Violinist and composer Simone Slattery is one of Australia's most versatile young musicians and creators, with a passion for music from a wide range of eras. She performs across Australia and internationally as both soloist and ensemble member, holds a PhD from the University of Adelaide, and was a 2019 Churchill Fellow. Simone has collaborated with artists and ensembles in Japan, Korea, the UK, Canada, the USA and throughout Europe, and has toured extensively across regional Australia. Her performances have been reviewed as "virtuosic" and "infinitely expressive". She has appeared with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Haydn Ensemble, Ironwood, Pinchgut Opera, Van Diemen's Band and New Vintage Baroque.

A co-founder of the award-winning Bowerbird Collective, Simone's compositions have been performed across the world, and her artistic creations described as "stunning". Recent productions include Where Song Began, Invisible Connections, and the World Migratory Bird Day Virtual Choir. Simone was commissioned by the Art Gallery of South Australia to create the soundscape for 'Clarice Beckett - The Present Moment', an acclaimed retrospective of one of Australia's greatest artists, in early 2021.

With an international performance and production career, Anthony Albrecht has developed a reputation as an impresario of world-class events characterised by generosity, outreach and connection to issues of social justice, conservation and sustainability. He is co-founder and CEO of the Bowerbird Collective, an organisation devoted to forging stronger connections to the natural world. With a passion for making classical music accessible and relevant in the 21st century, cellist Anthony Albrecht began producing concerts shortly after graduating from The Juilliard School in 2014. Committed to musical outreach, Anthony has undertaken a self-managed solo tour of over 80 concerts in regional Australia called 'Bach to the Bush'. He is founder and director of the Lapwing Music Festival in the UK.

A musician known for his "dramatic flair" and "fluent and virtuosic" performances (Seen and Heard International, Sydney Morning Herald), he has appeared with Pinchgut Opera, Van Diemen's Band, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, New Vintage Baroque (NYC) and Il Pomo d'Oro. Recent solo engagements include an appearance in the woods of East Sussex as a guest of Sam Lee's 'Singing with Nightingales' project, a recital at the Handel and Hendrix House in London, a performance of Haydn's Cello Concerto in D at the Newcastle Music Festival and as concerto soloist with the Adelaide Baroque Orchestra.

Nicole Forsyth is a freelance violist, academic and teacher, and regularly appears with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia and a variety of historically informed performance and new music ensembles. For 15 years, Nicole was Principal viola of Pinchgut Opera's Orchestra of the Antipodes, and a core member of chamber company Ironwood.

Having completed a PhD studies with Sydney Living Museums on the music collection of Rouse Hill House, Nicole is now undertaking research led music-social history-contextual projects, which includes the WW2 Dunera Boys story, with Canberra International Music Festival and Orange Regional Museum. She is a sessional lecturer for Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Historical Performance and Strings, and a tutor for the violas of the NSW Public Schools The Arts Unit orchestras. Nicole was Lead String Educator 2017-2020 for the ACO at St Marys North Public School, involving research led teaching (Dr Anita Collins) of children 5 years to 8 years developing resilience, and literacy skills in both language and music.

Nicole loves skiing, bushwalking, swimming & surfing - or just being outside when she's not 'viola-ing'.

Eric Avery, Kabi Marrawuy Mumbulla, is a violinist, vocalist, dancer and composer from the Ngiyampaa, Yuin and Gumbangirr people of NSW. He works with his family’s custodial songs, and his haunting compositions often feature him singing while playing violin, predominantly in the Ngiyampaa language.

