Marianne Gedigian - Flute
Marianne Gedigian, Professor of Flute, member of the Distinguished Academy of Teachers, and holder of the Butler Professorship in Flute at The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music, was a regular performer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, including several seasons as Acting Principal Flute under Seiji Ozawa. As Principal Flute with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and Acting Principal Flute with the Boston Pops, Ms. Gedigian has been heard on dozens of recordings and Evening at Pops television broadcasts as well as the nationally broadcast Fourth of July specials. She has also been heard on several John Williams’ movie scores, including Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. In the 2000 - 2001 season, Ms. Gedigian was invited by Mariss Jansons to perform as Acting Principal Flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her solo performances have taken her around the world, including recitals in Japan, Australia, England, and Armenia and she has appeared as concerto soloist numerous times with the Boston Pops Orchestra and with the Armenian Philharmonic performing her own transcription of the Khachaturian Violin Concerto. She was featured with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in a performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Ms. Gedigian has been a featured soloist and teacher at numerous National Flute Association conventions across the country, and is a frequent recitalist and teacher for flute clubs in the United States, Australia, Japan, and England.
Ms. Gedigian has been first prizewinner in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, and the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition. She keeps an active schedule as a chamber musician as a founding member of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players and was formerly a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet. Her solo recordings include Voice ofthe Fluteand Revolution, both with pianist Rick Rowley.
Ms. Gedigian is on the summer faculty at the Brevard Music Center, and has served on the faculties of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, The Boston Conservatory, the Round Top International Institute, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Her teachers include Leone Buyse, Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Clement Barone, and Donna Olkowski. Ms. Gedigian is a William S. Haynes Artist and performs on a handmade custom-crafted Haynes gold flute.
Ms. Gedigian has been first prizewinner in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, and the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition. She keeps an active schedule as a chamber musician as a founding member of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players and was formerly a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet. Her solo recordings include Voice ofthe Fluteand Revolution, both with pianist Rick Rowley.
Ms. Gedigian is on the summer faculty at the Brevard Music Center, and has served on the faculties of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, The Boston Conservatory, the Round Top International Institute, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Her teachers include Leone Buyse, Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Clement Barone, and Donna Olkowski. Ms. Gedigian is a William S. Haynes Artist and performs on a handmade custom-crafted Haynes gold flute.
Alison Mitchell - Flute
Hailing originally from Melbourne, Alison Mitchell was appointed Principal Flute of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 2003.
Since leaving Australia to continue her studies in Basle with the renowned Swiss Flautist, Peter-Lukas Graf she has maintained a very successful career having performed with many major orchestras in both Europe and Australia, most notably with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Northern Sinfonia.
Mitchell performs and records regularly with SCO chamber ensembles and as a concerto soloist. Her performances have included concertos by Mozart, JS Bach, CPE Bach, Nielsen, Ibert, Poulenc, Osborne, Boulez, Cimarosa and Honegger. Her recording of Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G with the SCO on Linn Records has received glowing reviews. She has also premiered a wonderful new flute concerto written especially for her and the SCO by the Australian composer, Gordon Kerry.
As well as her work in Scotland, Mitchell is continually sought after to perform in Australia. She has performed regularly with the Australian Chamber Orchestra both internationally and throughout Australia and has also recorded and performed, with Angela Hewitt and the ACO, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 5 and the Triple Concerto for flute, violin and piano. The highly acclaimed recording, released on Hyperion, subsequently won many awards including Gramophone CD of the Month.
She is a founder member of the Australian World Orchestra which had its inaugural season in Sydney during August 2011. This is a very exciting new orchestra made up of some of the best Australian players from around the world. The second season, with Zubin Mehta, in October 2013 was a great success. In the 2015 season Sir Simon Rattle conducts the orchestra in Australia and Zubin Mehta tours with the orchestra to India.
Alongside her busy SCO schedule Mitchell performs as soloist and chamber musician, most notably, in collaboration with Christian Zacharias, Robert Levin, the Hebrides Ensemble, Mr McFall’s Chamber, pianist Scott Mitchell, harpist Eleanor Johnson and guitarist Allan Neave and at East Neuk Festival as a regular guest artist. In 2012, she has performed as guest flautist with the Southern Cross Soloists at the Bangalow Music Festival, and with the dynamic Melbourne based ensemble, Syzygy.
