The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has paid tribute to its former Concertmaster, Donald Hazelwood, who died on Saturday 8 March.

“A wonderful musician, colleague and friend, Don was Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for 33 years from 1965 until his retirement in 1998, an extraordinary career that assures his place among Australia’s best-known and most respected musicians.”

Donald Hazelwood, daughter and SSO violist Jane Hazelwood, and family. Photo courtesy Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Hazelwood joined the Orchestra in 1952, then under the baton of Chief Conductor Eugene Goossens. In 1965 he was appointed co-concertmaster alongside Robert Miller, becoming sole concertmaster shortly after Miller’s retirement in 1967. For 20 years he held this post on his own until the arrival of Dene Olding in 1987, with whom Don shared the role until his own retirement in 1997.

When Hazelwood retired, the Sydney Morning Herald’s music critic Fred Blanks described him as “a musician whose outstanding musicianship, diplomatic finesse and modest personal demeanour have made one of the most significant contributions to Sydney music in the last four decades.”

The SSO’s Chief Conductor at the time, Edo de Waart, wrote: “Don Hazelwood is an icon...