Quickly gaining an international reputation, Eric has appeared alongside and in association with some of the greatest artists of our time, from Yo-Yo Ma to Tina Arena. He has had commissions and performances with Camerata Queensland, Ensemble Offspring, the JACK Quartet, Marrugeku and several of Australia’s major orchestras. He was a 2021 Myer Creative Fellow.

www.ericavery.com.au

Internationally praised for his breathtaking virtuosity and versatile musicianship, Scottish born James Crabb is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading classical accordionists. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen with accordion pioneer Mogens Ellegaard. James became professor there from 1995 until 2010, and was awarded the prestigious Carl Nielsen Music Prize, Denmark in 1991. He also held a long-standing guest professorship at the University in Graz, Austria. James.

James has collaborated with some of the most important composers of the last 50 years including Sofia Gubaidulina, Thomas Adès, Harrison Birtwistle, Sally Beamish, Luciano Berio and has premiered countless concertos, chamber music and solo works dedicated to him. He is also recognised internationally as an authority on the music of Astor Piazzolla and was invited to curate the inaugural Piazzolla Festival in Buenos Aires in 2016. In 2019 James gave the world premiere of Brett Dean’s accordion concerto The Players in Sweden, (recorded on the BIS label). He has also featured in the on-stage role in Dean’s opera Hamlet with Cologne Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Glyndebourne and the Adelaide Festival, a role he reprised for Opera Australia in 2024. Further projects next year will see James also return to the ACO, numerous music festivals in Australia and the UK and once again collaborate with the Australia Ensemble.

James has recorded for several labels including Chandos, EMI Classics, BIS, ABC Classics, Simax, Dacapo.

A passionate and sought-after music educator and mentor, James collaborates regularly with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music, Freedman Fellowship Trust, Australian Youth Orchestra, Musica Viva as well as music conservatories and universities in Australia and abroad. He was Artistic Director of the Four Winds Festival in Bermagui, NSW, from 2016 – 2020 during which time he curated both the annual Easter and inaugural Youth Festivals and developed the music education programs in local schools.

Anna Fraser has gained a reputation as a multifaceted Sydney based soprano. Specialising in the colourful and expressive interpretation of early, classical and
contemporary repertoire, Anna performs in a myriad of traditional and exploratory programming in Australia and abroad. Anna was a core ensemble member of The
Song Company for over a decade, regularly performs with many national specialist ensembles: Pinchgut Opera (notable roles in L'Orfeo, Dardanus, L’Ormindo, Castor et Pollux, Médée), Sydney Chamber Opera (premiering Finsterer operas Biographica and Antarctica), Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO), Bach Akadamie Australia, Ensemble Offspring, to name a few, and has collaborated with international ensembles such as The Wallfisch Band (UK), Asko|Schönberg Ensemble (NL) and the New Zealand String Quartet. Equally at home as a dramatist on stage, Anna is a strong exponent of music education, expertly demonstrating the versatility and virtuosity of a cappella singing to inspire and guide the next generation of vocal artists and composers.

Historical Harpist Hannah Lane performs on the Baroque triple and the Classical and Romantic era single-action harps. ‘A true master of this instrument’ (Australian Stage, 2022), ‘playing three rows of strings not merely with precision but also expressive beauty’ (Limelight, 2023), her performances have been praised for their emotional depth, subtlety and sparkling virtuosity.

After graduating with high distinction from her studies in modern harp under the tutelage of Alice Giles AM, Hannah completed her specialisation in historical harp in Milan, Italy with world-renowned expert Mara Galassi. As a continuo player and soloist, Hannah performs with leading ensembles throughout Australia and Europe. She is Principal Harpist for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Pinchgut Opera and has appeared at international festivals such as the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, Urbino Musica Antica and Adelaide Festival.

Hannah is a recording artist for ABC Classics, Obsidian Records (UK), Brilliant Classics (IT) and Pinchgut Live. Based in Naarm/Melbourne, she is artistic director of the critically acclaimed Ensemble 642, which is dedicated to music for early plucked strings. Hannah is committed to sharing her knowledge with the next generation of musicians and is a guest lecturer in historical harp at the University of Melbourne. As a dedicated researcher in this field, her work has been published in the leading peer-reviewed journals Early Music and Eighteenth-Century Music.

