Helen Ayres - violin

Helen is a recent Doctoral graduate from the University of Melbourne where she studied with Mark Mogilevsky and completed a special study into the music of the Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu. Alongside her degree Helen has previously held a full-time position with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, is violinist with the Seraphim Trio and holds teaching positions at the University of Melbourne and Queens College, where she is Director of Music. Helen also tutors for the Australian Youth Orchestra, continuing a long association which started when she toured as a student with AYO to Asia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe and America. (more details...)

Matt Bailey - trumpet

Matt is an undergraduate trumpet student at the Victorian College of the Arts completing his Bachelor of Music Performance this year. He has been playing the trumpet since 1991 and successfully auditioned for the Sydney Youth Orchestra in 1995. As well as trumpet, Matt took an interest in studying the piano and composition whilst he attended the Conservatorium of Music High School. In 2000 he was awarded the Geoffrey Bailey Memorial Prize for brass playing. Matt's primary interest in his music making is in the exploration of new works by Australian composers for trumpet and brass ensembles. (more details...)

Peter Baker - piano

Melbourne pianist Peter Baker was originally from Liverpool, Merseyside, UK. As a young prodigy he won many prizes in local music festivals and gained a Licentiate in Performance from the Guildhall School of Music at the unusually young age of sixteen. At seventeen he declined an offer of a scholarship from The Royal Academy to study performance and instead he chose to study at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) with the great Polish concert pianist Ryszard Bakst, a winner in his time of the Chopin International Piano Competition. (more details...)

Rebecca Chambers - piano

Rebecca Chambers has established herself as a prominent young concert artist. She appears regularly with the Australian Symphony Orchestras, and has performed on four continents. In recognition of her achievements in music, she was named as the 1996 Young Australian of the Year.

Ms Chambers graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in New York with a Masters Degree in music. Her undergraduate education was completed at Melbourne University’s Victorian College of the Arts studying with Ronald Farren-Price, and she was the recipient of the John Gaitskell Mensa Award for highest academic and performance achievement. (more details...)

Geoff Collinson - French Horn

Geoff Collinson began his studies on the horn in Melbourne in 1979. In 1993 he moved to Canberra to study with Hector McDonald, one of Australia's finest brass musicians who is currently principal horn of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. From 1983-1988, Geoff was a member of the Canberra Horn Consort and performed as a guest with many of Australia's premier orchestras. In 1990, Geoff was awarded the position of Principal horn with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, a position he held until 2000. During this time he was also guest principal horn of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. (more details...)

Katherine Day - piano

Melbourne-based pianist Katherine Day grew up in the small town of Little River and began piano studies in Geelong at the age of four. She was a music scholar at University High School and went on to complete undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the Victorian College of the Arts. Whilst there, Katherine was also a staff pianist, playing for visiting artists Radovan Vlatkovic, Natalia Gutman, Michael Bertoncello and Timothy Dowling. (more details...)

Donna-Maree Dunlop - mezzo soprano

Australian born Donna-Maree Dunlop was the winner of the 1997 Australian Singing Competition Armstrong-Martin and Nelly Apt Scholarships. She completed her Diploma of Music (Vocal Performance) at the Australian National University in 1992 and a Graduate Diploma of Music (Opera Performance) at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1993. (more details...)

Anne Gilby - oboe

Anne Gilby commenced her oboe studies in Canberra. After completing a BA degree at the Australian National University, she studied in Europe with Leon Goossens, Maurice Bourgue and Helmut Winschermann, achieving her Reifeprufung Performance Diploma with Distinction in Detmold. She was awarded the Gabriel Harrison Scholarship from the International Festival of Youth Orchestras and a study/travel scholarship from the Australia Council. (more details...)

Edwina Hookey - violin

Edwina Hookey began studying the piano at four years of age and the violin at ten. She has her Associate Diploma on both instruments and holds her Licentiate Diploma with Distinction on violin. Edwina has studied with Jean Lehmann, Julian Quirit, Deborah Fox, Mark Mogilevsky and Miwako Abe and is currently in her third year of a Bachelor of Music Degree (Performance Specialisation) at Melbourne University, studying under William Hennessy. (more details...)

Roger Howell - baritone

Welsh-born Roger L. Howell graduated with Distinction from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music School of Opera and Music Theatre.

Roger made his professional debut as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro for the State Opera of South Australia, later going on to perform with that company Count Almaviva also from The Marriage of Figaro, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Figaro in the Barber of Seville, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Belcore in the Elixir of Love, Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore, Valentine in Faust, Dr. Kolinaty in The Makropoulos Affair, Abimélech in Samson and Delilah, and the title roles in both Rigoletto and Macbeth. (more details...)