Alison Mitchell takes a very active role in the SCO creative learning programme and also gives specialist woodwind coaching. She has worked with many youth orchestras and ensembles namely the Baltic Youth Philharmonic with Musical Director Kristjan Järvi, the Australian Youth Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and at the Australian National Academy of Music, the Sydney Conservatorium, where she was guest Senior Lecturer in 2012 and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she is currently Lecturer in Flute.
Since leaving Australia to continue her studies in Basle with the renowned Swiss Flautist, Peter-Lukas Graf she has maintained a very successful career having performed with many major orchestras in both Europe and Australia, most notably with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Northern Sinfonia.
Mitchell performs and records regularly with SCO chamber ensembles and as a concerto soloist. Her performances have included concertos by Mozart, JS Bach, CPE Bach, Nielsen, Ibert, Poulenc, Osborne, Boulez, Cimarosa and Honegger. Her recording of Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G with the SCO on Linn Records has received glowing reviews. She has also premiered a wonderful new flute concerto written especially for her and the SCO by the Australian composer, Gordon Kerry.
As well as her work in Scotland, Mitchell is continually sought after to perform in Australia. She has performed regularly with the Australian Chamber Orchestra both internationally and throughout Australia and has also recorded and performed, with Angela Hewitt and the ACO, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 5 and the Triple Concerto for flute, violin and piano. The highly acclaimed recording, released on Hyperion, subsequently won many awards including Gramophone CD of the Month.
She is a founder member of the Australian World Orchestra which had its inaugural season in Sydney during August 2011. This is a very exciting new orchestra made up of some of the best Australian players from around the world. The second season, with Zubin Mehta, in October 2013 was a great success. In the 2015 season Sir Simon Rattle conducts the orchestra in Australia and Zubin Mehta tours with the orchestra to India.
Alongside her busy SCO schedule Mitchell performs as soloist and chamber musician, most notably, in collaboration with Christian Zacharias, Robert Levin, the Hebrides Ensemble, Mr McFall’s Chamber, pianist Scott Mitchell, harpist Eleanor Johnson and guitarist Allan Neave and at East Neuk Festival as a regular guest artist. In 2012, she has performed as guest flautist with the Southern Cross Soloists at the Bangalow Music Festival, and with the dynamic Melbourne based ensemble, Syzygy.
Alison Mitchell takes a very active role in the SCO creative learning programme and also gives specialist woodwind coaching. She has worked with many youth orchestras and ensembles namely the Baltic Youth Philharmonic with Musical Director Kristjan Järvi, the Australian Youth Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and at the Australian National Academy of Music, the Sydney Conservatorium, where she was guest Senior Lecturer in 2012 and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she is currently Lecturer in Flute.
Leone Buyse - Flute
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One of the most highly regarded American flutists of her generation, Leone Buyse has enjoyed a multidimensional career as an orchestral and chamber musician, recitalist, recording artist, teacher, and speaker. In 1993 she relinquished her principal positions with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops to develop a more active solo and pedagogical career after 22 years as an orchestral player. A former member of the San Francisco Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, she has appeared as soloist on numerous occasions with those orchestras and also with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Utah Symphony, the Xalapa Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Mexico City in Palacio de Bellas Artes, and l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva. She has performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players throughout Europe and Japan, with the Tokyo, Juilliard, Brentano, and Muir String Quartets, in recital with Jessye Norman and Yo-Yo Ma, and at many of North America’s most prestigious festivals, including Aspen, Sarasota, Norfolk, and Orcas Island.
The only American prizewinner in the 1969 Geneva International Flute Competition, Ms. Buyse has presented recitals and master classes across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Her extensive discography includes solo recordings on the Crystal, Boston Records, Albany, and C.R.I. labels, and she may be heard as solo flutist on recordings of the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops and the San Francisco Symphony for the Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Victor, and Sony Classical labels. With her husband, clarinetist Michael Webster, she co-founded the Webster Trio, which has recorded five discs for Crystal Records and the Japanese labels Camerata Tokyo and Nami. |
Ms. Buyse is the Mullen Professor of Flute at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and has also taught at the University of Michigan, the New England Conservatory, Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and as a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music. Her former students hold positions at major American universities and in many major orchestras, including the symphony orchestras of Boston, Cleveland, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Houston, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Toronto, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Colorado Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.
Also an accomplished pianist, Ms. Buyse served for two years as a collaborative pianist at Jean-Pierre Rampal's summer flute master classes in Nice, France. An active member of the National Flute Association, she received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 in recognition of outstanding contributions to the flute community worldwide. Her favorite extracurricular interests include gardening, studying foreign languages, entertaining, and pursuing physical fitness. Ms. Buyse maintains a web presence at www.leonebuyse.com.