Sydney/Eora-based saxophonist Alice Morgan is one of Australia's leading young saxophonists, performing regularly across Australia and New Zealand in a variety of genres.

In 2024, Alice is Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Associate Artist and will perform in several of their concerts for their 2024 season. In November, Alice will premiere and record a new work by Holly Harrison commissioned by Ensemble Offspring to be performed in the Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House. Earlier this year Alice performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Guest Principal Saxophone. She is also a Casual Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has led specialised masterclasses at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Alice has been a past nominee for the Freedman Fellowship Classical Awards, and has performed as concerto soloist with Ensemble Apex for Ibert’s Concertino da Camera, as well as performing with the orchestra for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Simon Tedeschi and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Alice performed her own transcription of Strauss' Oboe Concerto in a solo recital at the 2018 Melbourne International Saxophone Festival. Through her university years Alice performed as orchestral soloist with the Australian Youth Orchestra and Sydney Youth Orchestras. She was also selected to perform in the Estivo Chamber Music Festival in Verona, Italy, as soprano saxophonist in her saxophone quartet, Luxum.

Additional to her freelance career Alice is a keen orchestral manager and music administrator. She works at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as an Administration Officer and assists with various administrative tasks across the university, including but not limited to liaising with academics and producing high profile events. Alice is also on the board of Ensemble Apex and has regularly assisted as their Orchestral Manager since their conception in 2016.

She is an Associate Artist of the Bowerbird Collective.

A mountains local, Bronwyn Kirkpatrick began her shakuhachi journey with Grand Master Riley Lee in 1997, after completing a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance with Distinction. Captivated by the sound, Bronwyn studied with Riley for the
next seven years and was then very fortunate to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship and an Australia Council Skills and Arts Development Grant, which enabled her to further her studies with Masters in Japan. Bronwyn has performed with the Bell Shakesepeare Theatre Company and TaikOz and at festivals nationally and internationally, including the
World Shakuhachi Festival, the OzAsia Festival, Sydney Sacred Music Festival and the Four Winds Festival. Bronwyn is an active teacher of the shakuhachi in the Blue Mountains, Sydney and around the world via Skype and also composes for the instrument. The lonely sound of the single bamboo captivates and draws the listener in to a secret world.

www.bronwynkirkpatrick.com

Janet Laurence is a leading Sydney-based artist who exhibits nationally and internationally. Her practice examines our physical, cultural and conflicting relationship to the natural world. She creates immersive environments that navigate the interconnections between organic elements and systems of nature. Within the recognized threat of climate change she explores what it might mean to heal the natural environment, fusing this with a sense of communal loss and search for connection with powerful life forces. Her work is included in museum, university, corporate and private collections, as well as within architectural and landscaped public places.

More recently her work has included collaborative and performative exhibitions and events, also with her group of Dirt Witches. Laurence is Adjunct Professor at the University of NSW Faculty of Art and Design. She has been a recipient of Rockefeller, Churchill and Australia Council fellowships; and the Alumni Award for Arts, UNSW. She was visiting fellow of Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) Germany 2017, and Artist in residence at the Australian Museum. In 2015 She was the Australian representative for the COP21/FIAC, Artists 4 Paris Climate 2015 exhibition 21 and the Biocenosis 21 IUCN Marseilles. She was the 2021 recipient of the Antarctic Fellowship and completed her residency there in 2022. She has had many museum and gallery exhibitions including a major solo survey exhibition at the MCA in 2019 and the Yu Hsui Museum of Art in Taiwan in 2020, and featured in Know My Name at the Australian National Gallery in 2022.

Laurence's ongoing projects include:
- Earth Canvas.
- Artists working with Regeneration Farmers, which includes a touring exhibition Australia-wide.
- Treelines Track, Bundanon Homestead: a planted 3km walk of trees that once grew there, telling the story of the transforming landscapes.