Paul Blackman grew up in Sydney and started taking music lessons while in primary school. He was accepted into the Sydney Conservatorium High School where for six years he benefited from rubbing shoulders with current and future members of the orchestral music scene in Australia.
After a period in the ABC Training Orchestra, he was appointed Sub Principal Contrabassoon with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and took leave for advanced study in Germany and England. In 1978, he joined the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as Principal Bassoon, before becoming the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's Principal Contrabassoon in 1981.
For most of his time as a player with the ASO, he was at first a player's representative on the Players' Committee and later became the union representative. After many years on the SOMA National Executive Committee, he became National President the year before his resignation as a player in 2008.
His last six years' service at the ASO was in the role of Human Resources Manager, in which his duties included that of orchestral archivist. During that time he created the ASO Heritage website.
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'This is a profoundly researched history not just of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, but also of music in South Australia since the very beginnings of settlement. Fascinating.' - Nicholas Braithwaite, conductor
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'The ASO achieved worldwide recognition when Adelaide's two Wagner Ring Cycles, in 1998 and 2004, brought international praise to the Orchestra. It had been a long journey, meticulously and comprehensively chronicled here by a veteran player, union representative and member of management. From the ASO's many predecessors - some a mere handful of musicians - through its ownership by the ABC, to independence and the trials and tribulations that freedom brought along with its many benefits, the story is told with an attractive mixture of historical fact and anecdote. An easy and informative read.' - Anthony Steele, AO