Art Song Canberra

Christina Wilson graduated B. Mus. (Distinction) from the Canberra School of Music and was awarded the Friends Prize for the most outstanding graduate of her year.  In 1990 she won most of the major prizes at the Australian Singing Competition including the prestigious Marianne Mathy Scholarship.  She went on to postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and the National Opera Studio, London, further  supported by major awards from the Australia Council, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the Australian Musical Foundation in London. Her teachers have been David Parker AM, Glenville Hargreaves and Janice Chapman OAM.
Possessing “una voce stupenda” (Corriere di Sienna), Christina has appeared as a soloist and recitalist in Australia, the USA, Europe and throughout Britain, at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall (Messiah conducted by Sir David Willcocks), the Wigmore Hall, Westminster Abbey (A Service for Australia, the broadcast centenary celebration of the Australian Constitution in the presence of HM the Queen and the Australian prime minister), St John's Smith Square, Canterbury Cathedral, Australia House (Messiah and Dame Joan Sutherland’s 70th Birthday Gala conducted by Sir Richard Bonynge), Sydney Conservatorium, the Temple Square, and the Paris Conservatoire.
Since returning to Australia in 2003 performances have included Vivaldi’s Gloria at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, a solo recital for the University of Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, and a Sunday Live broadcast for ABC FM from the Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music with Alan Vivian, clarinet and Alan Hicks, piano. She has given several recitals for Art Song Canberra.
Christina’s many operatic roles include Clitemnestre (Iphigienie en Aulide) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) for the State Opera of South Australia, Carmen for Belfast Festival Opera, Rosina and Cenerentola for the Mananan International Festival, and Dido for Canberra City Opera.  Reviewed by the Elgar Society as “...a voice to drool over”, her recording of Elgar's The Music Makers was released in 2003.
Christina is a Lecturer in Voice at the ANU School of Music.

back to top ↑

Robert Harris, violist, is active in Australia and overseas as a performer, educator and arts manager.
Robert is a past Concertmaster of the Australian, Pittsburgh and International Youth Orchestras.  He was founder-member violist of such leading Australian chamber groups as the New England Ensemble and Brisbane’s Festival Quartet.  Robert now performs regularly with his own 'Viola Plus' and as a guest member of Ensemble I (Brisbane).
Robert is a Principal/front desk violist of professional orchestras in most Australian states (including Principal of the Australian Chamber Orchestra), in New Zealand, Thailand and England and for Australian orchestras touring Asia, Europe and North America (as well as for Pavarotti, Streisand, Stevie Wonder and many commercial shows).  Since 2006 Robert has served as guest violist/Principal with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra in Sydney, as Principal for OzOpera’s national tours as well as for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Opera and Victorian Opera. 
Over many years Robert has worked with such vocal recitalists as Lauris Elms, Michael Leighton Jones, Greg Massingham, Merlyn Quaife and Maree Ryan.
Presently a teacher at Sydney's tertiary Australian Institute of Music and at leading schools (The King’s School, Scots College and St Andrew's Cathedral School), Robert has also held University teaching appointments in Armidale, Brisbane and Melbourne and in the USA.  He has been invited as a recitalist/lecturer/conductor to International Viola Society Congresses in Wellington, Seattle, Reykjavik, Montreal, Adelaide, Cape Town and Cincinnati.  Robert was a Churchill Fellow (1998-99).

back to top ↑

Alan Hicks is a graduate of the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music (DSCM piano and flute) and the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester (PPRNCM).  He was appointed Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the RNCM in 1992 and subsequently joined the staff as Accompanist and Tutor in Piano.  Alan spent eight years as a freelance pianist and teacher in London.  He coached vocal repertoire for two years at the City Literary Institute before returning to Australia in 2003.  Alan has appeared at major London venues including the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and St John's Smith Square.  His CD recording with Kate Romano, 20th Century Music from the British Isles for clarinet and piano received critical acclaim and was BBC Music Magazine's Chamber Music Pick of the Month.  As pianist with the King Piano Trio he worked on Lord Menuhin's Live Music Now! scheme and appeared at the 2000 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford.  Alan was pianist with the London-based Australian contemporary music group the Bennelong Ensemble, appearing live on BBC Radio3, at the Cheltenham Festival and in concert on tours of Italy and the UK.  He has given several recitals for Art Song Canberra.
Alan is currently Head of the Voice Area at the ANU School of Music.  In 2005 he was Assistant Musical Director, Repetiteur and Language Coach for the School of Music’s production of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.  Alan has been vocal coach and repetiteur for the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) since 2004.  As a member of the Sydney-based contemporary group Kammer, he has broadcast for the ABC and toured for Musica Viva.  Alan joined the board of Wesley Music Foundation in 2008.

