Revered Musician Dies One Week After 95th Birthday: RIP to Donald Hazelwood

Revered Australian classical musician Donald Hazelwood has died. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where Hazelwood rose from the ranks of violinist to concertmaster, announced Monday that the musician passed away on March 8, just days after his 95th birthday.

“All of us at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra are enormously saddened by the death of our former Concertmaster, Donald Leslie Grant Hazelwood AO OBE, on Saturday 8 March 2025,” the statement began. Hazelwood’s cause of death was not disclosed.

Hazelwood is remembered for “an extraordinary career that assures his place among Australia’s best-known and most respected musicians.” Born on March 1, 1930 and named after cricket great Donald Bradman, Hazelwood showed an interest for music at a young age, and picked up his first violin when he was just four. He practiced daily, and his talents were quickly recognized, the young musician winning regional eisteddfods and performing in ensembles in Albury.

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Hazelwood is best remembered for his time with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He joined as a second violinist in 1952, and was appointed co-concertmaster alongside Robert Miller in 1965. Following Miller’s retirement in 1967, Hazelwood toke on the role solely, staying in the position for until his own retirement two decades later in 1997.

“Don Hazelwood is an icon of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and his retirement will mark the end of an era,” then-Chief Conductor, Edo de Waart, wrote of Hazelwood at the time. “He is a first-class musician who is highly respected by all his colleagues and the conductors who have had the privilege of working with him.”

Outside of his work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hazelwood was also a soloist who performed and chamber musician who performed in The Austral Quartet, Australian Trio, and Hazelwood Trio. He served as the President of the Sydney Symphony Benevolent Fund, a retirement fund and financial assistance program for musicians, for 23 years. In 1976, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1988 and awarded the 1997 Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award for outstanding contribution to music in Australia.

He was previously married to Sydney Symphony Orchestra clarinetist Anne Menzies, who died in 1998. Their daughter Jane was a violist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1995 until 2024. Together with Menzies, Hazelwood served as at National Music Camps around Australia.

Hazelwood is survived by his wife, Helen, whom he married in 2000; children, Jane and Roy; and his grandchildren.