During 1999 it provided the orchestras for the Australian Tour of the English National Ballet's arena production of Swan Lake and in 1996 organised the Perth Orchestra for the arena production of Aida in that city. It was in 1994 that the Orchestra was engaged by the Freemasons Hospital in Melbourne to present in both Melbourne and Sydney as a fund-raiser for their Cancer Clinic.

In 1991 the Orchestra toured with Rudolf Nureyev on his last Australian Tour and in 1989 the Orchestra was engaged to perform at the Centenary of Freemasonry in Victoria Concert. During 1987 the Orchestra was involved in the three-month tour of the Bolshoi Ballet in Australia and New Zealand and accompanied them again in 1992.

In 1980 the Orchestra presented its first 'An Evening in Vienna' series at the Hobart Wrest Point Casino and in the following year commenced its programmes which eventually took the Orchestra all over Australia and to two seasons at the Jakarta Hilton.

These tours covered over 150 different country centres throughout Australia, averaged thirty performances a year over a six-year period and reached an audience in excess of 160,000.  All tours were generally sponsored by Rotary and/or Apex Clubs.

included 'An Evening in Vienna', 'The Best of Broadway', 'The Great Light Classics', 'An Evening of Comedy with Gilbert & Sullivan', and Handel's oratorio 'The Messiah'.  During this period, the Orchestra accompanied the initial 'Carols in the Domain' (Sydney), accompanied Abel Gance's 1927 silent movie classic Napoleon in both Melbourne and Sydney, and for three consecutive years was engaged by the Regent Hotels (Melbourne & Sydney) to perform a traditional Viennese New Year's Eve Ball.

In 1975, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra formed the nucleus for the inaugural concert season of the Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, at 'Summer In The City' concerts in January/February of that year (Concertmaster Ladislav Jasek) and during March that year performed for Rick Wakeman's Australian tour of Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

Since then it has most of the international ballet and opera companies which have toured Australia and New Zealand, including the Stuttgart Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet (three seasons), the Perm Ballet, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the London Festival Ballet (two seasons), the Stars of World Ballet (two seasons), the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the Berlin Komischen Oper Ballet.

From 1977 till 1979 the Orchestra presented a series of Johann Strauss concerts for the Melbourne Moomba Festival in both Melbourne and Sydney (the Melbourne Town Hall and Sydney Town Hall).

The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra presented its inaugural concert season on 5th September 1973 in St Hilda's College, University of Melbourne, conducted by its founder Paul Coppens.  Over the next two years it presented a series of concerts each year as well as accompany a number of choral, opera and ballet companies.

In 1975, during an interstate ballet tour with Ballet Victoria featuring Barishnikov & Makarova, it presented its first interstate concert tour, with concerts in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.  It featured soloists Jiri Tancibudek (Oboe), Anne Care (Bassoon), Concertmaster Ladislav Jasek and cellist John Kennedy in Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante in Bb.  During the next decade, although it presented a number of concerts under its own name, its activities became more and more part of the Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, until 1989, when Rantos Collegium Inc. was given the rights to trade as the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.

Under the direction of Spiros Rantos, the orchestra rapidly gained a high reputation for its concert seasons in Melbourne as well as in country Victoria.  It regularly accompanied the Victoria State Opera seasons in country areas and was frequently featured at the Melbourne International Festival as well as festivals in Italy, Greece, Korea and Japan.

• Ballet Victoria
• Berlin Komisches Oper Ballet
• Bolshoi Ballet (three seasons) *
• English National Ballet *
• Harlem Dance Theatre *
• London Festival Ballet (two seasons) *
• London\'s Royal Ballet *
• Maya Pliyetskaya & Stars of the Russian Ballet *
• Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet *
• Stars Of The Bolshoi Ballet
• Stars Of World Ballet (two seasons) *
• Stuttgart Ballet Company *
• Tchaikovsky Ballet from Perm *
  * Edgley International presentations