back to top ↑

Angela Giblin has sung most of the lyric mezzo-soprano operatic repertoire and has performed much of the mainstream art song repertoire, particularly but not exclusively German Lieder.  In fact she sings in eight languages.  She has performed as soloist in the major choral works and has premièred and recorded some significant new compositions by Larry Sitsky, Margaret Legge-Wilkinson and Gordon Kerry.  Angela continues to perform and teach and contributes to Australia’s musical life as an adjudicator, by lecturing and reviewing, giving masterclasses and through the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS).  She was variously Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Head of Voice at the Canberra School of Music for nine years.
Angela Giblin completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) at the University of Sydney before continuing her studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  She then joined the Opera Studio of now Opera Australia and subsequently became a Principal, singing a number of roles including Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte and Nancy in Albert Herring.
Angela Giblin studied for the Vienna Academy Opera Diploma and also sang concert works and opera in Vienna and the Austrian provinces.  This led to engagements in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, including Düsseldorf, Salzburg, and Kiel, during which time she performed nearly fifty roles.  Highlights included a commendation for Idamante (Idomeneo) in the Opernwelt Yearbook and singing the title role in Der Rosenkavalier with Gundula Janowitz.
On returning to Australia, Angela sang with the Victoria State Opera, including Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann, Emilia in Otello with Katia Ricciarelli and Suzuki and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.  She subsequently performed with Chamber Made Opera, Opera Hunter and ACT Opera.  Angela has been a soloist in a number of concerts for the Canberra Choral Society including Messiah, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, B Minor Mass and Elijah.  She received a Canberra Critics' Circle Award for the first Australian performances of songs by Nikolai Medtner.
Since 2000 Angela has toured Malaysia and Brunei, performed Die Winterreise and presented a recital for ABC Classic FM Sunday Live.  She appeared with the Eingana Ensemble for Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and took part in the inaugural Two Fires Festival in Braidwood.  In 2007 Angela Giblin gave concerts and masterclasses in New Zealand with accompanist Colleen Rae-Gerrard.
Angela enjoys working in cabaret performance in a range of styles and has performed  at Tilley’s, the Cat and Fiddle Hotel in Balmain and at Mietta’s in Melbourne.  A cabaret program is planned for Vivaldi’s in 2010.  In 2008 Angela gave world première performances of Larry Sitsky’s new song cycle The Jade Harp with Geoffrey Lancaster.

back to top ↑

Photo: Joseph Lafferty

Margaret Legge-Wilkinson received a scholarship at the age of thirteen enabling her to begin studies at the Canberra School of Music (now the ANU School of Music).  There she completed her B.A. (Mus) in 1981 with Distinction in Piano Performance. Her most influential teachers included Larry Sitsky, piano, Donald Hollier, composition and electronic music with American, Dan Senn. From 1983 until 1985, Ms Legge-Wilkinson undertook post-graduate studies in the performance of contemporary music with Professor Alexander Hrisanide (a former student of Nadia Boulanger) at the Amsterdam Conservatorium, Amsterdam. Returning to Canberra, she has been co-Director, pianist and composer for the award-winning Canberra New Music Ensemble since its inception in 1987. Margaret also works as an accompanist and piano and composition teacher.
Margaret has received critical acclaim as a virtuoso pianist of contemporary, classical music.  As soloist and accompanist she has performed throughout Eastern Australia and in Europe, including Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Cyprus.  In Canberra she performs regularly for Canberra New Music Ensemble (CNME), giving local and international premières of works by Australian and international composers.  Apart from her solo disc released in 2007, Margaret Legge-Wilkinson Solo Piano, she is featured as pianist and composer on four CNME discs, the most recent being From Far Beyond, a disc of 20th and 21st century violin and piano music with acclaimed Melbourne-based violinist Miwako Abe. Their recording of Arvo Pärt’s Fratres features as No.90 on ABC’s recently released Classic 100 Chamber Music. Of the other discs, Tall Trees is a vocal CD featuring mezzo-soprano, Angela Giblin and songs by Australian composers Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Margaret Sutherland and Margaret Legge-Wilkinson’s song cycles Tall Trees and Australian Love Songs.
Margaret’s compositions include incidental music for theatre, solo piano, vocal and chamber music.  She has had many of her works performed overseas and within Australia and broadcast over ABC-FM and Dutch radio. Her vocal work, Tall Trees received its European première in Paris in 2000.  Her largest work to date, the 75-minute opera Three Women with a libretto adapted from Sylvia Plath’s radio play of the same name was premièred to popular and critical acclaim in 1996 at the ANU Arts Centre, Canberra. In 2006 Margaret was awarded a Canberra Critics Circle Award for her December 2005 solo recital at the National Gallery of Australia.
Margaret has worked together with mezzo-soprano, Angela Giblin since 1994 when Angela premièred her Australian Love Songs.  Their collaboration has resulted in recitals in Sydney and Canberra as well as two cabarets, Songs From America and Put a Metal Hat on Your Head.  In 1996 Angela premiered the role of ‘Mother’ in Margaret’s opera Three Women. The duo’s repertoire includes Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Szymanowski, Debussy and songs by Rorem, Eisler, Weill, Malikides, Copland, Barber, Glanville-Hicks and Sutherland.

