ABC Sinfonia

{{Short description|Defunct Australian training orchestra}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

The ABC Sinfonia was an Australian training orchestra established as the National Training Orchestra by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) in 1967. In 1980, the Orchestra was renamed ABC Sinfonia.{{cite book |last1=Murdoch |first1=James |title=A Handbook of Australian Music |year=1983 |publisher=Sun Books |isbn=0-7251-0419-8}} Based in Sydney, the 40-piece orchestra was entered by scholarship, and was intended to train music postgraduates to join the state symphony orchestras.{{cite book |title=Australia handbook |year=1986 |publisher=Australian News and Information Bureau}}

At 30 June 1984, the Sinfonia had 42 full-time scholarship holders, eight of whom were on bursaries from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and by 1986, 230 players had been members of the orchestra.{{cite book |title=New South Wales Year Book |year=1986 |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}

The Sinfonia was disbanded in 1986, after a structural and budgetary review of the ABC resulted in the divestment of its orchestra holdings.{{cite news |title=Proud history lives on |author=Buzacott, Martin |url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/music/proud-history-lives-on/story-e6freqgx-1111113203959 |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |date=23 March 2007 |access-date=5 April 2011}}