Lin Jiang - French Horn

Lin Jiang was born in Shanghai, China in 1986 and he moved to Australia at the age of five. He started playing the french horn at the age of ten and, in the following year, received numerous scholarships and accepted to study at the prestigious high school, Scotch College. As a result of his outstanding potential, Jiang was accepted as a student by renowned pedagogue, Geoff Collinson, and was awarded a scholarship at the Victorian College of the Arts at the age 16, before finishing secondary school. (more details...)

Derek Jones - flute

Derek Jones completed studies in flute at the Victorian College of the Arts after which he was awarded German and French government scholarships. He has studied with Andreus Blau of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and with Jacque Zoon of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra. His performing career has included solo performances with the Melbourne Symphony, The Australian Pops Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the latter involving solo appearances in Carnegie Hall, New York and the Kennedy Centre, Washington D.C. He has also performed as soloist for ABC Radio in live broadcasts and recorded for ABC Classic FM late in 2002. (more details...)

Julie Holmes

Originally a trumpet player, Julie began playing the bassoon at the age of twenty four at the Defence Force School of Music. After leaving the Army in 1990 Julie took up the bassoon again in 1996, and in 1999, she successfully attained the Associate of Music Australia degree.

Julie has played with Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra since 1997, and in 1999 performed the Danzi Bassoon Concerto with the Orchestra. She also plays with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, and has played with Stonington Orchestra, Preston Orchestra, Maroondah Orchestra, Grainger Wind Symphony and Melbourne City Opera.

“I am excited to be able to perform as a soloist with the Orchestra again. It speaks fully of the standard of the Orchestra, when its own members can also perform the role of ’guest’ soloists. The bassoon is possibly the most underrated of all wind instruments, and this is a great opportunity to show the colour and versatility of the instrument.”

Julie would also like to thank her past teachers including Paul Williams, Elise Millman, and Lucinda Cran. (more details...)

Zoë Knighton - cello

Zoë Knighton is a founding member of the Flinders Quartet – one of Australia’s leading String Quartets which performs extensively throughout Australia, participating in many festivals. Their 2006 schedule involved repeat performances at the Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields festival, Tyalgum Festival and Macedon alongside tours to Adelaide, Hobart and Launceston as well as tutoring engagements for the AYO Young Symphonist’s and the Mt Buller Chamber Music Summer School. (more details...)

Lachlan Redd

Lachlan Redd graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in New York in 1999, with a Masters degree in piano performance, as a scholarship holder and a recipient of the Queen’s Trust for Young Australians. Lachlan Redd's undergraduate degree was completed at the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Music degree with first class Honours and in 1997 he was awarded The University Medal.

In 1995 Lachlan Redd won First Prize at the Fourth International Youth Music Festival Virtuosi of the Year 2000 Competition, held in St Petersburg. This culminated in a performance with the Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra in the historic Marinsky Theatre. He was also a finalist in the inaugural ABC TV Quest Competition and won the 1996 Keyboard Finals of the Young Performers Awards, appearing on ABC TV in the grand finals of both events. Aged 22, he replaced Bruno Leonard Gelber without rehearsal in two performances of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and received a standing ovation for his performances.

Since, Lachlan has appeared as both recitalist and concerto artist for the ABC in simulcasts on ABC TV and Classic FM, with the Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmanian, Queensland Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, with leading conductors including Vladimir Verbitsky, Michael Halasz, Nicholas Braithwaite, Janos Furst and Yan Pascal Tortellier. In 2000 Lachlan was accepted as a competitor in the Leeds International Piano Competition and since has been a full scholarship holder at The Australian National Academy of Music.

Recently, Lachlan Redd was invited to compete in the International Rachmaninov Piano Competition and Festival. Lachlan was one of thirty pianists selected worldwide to compete in Pasedena, USA, in June 2002. (more details...)

Janis Laurs - cello

Janis Laurs is one of Australia's leading cello soloists, chamber music player and teachers. He studied with Pierre Fournier in Switzerland and James Whitehead, and in 1972 graduated with first-class honours from the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide. (more details...)

Adrian McEniery - tenor

Adrian McEniery is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium. His awards include the 1999 Opera Award of the Australian Singing Competition, a 1996 Churchill Fellowship, the 1995 Britten-Pears School Scholarship, Lotus Development Award and the Royal Overseas League Bursary. He was a member of Victoria State Opera's Young Artists' Program in 1994-95. (more details...)

Kerry McManus - lyric/coloratura soprano

A graduate from the Melba Conservatorium of Music (BMus 2004), Kerry McManus was fortunate enough to be awarded with scholarship funding whilst completing her studies: recipient of the Mary Campbell Scholarship for female vocal study, awarded in 2002, and the much sought after Dame Nellie Melba Scholarship funding of a female vocalist's fees for two years in the Diploma of Vocal Studies (received in 2004). (more details...)

