Theodore Kuchar blasts the missed opportunity for a new concert hall

Fresh back from performing in Kyiv where he dodged missiles, renowned international conductor and Townsville favourite Theodore Kuchar has shared his feelings on the future of arts in the city.

Just two weeks ago renowned international conductor and Townsville favourite Theodore Kuchar was sitting in his tuxedo in a hotel room in Kyiv when he was caught in the most intense missile bombardment of Ukraine capital since the war began.

Kuchar was about to get changed when he received an urgent call from his wife.

“My wife calls from Lviv, which is the big city on the western (Ukrainian) border. ‘Go into the bathroom, if you have time, go to the basement’”, his wife told him the conductor said.

“She said they’re going to start shooting (missiles) any minute now.

“When I came to Townsville in 1991 the word internet didn’t yet exist in the vocabulary and the fax machine was the greatest form of communication.

“Now we live in a society where a large percentage of the (Ukrainian) public on their telephones have apps which can show where the rockets are going to be shot from, in which direction they’re going.

“My wife, who will be here in July, she’s looking on the app. She says they’re going to start shooting within the next 30 seconds, and it looks like it’s going to be the Shahed rockets.

“In less than 30 seconds from when she called me, I’m sitting on the bed. I had two glasses of wine, so I was not in any hurry to do anything. I was very comfortable, and out of nowhere, boom, boom, boom, and I feel the building is shaking. What the hell is going on?

“That was the beginning of what was the worst bombardment of Kyiv in these three years.”

He had earlier just finished conducting a performance of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in the city’s acclaimed National Philharmonic of Ukraine concert hall.

Kuchar is now in Townsville as the artistic director of the Great Barrier Reef Orchestra rehearsing to conduct the upcoming Shooting for the Stars concert this Saturday (June 14).

But when he first landed back in Townsville a week ago he was bombarded with calls about the Townsville City Council decision to relocate funds earmarked for a Townsville concert hall.

A woman sits next to a damaged residential building following a drone attack in Odessa on June 10, 2025, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Russia carried out "massive" drone attacks on Ukraine's capital Kyiv and port city of Odessa early on June 10, killing one person and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said, calling for further sanctions. (Photo by Oleksandr GIMANOV / AFP)

Mr Kuchar condemned the decision by the Townsville City Council to reallocate Federal funding from a planned concert hall to revamping the city’s aquarium.

He said the decision was a lost opportunity for major ongoing economic boost for the region and could have given the city greater prestige.

In August last year the council voted to relocate $100 million in Federal funding set aside for a new concert hall for the Reef HQ aquarium rebuilt.

The conductor is no stranger to the region and is regarded as an adopted son and was instrumental, along with then JCU vice chancellor Professor Ray Golding, in founding the internationally recognised Australian Festival of Chamber Music 33 years ago and was its inaugural artistic director for 17 years.

Kuchar said the decision was shortsighted and the end of a dream which began with the creation of the AFCM in 1991 to make Townsville an arts powerhouse in Australia.

“I think it’s important to realise that when the Australian Festival of Chamber movement was conceived in 1991 it was seen as a catalyst which was meant to initiate the change of image, cultivate economic interest in Townsville and subsequently in the region of North Queensland,” he said.

“The festival at that time (in its initial years), was putting the word Townsville in the national eye like nothing else had and has been doing for 30 plus years now.

“It would also ideally serve as a catalyst. It would plant a seed for local education, pre tertiary education, to take a much greater, not only interest but enthusiasm, in the role of serious fine music.

“One of the benefits of that was the establishment and then existence of the Great Barrier Reef Orchestra, and the orchestra now has existed for over 20 years.

Mr Kuchar said the concept of a new concert hall for the city had taken years to develop to a point where the Federal Government made a very substantial commitment to what was to be developed.

“Anybody who looks at the establishment of a concert hall as a garage for the local musical life of chamber music festivals and orchestras, that’s a very narrow minded and very condescending,” he said

Great Barrier Reef Orchestra artistic director and internationally acclaimed conductor Theodore Kuchar on the Strand. Picture: Evan Morgan

“You can look at examples in Europe, in the States, where it’s parallel to professional sports.

“Townsville knows it very, very well as soon as the new stadium came up, my goodness, what did that do?

“Not only for local attendance, but for travellers coming in and spending their money.

“A new stadium to a sports franchise is almost synonymous with a new performing arts complex or concert hall to the local cultural life of the region.

“My question is or what was their (politicians) motivation in contemplating something (a decision) like that.

“I don’t expect local politicians to be jumping to every concert of the local orchestra, a visiting string quartet, the Chamber Music Festival.

“That’s not the point. If local politicians have been elected to solidify and develop the community which they represent to enhance the life of the electorate, the people who voted to put them in there, then their job is to preserve and create institutions or facilities which will enhance the development of the community.

He said it was very narrow minded to think that because the festival only took place for two weeks a year and The Great Barrier Reef orchestra had three concerts a year that it would just sit there.

“It would be the most prestigious aspect for every school drama company,” he said.

“It would be the greatest prestige for amateur companies to be able to say that they did this production, they played that concert in the new in the new concert hall.

“It’s a fact that you can’t argue with, even if you have a C level orchestra, even if you have a football franchise with decades of losing records behind them, that new complex overshadows the existence of what’s on stage or what’s on the field at that very moment.

“It would single-handedly, be the biggest catalyst in investment in Townsville, whether it’s people moving here, whether it’s companies relocating here, They want to be able to offer the same aspects of a community that they take for granted in larger, more established places down south.

Renowned international conductor Theodore Kuchar with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine with whom he recently conducted a sold out performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. Picture: Supplied.

He said he had seen what new facilities had done for place in Europe.

“For example, in the Czech Republic, where I was the principal conductor for nine seasons, they built a new concert and I mean, you can’t buy a ticket for the entire season, just because people want to be a part of that new facility. That means money,” he said.

“I spoke about local organisations, schools, amateur organisations, that place would be booked out.

“That’s just a fact of life, a new complex, and its prestige does that. But what brings even more money into the community? Travelling shows, pop stars, travelling theatre productions, which, you know, sell out, not for one night stands. They sell out for weeks at a time.

“It’s the image of the city. Most importantly, it’s the image which can be based on financial success.

“It can be based on prestige of what takes place. Here, it’s a combination and I go back to the word evolution, chamber music festival, Great Barrier Reef orchestra and performing complex.

“I tell you, may the people who voted down the concept of the complex – may they rot in hell. Seriously.

“In these first few days, I get to Townsville and everybody starts calling me left and right. Did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear? And I was shocked.”

Originally published as Theodore Kuchar blasts the missed opportunity for a new concert hall