Caroline Sharpen
Chief Executive Officer
‘To work so closely with professional musicians performing at the highest level is an honour, and my job is to make the environment around them as conducive, harmonious, and inspiring as possible.’
About Caroline
Caroline Sharpen has worked as a senior executive in Australian and US cultural organisations for twenty-eight years. In 2024, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for leadership in the arts.
Caroline has been Chief Executive Officer of the TSO since 2019 and is also the Chair of Symphony Services Australia. Previously, she served as Director of the Australian National Academy of Music, Creative Partnerships Australia, Gondwana Choirs, and the Tasmanian Youth Orchestra. She has held executive roles at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Musica Viva Australia.
In 2004-2005, Caroline was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC and she holds a Master of Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. Earlier in her career, she achieved her Bachelor of Music (Honours I) and Graduate Diploma of Music at the University of Tasmania.
Did you know?
Caroline became TSO CEO in 2019, and almost immediately faced the onset of the Covid pandemic.
During this time, the orchestra found new ways of connecting with audiences. It launched the TSO Daily Dose series of videos, which were made in-house by the TSO team and achieved hundreds of thousands of views.
Fellow Leaders
Richard England
Chair
Allison Bradley
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Deputy Chair
Matthew Dewey
Board Member
Matthew Goddard
Board Member
Rikki Mawad
Board Member
Martin Gorm Pedersen
Board Member
Nick McShane
Board Member