FM is pleased to announce Wilma Smith will be the next Artistic Director of the 3MBS Marathon, heralding an exciting new phase for the event as it enters its eleventh year.

In announcing the appointment, Chair of 3MBS, Tim Hannah said: ‘I’m thrilled to be appointing Wilma Smith as Artistic Director of the 3MBS Marathon. The Marathon is an important fixture in the station’s calendar and as a highly respected member of Melbourne’s arts community, Wilma brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this role. We cannot wait to see what exciting new direction she takes the Marathon in for 2023.’

Wilma Smith is Musica Viva Australia’s Artistic Director of Competitions, Second Violinist of the Flinders Quartet, Curator/Violinist of Wilma & Friends, a regular performer with the Australian World Orchestra, Co-Artistic Director of the Martinborough Music Festival and guest concertmaster of orchestras throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Wilma was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. She studied in Boston with the legendary Dorothy DeLay and was the founding First Violinist of the Lydian String Quartet. Invited to return home to form the New Zealand String Quartet, she was the quartet’s First Violinist until her appointment as Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a position she held for nine years before moving to Melbourne to be Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2014.

Traditionally focussing on the works of a single composer, the 2023 Marathon will enter a new era as Wilma plans to break away from this format with her programming.

She says: ‘The Marathon gives the whole community a chance to experience, and appreciate, the amazing outpouring of musical creativity from all over this city during just one day.

Seven individually crafted programs will each celebrate the Marathon’s ten-year history by featuring a beloved work from past Marathons. These will be surrounded by stylistically and culturally diverse offerings played by the very best of Melbourne’s chamber ensembles.’

3MBS General Manager, Gail Southwell, describes Wilma Smith as ‘the perfect person to unite and renew the community of Melbourne’s artists and audiences in celebrating the great music this city has to offer’. Gail says she is ‘very excited to see the new-look program that Wilma has planned for all Melbourne music enthusiasts.’

Full details of Wilma Smith’s 2023 3MBS Marathon program will be released in October along with early bird ticket sales.

3MBS Marathon
Saturday 11 February 2023
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall and Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre
and streamed digitally through Australian Digital Concert Hall