SHORT BIOGRAPHY 

Vov Dylan is recognised for a career that bridges classical performance, large-scale crossover productions and the championing of contemporary Australian music. A third-generation musician, he has performed in major venues including the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre, where he has presented both core repertoire and newly commissioned works.

His recordings span more than fifteen albums across classical and crossover genres, with multiple ARIA Classical and Crossover No.1 releases. Kismet: Vignettes for Violin and Piano and La Vida Apasionada both debuted at No.1, reflecting a sustained commitment to bringing contemporary Australian composition to national and international audiences.

Alongside his performing career, he has maintained an active teaching studio since 1999, guiding students from beginner to diploma level and contributing to curriculum development through initiatives such as Australia’s Musical Canvas. Across performance and education, his work is driven by a belief that the violin remains one of the most versatile and communicative instruments on the concert stage.

DETAILED BIOGRAPHY

Vov Dylan holds a BA (Hons) in Performance Studies from the University of Sydney and an A.Mus.A, and has lived with the violin for as long as he can remember. A third-generation musician, he grew up in a household where music was part of daily language rather than a scheduled activity. His grandfather, Fred Elsley, was performing live on ABC radio when Prime Minister Robert Menzies interrupted the broadcast to declare Australia’s entry into the Second World War. His father, Evan Elsley, became his principal teacher, giving near-daily lessons before and after school. The instrument was absorbed as naturally as speech. For many years he performed alongside his father in ensemble settings, and Evan Elsley remains a frequent and valued collaborator on recording projects.

By the age of six he was being paid to perform, and there has been little pause since. His performances have reached audiences across Australia, Asia and the Pacific over more than two decades. A sold-out presentation of the Franck Violin Sonata at the Sydney Opera House with pianist Panos Karan stands among significant classical milestones. At the same venue, the launch of Kismet: Vignettes for Violin and Piano introduced music by Elena Kats-Chernin to a full audience; the recording reached No.1 on the ARIA Classical chart within days and remained there for two years, returning regularly to the Top 20. Margaret Brandman’s La Vida Apasionada followed the same path. In 2022 and 2023 he was the highest-selling Australian violinist, achieved independently rather than through major-label backing. To date he has premiered more than fifty new works and released sixteen albums. He was nominated for Instrumental Entertainer of the Year at the ACE Awards for five consecutive years. His recordings receive regular national broadcast across ABC Classic and the Fine Music network, as well as international radio exposure.

Alongside recital work sit touring productions such as Sentimental Journey and Beyond the Danube. These programmes are shaped as journeys rather than set lists, where story and music move naturally together. Long-standing collaboration with Glenn Amer and artistic influence from Enzo Toppano refined an approach that values timing, flow and connection with the audience as much as technical command. International engagements have included cultural exchange performances in Chengdu, China, to audiences of more than 10,000 three times daily, headline performances before 15,000 people in Taiwan, and contracts since 2007 with major cruise lines across the Pacific, Asia and Europe. Radio appearances have extended to the United States, Japan, Taiwan, England and Poland.

A major strand of recent work has centred on the commissioning, performance and recording of contemporary Australian composition. Through sustained collaboration with composers including Elena Kats-Chernin, Margaret Brandman, Ann Carr-Boyd and Stuart Greenbaum, more than fifty works have been written for and premiered by him. What began as an effort to provide strong recordings so students could hear the music they were studying developed into Australia’s Musical Canvas, a structured commissioning and performance platform. Thirty works have been premiered in full-length programmes at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre, with further works continuing to be released through the ongoing project Elevation.

Repertoire from the initiative, including Margaret Brandman’s Jucaro Rumba D’Amor, has entered regular international performance. Works within the project are listed by the Australian Music Centre as recommended repertoire for senior secondary study in New South Wales and Victoria. The intention has been clear: Australian composition deserves to stand in recital programmes on its own terms.

Charitable projects form a natural and ongoing part of his work. Through collaboration with Keys of Change, including work in Accra, Ghana supported by the Australian High Commission, he has contributed to youth orchestral development and educational outreach. The album World Lullabies directed five dollars from each sale to the Starlight Foundation, linking recording projects directly with practical support for young people and families.

Teaching has remained part of daily professional life since 1999. The studio works with students from beginner through to diploma level, and since 2005 he has directed string programmes within NSW schools. Students have achieved competition success and diploma qualifications, while advanced pupils are mentored towards professional readiness and, in some cases, teaching careers of their own. He has presented at conferences including the AUSTA Golden Jubilee Conference and has contributed published interpretative notes and professional articles. His philosophy is simple: the violin can feel difficult, but it is rarely as mysterious as it first appears.

