Tony Fenelon receives prestigious award !!
Organist and pianist Tony Fenelon learned he had been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on arriving home from a working holiday in England.
“My wife, Noella came out to the airport and she had this funny look on her face,” he told the Journal last week.
“As we were going out to the car she said ‘sit down, I have something to show you,’ and gave me the unopened letter.
“But she knew what was in it.”
A move to Yarra Glen created postal delays, which prevented Mr. Fenelon learning of his nomination until last month – much later than the other nominees.
To be recognized with an OAM for services to the career he loves was “very overwhelming.”
“It was real honour,” the 2002 American Theatre Organ Society Organist of the Year said.
Mr. Fenelon was recognized for his services to music in Australia and overseas.
The former head of the biomedical engineering at Royal Melbourne Hospital retired in 1998 to concentrate on his music career.
He performs regularly for overseas audiences and has released 23 CD’s and records – with four going “Gold.”
One performance was recorded on the Regent Theatre Wurlitzer organ.
Mr. Fenelon, 62, was the Melbourne Hoyts Regent Theatre resident organist from 1964-1969.
He is a soloist with the Australian Pops Orchestra and will perform concerts at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Concert Hall and Adeaide Festival Centre in November.
“You are treading in the path of some of the world’s great musicians … it’s a wonderful feeling that you are given to take part in things like that.”
The talented artist’s achievements in the biomedical engineering field are as impressive as his musical accolades.
He played a pivotal role at the Royal Melbourne Hospital as department head and later as medical electronics engineer.
He was a co-designer of the first Australian designed implantable cardiac pacemaker in the 1960’s and has designed medical instruments for research work in cardiology and neurology.
Tony Fenelon nearly missed out on being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia because of a delay in the mail.
The letter asking him if he’d accept the honour needed to be mailed back by 2 May, but it only arrived on 1 May after being forwarded from his previous property.
“It got there by the skin of its teeth, otherwise I may not have even gotten the award” said the likeable and talkative musician.
Tony was given an OEM “for services to music, particularly as an organist and pianist in Australia and overseas.”
Tony said he had a premonition that he was going to receive the award while dining in Seattle on 1 June.
"I pulled open a fortune cookie which said ‘you will be honoured,' ” he laughed.
His wife, Noella, broke the good news to Tony at the airport last Monday.
“I was absolutely astounded,” he said.
Trained as a classical pianist, Mr. Fenelon has played all around the world as a soloist and with the Australian Pops Orchestra.
While working as a bio-medical electronics engineer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in the 1960’s, Mr. Fenelon was invited to play the theatre organ at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre.
He performed there for five years, playing entry and interval music at events such as the premiere of the James Bond movie Goldfinger.
He gave up his career as a bio-medical engineer five years ago to concentrate on playing full time and now tours the world.
He is a concert artist for the keyboard and electronics manufacturer Roland®, for whom he plays up to 55 concerts per year. Tony’s Australian fans nominated him for the OAM.
“There’s a group of people who’ve been following my career ever since I played at the Regent,” he explained.
While Tony was given the OAM for his services to music, his former career was every bit as deserving. Tony co-designed and built Australia’s first pacemaker during the mid-1960’s.
He later contributed to the mapping of the electrical pathways of the human heart, which has added doctors to diagnose cardiac arrhythmia.
Acclaimed pianist and organist and Medal of the Order of Australia recipient Tony Fenelon credits his father for much of his success.
Mr. Fenelon was named in the Queen’s Birthday honours for his service to music in Australia and overseas.
A retired biomedical engineer, Mr. Fenelon believes he inherited his inquiring mind and passion for life from his father.
“He always had lots of interests, was technically minded and had a great ear,” he said.
That could be said of the dynamic Mr. Fenelon. When Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader spoke to Mr. Fenelon, he had just arrived home from a tour of the United Kingdom performing pipe organ concerts, his fourth trip overseas this year.
He said he was “totally blown away” just to be considered for the honours list, and was even more surprised when his wife Noella handed over the unopened official envelope at the airport on his arrival in Melbourne.
“When I saw the letter I knew what it was and I was just so thrilled and honoured that the people would consider me worthy of it when I can think of hundreds more deserving,” he said.
Mr. Fenelon began formal piano training at age seven, but had to be bribed with visits to the Saturday morning cinema to practise.
His love of performing provided the incentive to continue, and he began wining competitions.
“A turning point for me was when I played with the Victorian junior Symphony Orchestra on stage at the Melbourne Town Hall playing the first movement in a piano concerto,” he said.
His love for the organ was instantaneous after hearing an old three keyboard Wurlitzer theatre organ.
A highlight of his career was playing at the re-opening of the Regent Theater in 1997.
“I’d gone to the Regent as a boy and seeing this majestic organ rise from the floor had really impressed me, but I’d never dreamt I’d be back playing on it to a packed house.”
Mr. Fenelon’s accomplishments include being named Organist of the Year 2002 by the American Theatre Organ Society and performing as a soloist with the Australian pops Orchestra.
Mr. Fenelon is also the co-designer of the first Australian-designed implanatble cardiac pacemaker and designed several medical instruments used in the filed of cardiology and neurology.