{{short description|Australian conductor|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Nicolette Ella Fraillon''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (born 29 July 1960) is an Australian conductor, who was chief conductor of [[The Australian Ballet]] from 2003 until 2022.
==Career== Fraillon grew up in [[Melbourne]], a child of immigrant parents of French Huguenot, Sicilian and Austrian Jewish descent. Her family is musical: both grandfathers were cellists, and her great-uncle Guillaume was principal double bass player with the [[Melbourne Symphony Orchestra]].<ref name=vergis>{{cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/australian-ballet-orchestras-lightning-conductor-nicolette-fraillon/news-story/fa211fd3b9d473138fd5f6fba254dda0|author=Sharon Vergis|title=Australian Ballet's lightning conductor, Nicolette Fraillon|newspaper=[[The Australian]]|date=8 March 2013|access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
She started violin and piano studies as a child; her teachers included Brian Buggy (violin) and Ada Corder (piano).<ref name=vergis /><ref name=good>"The Good Life: Lunch with Nicolette Fraillon", ''[[The Age]]'', 2 March 2013, Life&Style, p. 3</ref> She played with the [[Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra]] and the Melbourne Youth Orchestra for some time.<ref name=musa />
As an adult she studied viola under Chris Martin at the [[University of Melbourne]]. She studied conducting at the [[University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna|Hochschule für Musik]] in Vienna, Austria, from 1984, and later in [[Hanover]], Germany.<ref name=lime>''[[Limelight (magazine)|Limelight]]'', January 2014, Guest column: Female conductors, p. 20</ref> Her professional conducting debut was with the [[Nederlands Dans Theater]], when she deputised for another conductor who had fallen ill.<ref name=good /> In the Netherlands, she also worked on a production of ''[[Les Misérables (musical)|Les Misérables]]'', both playing viola in the orchestra and working as second conductor.<ref name=good /><ref name=musa /> Later she was appointed music director and chief conductor of the [[Dutch National Ballet]].<ref name=ballet>[https://australianballet.com.au/music/orchestra-victoria/nicolette-fraillon "Meet Nicolette"], [[The Australian Ballet]]. Retrieved 25 October 2016</ref>
In 1995 she was engaged by the [[Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra]], becoming the first Australian woman to conduct an Australian symphony orchestra. She later conducted the [[West Australian Symphony Orchestra]].<ref name=lime/>
In October 1997 Fraillon was appointed director of the [[ANU School of Music|Canberra School of Music]], effective from June 1998.<ref name=musa>Helen Musa, "From the top, please", ''[[The Canberra Times]]'', 18 October 1997, Saturday Magazine, p. C1</ref> In 1998 she commenced at the [[Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra]]. In 2003 she was appointed chief conductor of [[The Australian Ballet]].<ref name=lime/><ref name=ballet/> She was their first woman conductor, and, in 2016, the world's only woman music director of a ballet company.<ref>[https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/booksandarts/nicolette-fraillon-calls-out-sexism-in-classical-music-world/7493936 "Australian Ballet music director calls out sexism in classical music world"] by Jeremy Story Carter, [[ABC Radio National]], 13 June 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2021</ref> In November 2021, Fraillon announced that she would leave that position in 2022.<ref>[https://limelightmagazine.com.au/news/nicolette-fraillon-will-farewell-the-australian-ballet-in-2022/ "Nicolette Fraillon will farewell The Australian Ballet in 2022"] by Deborah Jones, ''[[Limelight (magazine)|Limelight]]'', 19 November 2021</ref> In 2023, she was awarded the [[Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au/about-us/news/conductor-nicolette-fraillon-am-awarded-2023-bernard-heinze-memorial-award|title=Conductor Nicolette Fraillon AM awarded 2023 Bernard Heinze Memorial Award|date=21 June 2023|access-date=23 June 2023|publisher=Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, [[University of Melbourne]]}}</ref>
== Personal life == Fraillon has been married three times,<ref name="musa" /><ref>{{cite web |date=August 2013 |title=Chief Conductor Australian Ballet |url=https://engagingwomen.com.au/stories/nicolette-fraillon-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025191347/http://engagingwomen.com.au/stories/nicolette-fraillon-2/ |archive-date=25 October 2016 |access-date=25 June 2023 |website=engagingwomen.com.au |type=interview by [[Martine Griffiths|Martine Harte]]}}</ref> and has two sons.<ref name="vergis" /> She has been married to soprano [[Deborah Cheetham Fraillon]] since January 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheetham Fraillon |first=Deborah |date=10 January 2023 |title=Our children all together celebrating our wedding day...|url=https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6384152224946427|access-date=7 March 2023|website=[[Facebook]]}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}} {{authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraillon, Nicolette}} [[Category:1960 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:University of Melbourne alumni]] [[Category:University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni]] [[Category:Australian women conductors (music)]] [[Category:Members of the Order of Australia]] [[Category:Australian people of Austrian-Jewish descent]] [[Category:Australian people of French descent]] [[Category:Australian people of Italian descent]] [[Category:21st-century Australian conductors (music)]] [[Category:Musicians from Melbourne]] [[Category:Australian lesbian musicians]]