• AIDA Arena Production (Singapore, Perth, Auckland & Brisbane) *
• D'Oyly Carte Opera Company *
• International Stage Productions' Season of 'Cox & Box/HMS Pinafore'
• National Opera Theatre
• Royal Shakespeare Company *
• Susan Steele's production of 'Say It With Music'
• Victoria State Opera
  * Edgley International presentations

• Melbourne Chorale
• Tudor Choristers
• Melbourne University Choral Society
• Monash University Choral Society

• Australian Night At The Proms 2001(Sydney Super Dome)
• ANZAC Military Tattoo 1999 and 2006
• Abel Gance's 1927 Classic 'Napoleon'
• Carols In The Domain (Sydney)
• Centenary of Freemasonry in Victoria
• Laser Fantasia
• Melbourne Moomba Festival
• Rialto Towers (Melbourne) Opening Ceremony
• Rick Wakeman Australian Tour

ANZAC International Military Tattoo 2006
As Music Director for this event, Paul Coppens arranged and orchestrated all the music for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. This included Mozart's Ave Verum and many well-known tunes such as Scotland The Brave, On The Road To Gundagai, Waltzing Matilda, You Raise Me Up and more. Special tribute was made to the Anzacs with 'Gelibolu' (theme from the film), which was specially arranged for the forces used at this event. Dr Steve Watson assembled the ANZAC Chorus of 200 voices and there were Bands from around the world.

Australian Night At The Proms
As Music Director/Conductor and Arranger, Paul Coppens conducted the , which took place at the Sydney Super Dome on Friday October 5 2001 at 8pm and was attended by about 12,000 enthusiastic 'prommers'. It featured an all-Australian cast, including artists Yvonne Kenny, David Hobson, Simon Tedeschi, A Broad And Two Men, Glen Shorrock, Gina Jeffreys, Christine Anu, David Campbell, the 80-member Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, The Proms Chorus and compére Bert Newton.

AIDA For Two Years!
For two years he was Music Director for the arena production of Aida, which premiered in Singapore in September 1996 and subsequently in Perth (Oct 1996), Auckland (Feb 1997) and Brisbane (Sep 1997).

As well as casting the solo artists and the artistic team, his responsibility for the production in each city involved all local artists and musicians.   These included the appointment of chorus masters, repetiteurs, band masters, the local professional orchestra, a 250-voice amateur chorus, two brass bands and 60 trumpeters (in addition 450 ‘extras’ were also used).

He also edited the score, without changing its musical content, in order to involve all the forces assembled.   His preparatory work, especially in Brisbane, with the soloists, alternative cast, orchestra, chorus and final production rehearsals has given him invaluable experience for productions on this scale.

The Beatles Revisited
was performed in both Melbourne and Sydney with the Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra during October 1994, and took almost 6 months to write the arrangements and .

He was Music Director and Conductor for the Rudolf Nureyev 1991 Australian Tour and the Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet 1992 Australian Tour, during which he conducted the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.   He conducted the Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra for two seasons at the Jakarta Hilton and in 1992 was invited to Russia to conduct the Moscow Philharmonic and Yalta Symphony Orchestras.

Johann Strauss and Other Concerts
Between 1977 and 1979 he conducted Johann Strauss concerts for the Melbourne Moomba Festival (in both Melbourne and Sydney) and in 1980 took this programme on its first tour to Hobart as 'An Evening In Vienna'. For the ensuing six years this programme (and a number of others - see ) took him to all the Australian states and territories as well as for two seasons to the Jakarta Hilton, conducting well over 200 concerts in over 150 different Australian cities. (see Country Tours).

During this period he also conducted the New Year's Eve Vienna Ball for three consecutive years at the Sydney Regent Hotel, was Music Director/Conductor for the inaugural launch of Sydney\'s , conducted concerts for the official opening of Melbourne\'s and was Music Director/Conductor for the Centenary Concert of Freemasonry In Victoria.

Born in Brabant (The Netherlands)
He emigrated with his family to Australia in 1955.  After part-time music studies and private tuition in organ, cello and composition, he left Australia in 1970 for Graz, Austria, where he graduated in Conducting in 1972 at the Graz Music University.  In 1973 he returned to Australia and founded the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, the nucleus of the Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, which he founded in 1975.