"...superlative solo playing...a treasure."
--Richard Dyer, THE BOSTON GLOBE
Also an accomplished pianist, Ms. Buyse served for two years as a collaborative pianist at Jean-Pierre Rampal's summer flute master classes in Nice, France. An active member of the National Flute Association, she received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 in recognition of outstanding contributions to the flute community worldwide. Her favorite extracurricular interests include gardening, studying foreign languages, entertaining, and pursuing physical fitness. Ms. Buyse maintains a web presence at www.leonebuyse.com.
"...superlative solo playing...a treasure."
--Richard Dyer, THE BOSTON GLOBE
Brock Imison - Historical Instruments
Born in Brisbane, Brock began his study of the bassoon at age 13. In 1994 he joined the QLD Conservatorium Music School before beginning his undergraduate studies there in 1997.
Brock has appeared with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Baroque Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and as the Principal contrabassoonist with the Australian World Orchestra.
During 2001-2002 Brock took up an Acting bassoon/contrabassoon position with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra before moving to Sydney after accepting an Acting bassoon position with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2003. In 2004, Brock won the position of Principal contrabassoonist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra which he currently still holds. Since his appointment with the Melbourne Symphony, Brock has been working to improve the profile of the contrabassoon to musicians and audiences alike. In July 2007 Brock gave the Australian premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for contrabassoon with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as part of the final of the 2007 Symphony Australia Young performer of the year awards. In 2008, he toured as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performing his own transcription of Weber’s bassoon Concerto for the contrabassoon.
Brock has a growing collection of bassoons (13 to date) which he enjoys playing in various modern and historically based ensembles and is a founding member of Unholy Rackett, a group specialising in music for curtals and racketts from the renaissance and early baroque. He also performs regularly with historical ensembles: Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Genesis Baroque, Orchestra of the Antipodes, the Australian Haydn ensemble and the Australian classical and Romantic orchestra.
Brock has appeared with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Baroque Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and as the Principal contrabassoonist with the Australian World Orchestra.
During 2001-2002 Brock took up an Acting bassoon/contrabassoon position with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra before moving to Sydney after accepting an Acting bassoon position with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2003. In 2004, Brock won the position of Principal contrabassoonist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra which he currently still holds. Since his appointment with the Melbourne Symphony, Brock has been working to improve the profile of the contrabassoon to musicians and audiences alike. In July 2007 Brock gave the Australian premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for contrabassoon with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as part of the final of the 2007 Symphony Australia Young performer of the year awards. In 2008, he toured as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performing his own transcription of Weber’s bassoon Concerto for the contrabassoon.
Brock has a growing collection of bassoons (13 to date) which he enjoys playing in various modern and historically based ensembles and is a founding member of Unholy Rackett, a group specialising in music for curtals and racketts from the renaissance and early baroque. He also performs regularly with historical ensembles: Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Genesis Baroque, Orchestra of the Antipodes, the Australian Haydn ensemble and the Australian classical and Romantic orchestra.
Sarah Curro - Violin
Sarah Curro graduated in 1994 from the Queensland Conservatorium, where she was winner of the Conservatorium Medal for Excellence. After winning the Dorcas McLean Traveling Scholarship for Violinists in 1997 she studied, and then taught, at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and from 1999-2002 was a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In Australia, she has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Queensland Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and is currently a full time member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Sarah’s interest in education and commissioning music is inspired by her father John Curro, Founder and music director of The Queensland Youth Orchestras. Her experience as a tutor and conductor includes work with the students from The Hong Hong Academy for Performing Arts, Australian Youth orchestra (including National Music Camp, Chamber Camp and Young Symphonists), Queensland Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Youth Orchestra (including MYM Summer School), Southern Cross Soloists Winter Music School, the Australasian Orchestra, Geelong Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra 21.
Besides all the conservative things one can do as a violinist, Sarah’s non-traditional ventures focus on the constant discovery, purchase and promotion of new, mostly local compositions of every art form but most of all music. Through the fascinating and unique instruments of Melbourne's SPUR Violins, her solo series VOLUME, now in its 10th incarnation (40 commissions so far), showcases these works in thoroughly modern venues to an ever-widening audience. Sarah hopes to continue this emotional and financial commitment to her arts community.