Across recital, touring, commissioning and teaching, the focus remains the same. The violin is not something to be preserved behind glass; it is something to be played, tested and reimagined. Whether performing the Franck Sonata, premiering a new Australian work, or guiding a student through their first recital, the intention is consistent — to keep the instrument alive and relevant.

He still wakes each day curious about what the violin can do next. That curiosity, more than any milestone, continues to shape the work.

The longer story that no one knew they wanted to know!

Nice Chap. Doesn’t Screech. Book Again.

I come from a musical family.

My grandfather, Fred Elsley, was a pianist. My grandmother was a pianist. My uncle was a pianist. My aunt was a singer in musical theatre. and most significantly, my father, Evan Elsley, is a violinist.

Music was there in my life from day dot.

My grandfather was playing live-to-air on ABC radio when Prime Minister Menzies interrupted the broadcast to declare the outbreak of World War II. After the war he became Head of Music at Scots College in Sydney.

My father went on to become Director of Strings at numerous private schools throughout Sydney, leading orchestras and introducing Australian works in his own right and forming his own performance company that saw him perform for heads of state, royalty, movie stars and more functions and weddings than most could dream to imagine!

That is the family I grew up in.

Before I have my own clear memories, there was a newspaper article. Me at 21 months old playing the violin with my Grandfather. I still have that handmade violin hanging on my wall.

He would play a note. I would play a note. Then I would play a note and he would accompany me. It was call and response. It was learning music like a language.

One of my first clear memories of my own is from when I was six, on a family holiday at Terrigal Beach. I woke up before Mum and Dad and was sitting in the hotel room with my music. I was still working out how to read properly. I remember looking at the page and then suddenly it made sense. The dots were no longer just dots. I could see what they were. I picked up the violin and was able to start to play without writing anything in.

The violin was never separate from daily life. Dad gave me lessons before and after school. Grandma would sit at the piano and work through scales with me. 

At my primary school there was no string ensemble. So in Year 5 I went to the headmaster and said the school needed an orchestra. He said there was no one to run one, so I said "I can do it". I held auditions, formed an ensemble. It grew and eventually started to perform. It is a matter of some pride for me that the orchestra I started 30 odd years ago, continued after I left and is now one of the biggest string and band programs for primary schools win the area.

Unfortunately, this also brought attention through bullying. I was advised by the school councillor to change schools and not tell anyone I played the violin...... can you imagine that happening today.....?

Ultimately I did change schools for the last part of of Primary school, and I kept playing the Violiin to myself for about 2 weeks. Then the school needed help with a fundraiser for the local senior citizen centre. They asked if anyone could perform. I put my hand up. “I play the violin.”

I never shied away from the Violin as part of my identity ever again.

I was fortunate to receive a music scholarship to Newington College. Here I was exposed to a wealth of experience including chamber ensembles, chamber orchestras and symphony orchestras. In Year 12 I I also had the opportunity to conduct the symphony orchestra with the Largo from Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony. 

Ljubo Oblikov was a exceptional mentor at the school. He took me under his wing and formed a piano trio with me. He spoke about nuance, about phrasing, about the singing line inside instrumental playing. That shifted my thinking from soloist to collaborator.

At Sydney University, studying for my Bachelor of Arts, Dad asked me what kind of musician I wanted to be. I said I liked the idea of being a working musician.

His advice was simple: learn three hours of music in every genre. Learn it from memory. Learn it in every key. Learn the lyrics. If someone says a line of text, you should know the tune immediately and be able to match their pitch.

So I memorised constantly. Jazz. Continental repertoire. Standards. Classical. Sometimes from sheet music, sometimes by ear. That skill is one I still practice, and is one that has afforded me the ability to have the career I have had....... ultimately.....If you know the tune, you can work.

In 2004, St Ives Shopping Village gave me my first major job running a full show. That happened because of Toni (who would later become may wife). She heard what the venue was looking for and put my name forward.

It was a Viennese high tea. I wrote every arrangement by hand for a quintet and ballroom dancers. It worked. Within weeks the "Vov Dylan Viennese Orchestra" was born. Over time it eventually became the Palace Orchestra.

As the years went on, the sound of this orchestra settled into what I had been hearing in my head — a modern version of the sweet music orchestras of the 1930s and 40s. String-led. A gentle rhythm section behind. Popular melodies from across genres.

It is not a sound many pursue today. Because of that, I think when we tour or record, the Palace Orchestra has a sound that is distinctly our own.

Glenn Amer has been central to that story. He and I share a similar depth of knowledge across genres. Nearly every recording we have done has started with, “Right. Fifteen tracks of Gershwin. Which ones?” And we just play them.

On stage we mix traditional vaudeville humour with proper musicianship. We don’t take ourselves seriously, but we take the music seriously. We string melodies together. We shift keys. We take requests. It works because the shared knowledge and passion is there.