He has since conducted this Orchestra in more than 350 concerts throughout Australia. Since 1974 he became closely associated with the Edgley organisation as Music Director/Administrator of Orchestras, working with many of the international ballet and opera companies which have visited Australia and New Zealand.

Compositions
As composer he has written three ballet scores for string quartet and percussion, for Orchestra, for Children's Choir, Tenor and Orchestra, a film score for Orchestra, a Children's Opera , for Orchestra or Military Band, , a number of other works and many orchestrations.

Together with Christos Ioannides he collaborated on the Greek Oratorio and is continually working on the orchestral song cycles by the Australian poet C.J.Dennis. More recently he completed (using traditional Flemish and Dutch songs); his first and has begun work on a collection of choral works entitled

Arena production 'AIDA' (1996 - 1997)
The responsibilities as Music Director for this two-year project to four cities included casting of soloists, guest conductors, auditioning minor roles, sourcing and selecting local orchestras, choirs, brass bands, trumpet groups, repetiteurs and chorus masters. It also involved heading a team of Chorus masters train the amateur chorus, rewriting the brass band parts to allow for two brass bands,  giving the trumpet groups the orchestral trumpet calls at the beginning of Act 2 scene 2 and work together with the Sound Designer in achieving the best possible balance of the reinforced sound in each venue.

Melbourne production of (1986)
For this children\'s opera he was the Composer, Music Director and Conductor.

Melbourne season of 'Cox & Box'/'HMS Pinafore'(1977)
As Chorus Master and Conductor of this production, tasks also included the auditioning of musicians and singers respectively for the orchestra and chorus, and the preparation of most of the music rehearsals.

PRODUCTIONS 1974 - 1999
Generally for ballet productions Musical Direction was provided by the touring companies themselves but most projects required the services of an Associate or Assistant Conductor. Productions which took place in large entertainment venues required working with the Sound Engineer in fine-tuning the reinforced sound.

Projects included the English National Ballet\'s arena production of 'Swan Lake' (1999); The Bolshoi Ballet; Rudolf Nureyev with various companies including London Festival Ballet, Stars Of World Ballet and his last Australian tour in 1991(three tours); Barishnikov & Makarova tour with Ballet Victoria. See also the detailed list .

MALCOLM (1986)
Paul Coppens was Composer, Music Director and Conductor for this project. The score was written for orchestra and digitally recorded. See .

ANZAC International Military Tattoo Sydney 2006
As Music Director and Arranger for this project, responsibilities were mainly concerned with the musical details of the opening and closing segments of the production, the sourcing and rehearsing of the 200-voice choir, and the fine-tuning of the reinforced sound, with the Sound Engineer. See more details in .

ANZAC Military Tattoo Sydney 1999
As Coordinating Music Director and Composer for this project, responsibilities were mainly concerned with the musical details of the opening and closing segments of the production, the sourcing and rehearsing of the 150-voice choir, and the fine-tuning of the reinforced sound, with the Sound Engineer. See more details in .

Concert Of The Century - Townsville (Aug 11-13,2006 - Townsville Civic Centre)
For this project he was the conductor and orchestrator (orchestrated the entire programme).

An Australian Night At The Proms (Oct 2001 - Sydney Super Dome)
For this project he was Music Director, conductor and arranger. See the page.

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Concerts/Tours (1973-1995)
Between 1973 and 1977 he directed a series of annual concerts, including its first interstate tour in 1975. During the early 1980\'s he toured the MCO in Victorian and New South Wales country towns with Handel's oratorio 'The Messiah' and in 1995 conducted one of its subscription concerts (under the direction of Spiros Rantos), which featured guitarist Slava Grigoryan.

Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra Concerts/Tours (1973-1986)
Between 1973 and 1986 he directed over 200 concerts throughout Australia, designing the programmes and writing all the material where necessary. See .

Laser Fantasia (Nov 1979 - Melbourne Festival Hall)
For this project he was Music Director, conductor and arranger.

Melbourne University Choral Society (1974)