Merlyn Quaife - Soprano
Distinguished soprano Merlyn Quaife, an Order of Australia Award in the Queen’s Birthday 2013 Honours List for significant service to music, continues to perform opera, oratorio, Lieder, chamber music and contemporary music to great acclaim throughout Australia and Europe. She has also performed as soloist with the Singapore Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Voronesz Philharmonic in Russia. Merlyn has appeared with all the State Opera Companies in roles ranging from the bel canto Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor to the minimalist Chiang Ch’ing in Nixon in China. She has performed with all the Symphony Australia orchestras, featured in repertoire of every conceivable style from Handel to Ligeti, as well as recorded a number of CDs including Aria for John Edward Eyre by David Lumsdaine which won her a Sounds Australia Award. Of recording labels, she appears on Naxos, Move, Tall Poppies and ABC Classics.
In 1994, Merlyn made her American debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, singing the title role in Gordon Kerry’s opera Medea with Chamber Made Opera, which she also sang to great acclaim when she created the title role in Melbourne, with subsequent seasons in Sydney and Canberra . This was closely followed by a new production with the Berliner Kammeroper which enjoyed three seasons.
Along with her wide array of operatic and oratorio projects, Merlyn is also a regular soloist at St Francis Church in the heart of Melbourne – a role she has enjoyed for many years.
Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) has become a regular performance piece with orchestra or piano. Other major highlights have included Shostakovitch Symphony No 14 with the Sydney Symphony (SSO), Britten War Requiem with the Berliner Capella and Flower Maiden 1 in the acclaimed State Opera of South Australia (SOSA) production of Parsifal (the first fully staged Australian performance, under the baton of Jeffrey Tate). Merlyn has also performed the Schoenberg String Quartet No 2 with the Arditti String Quartet for Melbourne International Festival of the Arts and the Goldner Quartet for the Adelaide Festival.
Merlyn has had many works composed specifically for her and dedicated to her—Gordon Kerry’s Kindled Skies and the Christopher Willcock Akmahtova Stanzas being among the highlights.
Lipizzaners with the Stars, Australia wide, saw her combine her love of music with her passion for horses when she sang the fiendishly difficult Queen of the Night aria while riding. She has also been privileged to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in performances of Sibelius’ Luonnotar and Rachmaninof’s The Bells.
Education has also been an important part of Merlyn’s career. Between 1995 and 2007 she headed the Vocal Department at the Faculty of Music at the University of Melbourne. Since 2005 she has also been guest teacher at the Lotte Lehmann Woche Summer School in Pereleberg, Germany and has been invited for teaching / performing engagements in Vienna and the USA, as well. In 2014, Merlyn commenced at the Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music at Monash University where she leads an innovative classical vocal program.
In 1994, Merlyn made her American debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, singing the title role in Gordon Kerry’s opera Medea with Chamber Made Opera, which she also sang to great acclaim when she created the title role in Melbourne, with subsequent seasons in Sydney and Canberra . This was closely followed by a new production with the Berliner Kammeroper which enjoyed three seasons.
Along with her wide array of operatic and oratorio projects, Merlyn is also a regular soloist at St Francis Church in the heart of Melbourne – a role she has enjoyed for many years.
Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) has become a regular performance piece with orchestra or piano. Other major highlights have included Shostakovitch Symphony No 14 with the Sydney Symphony (SSO), Britten War Requiem with the Berliner Capella and Flower Maiden 1 in the acclaimed State Opera of South Australia (SOSA) production of Parsifal (the first fully staged Australian performance, under the baton of Jeffrey Tate). Merlyn has also performed the Schoenberg String Quartet No 2 with the Arditti String Quartet for Melbourne International Festival of the Arts and the Goldner Quartet for the Adelaide Festival.
Merlyn has had many works composed specifically for her and dedicated to her—Gordon Kerry’s Kindled Skies and the Christopher Willcock Akmahtova Stanzas being among the highlights.
Lipizzaners with the Stars, Australia wide, saw her combine her love of music with her passion for horses when she sang the fiendishly difficult Queen of the Night aria while riding. She has also been privileged to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in performances of Sibelius’ Luonnotar and Rachmaninof’s The Bells.
Education has also been an important part of Merlyn’s career. Between 1995 and 2007 she headed the Vocal Department at the Faculty of Music at the University of Melbourne. Since 2005 she has also been guest teacher at the Lotte Lehmann Woche Summer School in Pereleberg, Germany and has been invited for teaching / performing engagements in Vienna and the USA, as well. In 2014, Merlyn commenced at the Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music at Monash University where she leads an innovative classical vocal program.