Brenda Pitts - soprano

Brenda Pitts is a professional opera singer with extensive Australian and international performance experience. She has spent the last several years singing with Opera Australia, where she has appeared in numerous productions including La Traviata, Carmen, Norma, Eugene Onegin, Madama Butterfly, Otello, The Pearl Fishers and Der Rosenkavalier.

Brenda completed her musical studies at The Victorian College of the Arts and Queensland Conservatorium of Music, obtaining a Diploma of Arts in Music and a Graduate Diploma of Music in Opera Performance. She joined the Victoria State Opera in 1994, quickly moving on to sing principal roles with the company, including Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte for the Young Artists Explore Opera Programme. (more details...)

Roman Ponamariov - French Horn

Roman Ponomariov was born in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, formerly one of the Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1991 he commenced studies at the 'Republican Musical School Sergey Rachmaninov' and, from 1995 to 2002, studied French horn in the class of Professor Vasilii Velichko. He finished secondary school in 2002 with an International Baccalaureate diploma. (more details...)

Michael Brooks Reid - violin

Michael has been playing the Violin since he was four years old. His former teachers include Pavel Prantl, Alice Waten and Barry Wilde in Hong Kong (where he spent eight years of his childhood); and Julian Quirit in Melbourne. He is currently studying with William Hennessy at the University of Melbourne. (more details...)

Elizabeth Sellars - violin

Born in Melbourne in 1966, Elizabeth Sellars has enjoyed a career specialising in chamber and solo performance in Australia and overseas.

Elizabeth studied in Melbourne with Nathan Gutman, making her concerto debut at the age of 13. She was the winner of the Hepzibah Menuhin and Australian Musicians Guild Scholarships and appeared as soloist with the Geelong Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Pops Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the state final of the ABC Young Performer of the Year. With the assistance of the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee and Northcote Trusts, Elizabeth left Australia in 1985 to study at London's Guildhall School of Music with David Takeno. She was awarded the Peskai and Warshaw prizes for solo performance along with the Guildhall Chamber prize. (more details...)

Karen van Spall - mezzo soprano

Karen Van Spall is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music. She performs regularly as guest artist of Opera Australia, has performed as guest soloist for Victorian Opera and various orchestras including Zelman, Frankston and Ballarat Symphonies. In 2007 she sang the role of Mercedes and understudied Carmen for Ozopera and later this year will perform the role of Suzuki in a new production of Madame Butterfly directed by John Bell for the same company. (more details...)

Barry Tuckwell AC OBE - French Horn

Barry Tuckwell's multi-faceted career in music spans more than fifty years and, during this time, he has performed throughout the world as soloist, chamber musician and conductor. Born into a distinguished musical family in Melbourne, he played with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which he joined at the age of 15, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra before leaving for England at the age of 19. After playing with the Halle, Scottish National and Bournemouth Symphony orchestras, Mr Tuckwell was appointed as Principal Horn with the London Symphony Orchestra. During his 13 years with the orchestra, which is a co-operative orchestra, run entirely by the players, he was elected to the Board of Directors and was Chairman of the Board for the last six years. (more details...)

Josephine Vains - cello

Josephine was born in Melbourne. After winning the National Chamber Music Competition with Trio 3.0.3 she worked and studied in Europe for five years with Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet), Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet) and Tilmann Wick (Hannover Musikhochschule). She has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Australia, Asia and Europe on diverse projects including piano trio, quartet, contemporary and electronic music, and Argentine tango music. (more details...)

Emily Xiao Wang - soprano

Born in China, Emily Xiao Wang completed a Bachelor of Music from Shanghai Normal University in 1992 and a Graduate Diploma in Opera Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2002. Emily received the Mabel Kent Estate Singing Scholarship 2001 and Harold Fisher Opera Scholarship B’nai B’rith 2002. (more details...)

Larissa Weller - violin

Larissa Weller began her study of violin at the age six under Bernadette Rotar in the regional Queensland city of Bundaberg. She spent the remainder of her childhood in Hervey Bay, learning violin, clarinet and piano under an assortment of teachers. By the end of high school, Larissa had been granted (by the A.M.E.B.) honours in eighth-grade clarinet, distinction in eighth-grade piano and an LMusA with distinction on violin. Last year she completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours (I) in Advance Performance at Griffith University, Brisbane. Larissa has been the prize winner of several regional music awards as well as the Sydney May Memorial Scholarship, issued by the A.M.E.B. Queensland. (more details...)

Shu-Cheen Yu - soprano

Before emigrating to Australia in 1987, Shu-Cheen Yu was a principal artist with the Shan-Xi Province Beijing Opera Company and The Chinese National Oriental Song and Dance Company. She made regular broadcasts on Radio Beijing and appearances on Television China and made five successful albums. (more details...)