Headshot for Ian McLean AM CSC

Ian McLean AM CSC

Ian McLean served as a professional musician with the Australian Army for 44 years.   His career included postings throughout Australia and the UK and was highlighted by his 8 years as Officer Commanding / Music Director of the Band of the Royal Military College, then appointment as the overall Director of Music for the Australian Army. He was CEO, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, during a break in military service between 2001 and 2007.  

During his 34 years in Canberra he has conducted some 40 productions for many musical theatre companies including four seasons of Les Miserables for the Canberra Philharmonic Society and premiere productions of Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Wicked, Shrek and The Little Mermaid for Free Rain.   He is the long term conductor/ musical director of the Blamey Street Big Band, played drums with the Leisa Keen jazz trio and ‘Swing in Style’ for many years and is a judge for both the Combined Area Theatre (CAT) Awards and the Ovations Theatre Awards.

For “Outstanding Service to the Band of the Royal Military College” Ian was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC) in the 1996 Australia Day Honours List. In 2003 he received the Centenary of Federation medal for his “outstanding contribution to musical life in Canberra” and in 2004, 2006 and 2007 won Canberra Critics Circle Awards for Music.

He is the founder and conductor of the Canberra Pops Orchestra, is a music/musical theatre reviewer with ‘City News’, worked professionally as an ABC radio presenter after presenting the Thursday morning “Sounds Early” radio program on Artsound FM for 15 years, runs his own music/entertainment agency and is Patron of both the Australian Rugby Choir and the ACT Youth Orchestra.   

Ian retired from the Australian Army in 2019 and immediately joined Canberra Legacy where he currently chairs the Welfare Committee. During the past 13 years he has travelled to Switzerland each July where he is the Artistic Advisor to the famed Basel Tattoo, the European counterpart of Scotland’s Edinburgh Tattoo.

In the 2009 Australia Day Honours List he was awarded an AM in the General Division for his services to music and the community. 

Productions