In 2009, Ambition came on board as distributor. It is a label focused on contemporary adult-driven content, and there is no other label like it in Australia. Being on that label was a turning point for my recording career. Since then we have released sixteen albums.

One highlight of this was that when our daughter Avalon was born, I released World Lullabies. Five dollars from every copy went to the Starlight Foundation. 

The “world’s fastest violinist” chapter began at Top Ryde Shopping Centre.

I was playing background music for another record attempt — the world’s widest cake. The Australian Book of Records were there. In conversation I asked what it took to attempt Flight of the Bumblebee. They said if you play it fast and correctly, you get it.

They asked if I wanted to try.

I did.

I missed the world record by a couple of seconds. That made me Australia’s fastest violinist.

I went back properly prepared and achieved the world record.

It became a publicity hook. It led to my appearance on Studio 10. During that broadcast, while I was playing, Jono Coleman ran out in a bumblebee suit and circled me. In the spirit of live television, I chased him while still playing. It was clearly humour. It was meant to be fun.

The appearance led to theatre bookings and significant work for the musicians I was employing.

Years later, that moment was reframed online in a way that removed the humour entirely.

When it was released, my social media flooded. There were threats. There were death threats. There were threats toward my daughter.

We installed security. Cameras. Extra lighting. I went to the police. There was nothing that could be done.

I considered retiring the name Vov Dylan and starting again under Wodzislaw Elsley, focusing purely on teaching.

It led to a period of what can be retrospectively diagnosed with "black dog". The darker parts of that period are stories for friends over a drink or two.

What matters is that I came through it - and I came through due to great friends trusting me to be a Violinist. 

Panos Karan invited me to perform Franck’s Violin Sonata with him at the Sydney Opera House. Walking onto that stage I was carrying all of it. The fear that something would follow me, or that I would justify the hate that had been sent to me, Instead - nothing of the sort happened, We performed to a standing ovation and a full house, then when I walked off stage I collapsed from the weight of it all.

That concert started a shift. A shift in attitude, repertoire and types of performances.

Around the same time, John Martin and I began looking closely at contemporary Australian repertoire. It started with trying to find material for my students to perform for their core HSC components. There was plenty written, but not many recordings and not much reference material.

So we started with the view to record some great material. But then something bigger happened.

Ann Carr-Boyd dedicated Lullaby to us. Then Elena Kats-Chernin offered Kismet. She played the theme to me over the phone. I got goosebumps.

What began as a student resource grew into Australia’s Musical Canvas. More than fifty works curated. More than fifty premieres to date. Albums including Kismet and La Vida Apasionada reached No. 1 on the ARIA Classical charts. In 2022 and 2023 I was the highest-selling Australian violinist. I have been nominated five consecutive years at the ACE Awards for Instrumental Entertainer of the Year.

The music is now recommended through the Australian Music Centre for HSC usage in New South Wales and Victoria.

Through Keys of Change I worked in Fukushima, Chennai and Accra. In Ghana we helped establish the first Youth Sinfonietta made up of students predominantly from the foster system. This program not only established an orchestra which is still operating today, but one of the students I have taught online and mentored through all the stages has now completed his Bachelor of Music in performance from the University of Ghana. This one young man and the impact of music is huge. It helped to shift my focus from what is the big concert hall or the applause to the moments that can make a difference in someones life.

Moments and experiences and interactions that matter.

I have worked in dementia wards where the right piece of music has brought someone briefly back into focus. I once played The Way You Look Tonight for a woman who had not spoken coherently for some time. Her daughter was beside her. The song had been played at her wedding decades earlier. As I played, her eyes focused. She recognised her daughter. They spoke. Then she drifted again.

Music can do that.

Those moments carry as much emotional weight as a No. 1 album or a standing ovation.

It is important for me to note that none of this has been done alone.

Glenn Amer has been a constant. John Martin has shaped the Australian repertoire work. Clemens Leske, Enzo Toppano, and all the musicians who have formed the Palace Orchestra over more than twenty years have shaped the sound audiences now recognise.

There are also the countless musicians I have stood beside on ships and in theatres around the world. I would not have the career or reputation I have now if I had not stood shoulder to shoulder with extraordinary musicians globally.

The violin may be a solo instrument. A career never is.

I still practise daily.

Scales. Bach. Etudes. Memorising repertoire. Looking for something new.

If everything stopped tomorrow, I would be at peace with what has been recorded and built.

But it is not stopping.

Elevation will complete the next stage of Australia’s Musical Canvas. There is more to record. More to tour. More to build.

I wake up thinking: what can this instrument do today that it didn’t do yesterday?

I occasionally get asked - what do I see my legacy as being....... and I keep coming to a review given by a cruise director  “Nice chap. Doesn’t screech. Book again.” ...... if at the end of the day, that is what people think of me...... then I can very happily live with that.