George Ellis is riding a high. Within the span of a month, the esteemed conductor has revisited the magic of the Sydney Olympics – where his music once carried a nation – and now finds himself honoured with an ARIA Award nomination for his collaborative work with Justine Clarke, Mimi’s Symphony.

The nomination, in the Best Children’s Album category, recognises Ellis as composer alongside Clarke, who penned the story. For Ellis, the news came as a joyful shock.

“You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was absolutely blown away,” he told Neos Kosmos.

Awards, he insists, are never the driving force. The Greek Australian conductor says the true reward lies in the music itself and the process of creation.

“When we wrote it and when we perform it, I don’t think about things like awards or whether people will like it. I hope obviously that people do like it but I just love it as a piece of music and I love conducting it and working with Justine on it.”

Inception of ‘Mimi’s Symphony’

The nomination represents the culmination of a collaboration that has its root as far back as 2016 when the duo first met while on set for a television show.

“Justine was doing a children’s television show on different type of performing artists, visual artists and dancers,” Ellis said.

“One of her television episodes was about a conductor and I was asked to go and conduct for that episode and to play the part of a conductor.”

The artist stated that it was in between filming that the pair got to know one another and the idea for a collaboration was born.

“We were talking about the things we were doing at the time and I mentioned that I was about to do ‘Peter and the Wolf’, the famous orchestral story for children by Sergei Prokofiev,” Ellis said.

The conductor noted Clarke raised the idea of creating a modern, Australian orchestral story in the style of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ (e.g. a story told by a narrator aided by orchestral music) and it was from there the duo went to work on ‘Mimi’s Symphony’.

“Over the period of about six to nine months, we finally finished ‘Mimi’s Symphony’ the way we really wanted it to do it, and we were lucky enough to premiere it in 2019 at the City Recital Hall.”

The conductor highlighted how their very positive working relationship allowed the project to be as good as it is.

“Working with somebody so adept at what they do and so open to listening and hearing what her collaborator had to say and me, in turn, reciprocating. That is a really important thing to do.

“If we didn’t have that kind of working relationship, I don’t think it could have happened.”

Ellis stated they have twice performed ‘Mimi’s Symphony’ this year, once at the Sydney Opera House and once at the Canberra Theatre Centre, with the ARIA nomination being the latest honour for the project he is immensely proud of.

“To get recognised in the professional industry is a very wonderful added bonus. We didn’t write it for that, we just wrote it because we thought Australian children needed a new orchestral story, but to be nominated for an ARIA award is a really beautiful blessing on top of that.

Reliving Sydney Olympics 25 years later

The nomination adds to what has been a productive month for the Greek Australian, who got the chance to relive one of the highlights of his career when he performed at Stadium Australia for the 25th anniversary of the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Ellis served as conductor for the grand opening event all those years ago on 15 September, and he admitted it was a great privilege to do so again for the 25th anniversary event held on the same date.

“It is a very special feeling,” he said upon being asked to perform at the anniversary event, emphasising that conducting the 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony remains his career highlight.

“The sheer scale of the event back in 2000 was enormous. A packed stadium, millions of people watching it on TV. We were reflecting Australia to the world.”

He noted that it was a great experience to re-enact parts of that ceremony, including the involvement of singer Nikki Webster (who was a child when she sang as part of the event in 2000 and this time did so alongside her own two children).

“It was great to be on that same stage, that same podium with beautiful symphony orchestra playing some of the songs from the Opening Ceremony,” Ellis said.

The conductor remarked that, in line with celebrating its 25-year history, they also performed an orchestral medley of songs by famous artists who have performed at the stadium since its inception like Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and more.

“We had a really good time with it, and it was really special remembering what was a day I will never forget 25 years ago.”