André de Quadros

Jane Frazee Distinguished Scholar, University of St. Thomas, 2023. Eric Oddleifson Arts|Learning Service Award, 2022. Helen Kemp Lifetime Achievement Award, American Choral Directors Association (Eastern Region), 2022. Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award, Chorus America, 2021. Honorary Life Membership, Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association, Australia, 1999. Honorary Life Membership, Monash University Choral Society, Australia, 1995. Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching: Special Commendation, 1998.

André de Quadros began his music teaching career while he was a graduate student at La Trobe University. His first job was as the specialist music teacher at St Mary's Primary School, West Melbourne, a Catholic elementary school in the outer Western suburbs of Melbourne. This was followed by similar positions in two other Catholic primary schools as well as the junior school of Kingswood College. In 1981, he was appointed to a coordinator position at Billanook College, an open entry non-selective school, in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne It was at Billanook that he explored his educational work in music and movement improvisation, connecting to theatre. In the early 1980s, he taught music workshops for babies and toddlers. After five years, in 1986, he accepted a position at a secondary girls’ school, Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, where he remained full time until 1991. In his final year, he directed the music school, with its ambitious program in creative music, together with a vigorous choral and orchestral program. He directed an award-winning chamber choir and the premier symphony orchestra. In 1991-1992, he taught music methods part-time to pre-service music teachers at the Australian Catholic University. While he was teaching in elementary and secondary schools, he was engaged in giving creative music and movement workshops for pre-service and in-service teachers. He was involved in leading key statewide curriculum developments for high school, which led to new music courses as part of the Victorian Certificate of Education. Active in professional associations, he served as the president of the Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association, and the founding president of the Australian National Council of Orff Schulwerk. In 1995, he was the artistic director of Orff 100, a festival to honor the birth centenary of Carl Orff.

His conducting career started when he led the choir at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai in 1973, while still an undergraduate student. In Mumbai, his conducting teacher, Joachim Buehler mentored him in choral and orchestral conducting, giving him podium time with the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and the Bombay Cantata Choir. He served as assistant conductor of the latter ensemble. After migrating to Australia, he resumed conducting when he was appointed conductor of the Monash University Choral Society (MonUCS) in 1985. By the time he concluded his tenure with MonUCS, he had been its longest serving conductor. At Presbyterian Ladies' College, he conducted the concert band, the symphony orchestra, He founded and conducted the Chamber Singers that won first prize in the Australian Choral Championships. In 1991, he was appointed to the faculty at Monash University to direct the orchestral and choral programs where he directed the New Monash Orchestra, the string orchestra, the Viva Voce choir, and the women's choir. Numerous concerts in Asia and Europe followed including the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Bulgaria with which he toured Spain, the Prokofiev Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, the Nusantara Chamber Orchestra (Indonesia), the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Jauna Muzika choir (Lithuania). Following his professorial appointment at Boston University, he conducted the Boston University Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra. In 2004, he conducted the Massachusetts All-State Chorus (USA).

de Quadros attended Campion School, Mumbai, where he finished his secondary education in 1969. He was active in debating and quiz competitions in school. He enrolled in St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, where he had initially intended to pursue pre-medical studies. However, he changed directions, and majored in economics with a minor in econometrics and statistics. While at St Xavier's College, he enrolled at the Bombay School of Music, where he studied conducting with Joachim Buehler, who mentored him in orchestral and choral conducting. Further studies took place in Australia, where he undertook graduate studies in musicology and composition at La Trobe University for a Graduate Diploma of Humanities. Simultaneously, he pursued a Graduate Diploma in Movement and Dance at the University of Melbourne. In 1979, he won a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship for graduate study at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria. Upon returning to Australia, and over several years, he completed a broad range of graduate degrees. These included a Graduate Diploma in Music, studying conducting with Robert Rosen at the Victorian College of the Arts. At La Trobe University, he also completed an MEd and an EdD. Finally, while working at Monash University he completed a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education.