Kellie Dickerson was a driving force behind the establishment and development of the Rob Guest Endowment and remained a committed member of the endowment committee until her passing on 9 January 2024. Kellie will be remembered for her shining leadership in the musical theatre industry and for her unrelenting pursuit of excellence.
Kellie trained at Sydney University with a Bachelor of Music (Honours), Piano Performance and was part of the Symphony Australia Young Conductor’s Programme.
Kellie began her career playing on The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Turandot, Beauty and the Beast, The Three Divas and The Mikado. She was Keyboard and Associate Musical Director for Showboat, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, The Witches of Eastwick, The Producers and My Fair Lady.
Kellie was also Musical Director/Conductor on many productions including, Die Fledermaus, Wicked, Dr. Zhivago, Legally Blonde, Grey Gardens, Show Boat, Fiddler on the Roof, Once and The Book of Mormon. She conducted the Sydney and West Australian Symphony Orchestras in concert and recorded with the Opera Australia Orchestra and the ABC amongst others.
She was musical supervisor for Wicked and Once (both Australasian tour and Korean productions) and Dr. Zhivago (Korean production). Kellie sat on industry panels for the Helpmann Awards, the Australia Council, New Musicals Australia and consulted for the AMEB musical theatre syllabus. Kellie was awarded an OAM in the 2022 Australia Day honours for service to the performing arts industry.
Kellie was honoured with numerous industry awards: The Donald Peart Memorial Award for Music, Brian Stacey Memorial Trust Scholarship for Young Conductors, a Churchill Fellowship and three Green Room Awards for Musical Direction of Wicked, Once and City of Angels.
The Rob Guest Endowment is indebted to Kellie for her strong guidance and commitment to its development and sends its sincere condolences to her family, partner and friends. She will be dearly missed.
The Rob Guest Endowment is committed to honouring Kellie’s vision with a re-imagining of the Rob Guest Endowment this year – a new direction that promotes, encourages and celebrates excellence for the emerging performers of the future, focusing on inclusion and diversity that represent the beautiful myriad of people, cultures and faces of our industry.