One of Australia's leading conductors on pressure, purpose, and the music that shaped her. Jessica Gethin has led orchestras from Sydney to Singapore to Dallas — here she shares four pieces that marked her life and her leadership, in the final conversation of Season One.
A conductor holds a hundred musicians in the movement of her hands, in a performance that happens once and can never be taken back. In this episode, concert pianist Zen Zeng sits down with her friend and fellow WAAPA musician Jessica Gethin to trace a life in music: listening under pressure, leading through change, and staying steady when everyone is watching.
The four pieces Jessica chose:
- Max Bruch — Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 (I. Allegro moderato)
- Igor Stravinsky — Symphonies of Wind Instruments (discussed in the episode; hear the full recording: [link])
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Waltz of the Flowers, from The Nutcracker
- Giuseppe Verdi — La forza del destino
About Jessica Gethin
Principal Conductor of West Australian Ballet, Head of Orchestral Studies and Conducting at WAAPA, and founding Chief Conductor of the Perth Symphony Orchestra. A Churchill Fellow and a Fellow of the Dallas Opera's Hart Institute for Women Conductors, inducted into the 2024 Western Australian Women's Hall of Fame and named among the AFR's 100 Most Influential Women.
About the show
Crescendo Conversations is a series where leaders from high-stakes worlds share four pieces of music that shaped their lives, identities and careers — and how they navigate pressure, change, ethics and purpose. Hosted by concert pianist and author Zen Zeng. Where high achievement meets unfiltered humanity.
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Crescendo Circle: A curated community for specialists with a generalist soul. Depth, Joy and Purpose.
What is Crescendo Conversations?
Titles describe, music reveals.
Crescendo Conversations is an interview series hosted by concert pianist and space-curator Zen Zeng, in which senior leaders share four pieces of music that shaped their identity, career, and life. In choosing four pieces, guests reveal something no CV or keynote ever could: the fear behind a decision, the doubt before a breakthrough, the ordinary humanity inside an extraordinary life. Each conversation moves through four territories: origins, interior moments of change, core values, and present direction. What emerges is not a leadership masterclass. It is something rarer: honest, unhurried conversation that reduces the distance between people and inspires listeners to step forward in their own lives.
Season One features a former Chief Medical Officer, a Global Senior Partner at KPMG, a former Australian Ambassador, a former WHO Director, a leader of global energy sector, and an award-winning Australian conductor. For high-functioning professionals who value depth, joy, and purpose, and who have outgrown ordinary content.