Fabian Russell -Conductor
In a career spanning three decades, Fabian Russell has been at the forefront of the Australian classical music industry as a conductor, artistic director, orchestral musician, soloist and educator. Having spent many years as a musician with some of Australia’s major orchestras, Fabian took the decision to become a professional conductor following the rapid growth and artistic success of The Orchestra Project – a national training orchestra that he created during his time as a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Fabian has received invitations to conduct the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Victorian Opera, Australian Youth Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music, Orchestra Victoria, Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia amongst others. He has collaborated with leading international soloists includin Brett Dean, Richard Tognetti andMichael Kieran Harvey.. He is currently Associate Conductor of the Australian Youth Orchestra, Guest Conductor Victorian Opera, Principal Conductor of the Monash Academy Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Fabian has enjoyed a long relationship with the internationally acclaimed Australian Youth Orchestra as Associate Conductor where he has been engaged to prepare AYO in 24 seasons since 2002, including three international tours. In 2002 Fabian founded The Orchestra Project – the Melbourne based training orchestra comprised of Australia’s finest young musicians. Fabian has been Artistic Director and Conductor of the Project since its inception. He has also served as Assistant Conductor to various guests including MSO Chief Conductors Markus Stenz and Oleg Caetani. In 2008 Fabian was invited to be Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and was subsequently appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director.
At the age of nineteen Fabian accepted a contract position as Guest Principal Tuba of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra where he remained for three years. Following this he was appointed to a Principal position with Orchestra Victoria. In 1993 he was appointed to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra where he remained for fourteen years. He has played under many of the world’s finest conductors and has also performed with some of the world’s great soloists.
During the course of these two decades he established an international reputation as a leading brass musician of his generation.
Fabian has received invitations to conduct the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Victorian Opera, Australian Youth Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music, Orchestra Victoria, Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia amongst others. He has collaborated with leading international soloists includin Brett Dean, Richard Tognetti andMichael Kieran Harvey.. He is currently Associate Conductor of the Australian Youth Orchestra, Guest Conductor Victorian Opera, Principal Conductor of the Monash Academy Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Fabian has enjoyed a long relationship with the internationally acclaimed Australian Youth Orchestra as Associate Conductor where he has been engaged to prepare AYO in 24 seasons since 2002, including three international tours. In 2002 Fabian founded The Orchestra Project – the Melbourne based training orchestra comprised of Australia’s finest young musicians. Fabian has been Artistic Director and Conductor of the Project since its inception. He has also served as Assistant Conductor to various guests including MSO Chief Conductors Markus Stenz and Oleg Caetani. In 2008 Fabian was invited to be Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and was subsequently appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director.
At the age of nineteen Fabian accepted a contract position as Guest Principal Tuba of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra where he remained for three years. Following this he was appointed to a Principal position with Orchestra Victoria. In 1993 he was appointed to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra where he remained for fourteen years. He has played under many of the world’s finest conductors and has also performed with some of the world’s great soloists.
During the course of these two decades he established an international reputation as a leading brass musician of his generation.
Francesca White - Feldenkrais Method
Francesca has been a Feldenkrais practitioner since 1991. She has a background in Psychology, Yoga and T'ai Chi. For many years she has taught professional actors, singers, circus performers and currenly is running a general practice in Brunswick, Melbourne, and Woodend, in The Macedon region. One of her interests has been teaching the understanding of pelvic floor health and runs public workshops and training programs on this theme all over the world. She links this specialty to vocal production as well as balance and stability.
David Moore - Alexander Technique
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David Moore, Director at the School for F.M. Alexander Studies graduated from Australia's first Alexander technique training course in Sydney in 1985. After graduating he spent some weeks each year for a number of years studying with senior American teacher, the late Marjorie Barstow. Since then he has established private practices in New Zealand and Melbourne, run many workshops and residential courses in Australia and New Zealand, and taught classes in the UK, Germany, Japan and the USA. In 1999 he set up an AUSTAT accredited training course in Melbourne which at present has 16 trainees doing an Advanced Diploma in Alexander Technique Teaching. |
Prior to studying the Alexander technique David did many years of yoga practice. He spent over seven years in India and Thailand, including over two years in Thai meditation monasteries, and two years in Madras studying at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandaram. In Sydney he studied Iyengar yoga for four years with Martin Jackson from 1991 - 1994, including undertaking a teacher training course with Martin in 1994. He now teaches classes applying the Alexander technique to yoga. He also has a strong interest in voice work, and has run numerous classes and workshops for singers, storytellers and public speakers.
