Background
Leonard Dommett was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, where his father ran a general store.
Leonard Dommett was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, where his father ran a general store.
He first handled a violin at age 4. He was offered a scholarship to Trinity College at the London School of Music, but World World War II prevented him accepting lieutenant In 1949, Marie Rambert brought her ballet to Australia, and she appointed Dommett as a solo violinist.
He passed his first test, accompanying a ballet set to Ernest Chausson"s Poèmedical
Rambert was so impressed that she made him her concert master, and later her conductor. He moved with the company to New Zealand and then to London.
There he played with the London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He became assistant conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
He returned to Australia in 1953, and played with the Queensland and Sydney symphony orchestras.
In 1961 he became leader and later deputy conductor of the South Australian Symphony Orchestra. In 1965 he became concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and later assistant conductor. He intermittently played with the London orchestras, but for the most part he remained in Melbourne till 1980.
At a concert in Munich, he received a standing ovation after playing the Violin Concerto by Felix Werder.
A performance by him of this piece, with the MSO, was released in 1971 on an LP from the now-defunct Festival label. After he left the MSO he taught at the Canberra School of Music for the next two decades.
Later he was music master and conductor at Street Margaret"s Girls School in Brisbane, where they performed Vivaldi"s The Four Seasons and Fauré"s Requiem, among several other works, under his direction. Eight composers wrote violin concertos specifically for Dommett.
He did a great deal of recording, including 56 concertos, and a disc of Mozart violin sonatas with Max Cooke.
In addition, he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere recording of Malcolm Williamson"s Piano Concerto Number. 3, with the composer as soloist. He played a 1727 Peter Guarneri violin, which was offered for sale in 2008.