Music Director
Jane Elton Brown graduated from Melbourne University, B.Mus.,Dip.Ed., receiving the Dwight Prize in Education.
She subsequently gained the degree of Master of Music (Melb) with first class honours. In 1971, Jane was appointed Director of Music at MLC and held that position for 29 years until her retirement in 1999. In 1981, Jane conducted the MLC Chorale on a concert tour in England, and in 1988 her Chorale was selected to perform at the Conference of the International Society for Music Education. Commercial recordings, and CDs, radio broadcasts, television appearances and live performances provided a variety in the public profile of her work.
Directing the MLC Choir in performances with John Farnham in the Melbourne Concert Hall in 1991 and with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1993 at Werribee Park are well-remembered highlight's in Jane's career. She has conducted performances of major choral-orchestral works including Mendelssohn's Elijah, Carmina Burana, Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, and Verdi's Requiem.. In the Melbourne Concert Hall, in St.Paul's Cathedral and in Dallas Brooks Hall, these concerts received resounding acclaim from full-house audiences.
At MLC, her Music Directorship saw the planning and building of a magnificent new Music School, which she opened in March 1995. In May 2001, the central area of the MLC Music School was named the Jane Elton Brown Performance Staircase.
Jane is the on-going founder/conductor of the MLC Male Voice Choir and conductor/director of the MLC Old Collegians' Choir. The two Choirs have now been brought together under the name of The Star Chorale. Jane has conducted this ensemble in successful performances of Faure's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria, Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's Creation and Mendelssohn's Elijah. In 2001, Jane was appointed conductor of the Glen Eira City Choir, with whom she has also conducted successful performances of these works.
An experienced examiner in music, speaker/presenter at conferences and seminars, and adjudicator at eisteddfods, Jane is currently teaching at MacRobertson Girls' High School and is a member of the Board of the Faculty of Music at Melbourne University and the Committee of Convocation at Melbourne University.