Penny McDonald - Alexander Technique
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Penny McDonald first began having Alexander Technique lessons in the early 1980s when she was performing with Death Defying Theatre, a street theatre company based in Sydney. In June 1996 she completed the three year training course to teach the Alexander Technique. For the following 20 years she has taught in a private practice as well as teaching the Alexander Technique at 16th Street Actors Studio, the Australian National Academy of Music, Howard Fine Actors Studio, the Alexander Teacher Training Course, Victorian College of the Arts, and the National Drama School, Brave Studios and Film and Television Studio International. |
Penny specialises in working with people involved in the performing arts. She is constantly delighted by the change performers can bring to their work by using the Alexander Technique. It is very exciting and empowering when a performer learns how to release tension from the body and can finish performing and can say "that felt good", or "that was fun".
Tina Marsden - Flute
Tina completed a Bachelor of Music degree with Distinction and a Graduate Diploma from the Queensland Conservatorium under the tutelage of Gerhard Mallon. She won a two year scholarship through the 'German Academic Exchange Service' to study classical flute repertoire with Professor Klaus Schochow at the Munich Musikhochschule from 1995 to 1997. During these formative years Tina performed solo, in small ensembles, and played with orchestras throughout Germany, Switzerland, England and the Ukraine. After gaining her 'Meisterklasse' diploma in Performance, she continued cultivating her art for three years in Germany and Canada before returning to Australia. She then completed a Master of Music degree at the Queensland Conservatorium where her focus lay in exploring flute music of Latin America.
Tina has performed with and for world renowned flautists such as James Galway, Patrick Gallois, Paul Edmund-Davies, Andras Adorjan and Michael Cox.
Tina has performed with and for world renowned flautists such as James Galway, Patrick Gallois, Paul Edmund-Davies, Andras Adorjan and Michael Cox.
During and after her overseas music studies, Tina taught privately and at the Ravensburg 'Musickschule' in southern Germany. She returned to Brisbane in 2000 and quickly established herself as a sought after teacher within the South East Queensland corner. Tina held a sessional position teaching, examining and auditioning flautists at the Queensland Conservatorium for four years. She was also the flute tutor and conductor of the Young Conservatorium Flute Ensemble for five years, instructing primary and high school aged students. At the 2007 Brisbane Eisteddfod Tina was awarded the 'Most Outstanding Woodwind Teacher Award'. She also held the position of Vice-president of the Qld. Flute Guild for two years and sat on the committee for 8 years.
Tina moved to Sydney in 2008 to deepen her involvement with meditation studies, which she continues to this day with a passion. She currently teaches in schools and runs a successful private flute studio on the North Shore. Tina enjoys the challenge of finding innovative ways to encourage students to do their best. She is especially interested in utilising music technology within the private flute studio setting. Tina is also an active committee member of the NSW Flute Society, taking up the role of Secretary for 2015.
Tina moved to Sydney in 2008 to deepen her involvement with meditation studies, which she continues to this day with a passion. She currently teaches in schools and runs a successful private flute studio on the North Shore. Tina enjoys the challenge of finding innovative ways to encourage students to do their best. She is especially interested in utilising music technology within the private flute studio setting. Tina is also an active committee member of the NSW Flute Society, taking up the role of Secretary for 2015.
Kym Oliver - Yoga and meditation
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Kym Oliver started her career as a yoga teacher after spending three years in an ashram in India from 2002 – 2005. The course was primarily focused on Vedanta Philosophy with Hatha Yoga and meditation as daily practices. When Kym returned to Melbourne, she sought a quieter life and moved to the MacedonRanges to achieve this goal. Soon after meeting some locals, Kym was requested to teach yoga and Vedanta philosophy. Since 2005, Kym has conducted many workshops and retreats in Victoria, India, Bali and Vietnam. Kym offers regular yoga, meditation and philosophy classes at her studio in Macedon where she also offers B and B accommodation. Kym has experienced first hand the power of Vedanta philosophy, Hatha yoga and meditation; the most powerful Kym would say being Vedanta Philosophy: “Without an understanding of some basic fundamental laws of life, we continually stumble over the same rock!” |