back to top ↑

Ben Connor grew up on Magnetic Island, off Townsville in North Queensland. From the age of six, he participated in many choirs and amateur stage shows, and tried his hand at different instruments including violin, saxophone and piano. Majoring in classical voice at the ANU School of Music, Ben was the recipient of the Harmony Endowment Postgraduate Scholarship and graduated with a Master’s degree in Music in 2009.
During his studies, Ben performed on numerous occasions for the School of Music. He was soloist in Rotary’s 2008 “Italian Opera Gala” with the Melbourne Opera Orchestra and in 2009 took the title role in the School’s production of the new opera by Joshua McHugh, Grimm and the Blue Crown Owl. In 2009, Ben made his professional stage debut in the Street Theatre’s production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.
Ben has also won several competitions and awards. In 2008, these included the Art Song Canberra Prize at the Australian National Eisteddfod, best vocalist in the Margaret Smiles competition and the Australia-Britain award for voice.

back to top ↑

Tanya Aspelmeier, German soprano, studied singing (Lied, oratorio and opera) at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg where she completed her concert examination and opera diploma with distinction, accompanied by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.  She rounded off her studies abroad at the Conservatoire in Annecy, France.  During her studies, she won several prizes in distinguished vocal competitions such as the National Vocal Competition (“Bundeswettbewerb für Gesang”) in Berlin, and interpreted numerous opera roles.
Tanya Aspelmeier's repertoire covers baroque opera (e.g. Rameau's Castor et Pollux, Lully's Achille et Polyxène, George Frideric Handel's Almira, Monteverdi as well as Georg Philipp Telemann's Orfeo/Orpheus), classical opera (e.g. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte) and operetta (e.g. Offenbach's Orpheus in der Unterwelt) and stretches as far as contemporary music theatre (e.g. Henze's We come to the river), as well as including the standard oratorios and a series of Lied programs.
Guest engagements have taken Tanya Aspelmeier to the Oldenburger Staatstheater, Wilhelmshavener Stadttheater, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Oper Bonn and to the Hamburgische Staatsoper, as well as festivals such as Baden-Baden, Bayreuth, Feldkirch, Guadalajara (Mexico),La-Chaise-Dieu , Salzburg, Saintes , Sydney and Ribeauvillé.  She has appeared throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and South America and has worked with leading ensembles under conductors such as Frieder Bernius, Ivor Bolton, Thomas Hengelbrock, Konrad Junghänel and Gustav Leonhardt.
Tanya Aspelmeier has not only made an international name for herself as interpreter; along with teaching singing at the Music College in Bremen she regularly gives vocal masterclasses at the “Centre de la Voix” in Royaumont, France.  Tanya Aspelmeier is a member of the aspiring ensemble “La Chapelle Rhénane”, which has received numerous prizes for its recordings.

back to top ↑

Knut Schoch, German tenor, is the ANU School of Music Joan Thorpe Visiting Lecturer in German Lied for 2010.
Knut Schoch studied singing in Hamburg with Wilfried Jochens and Alan Speer, completing his studies by attending various master-classes. His large repertoire extends from medieval works to the premières of contemporary pieces and includes oratorios, chamber music, Lieder and baroque and classical operas by Monteverdi, Keiser, Campra, Mozart and others.  Knut Schoch is specialized in the historical performance practice of music written before 1800, notably Bach’s Passions (in which he sings the role of the Evangelist), Bach’s Cantatas (he took part in a complete recording for Brillant), and the oratorios of Handel and his contemporaries.
Knut Schoch is known in the European early music scene as one of the leading young tenors.  His concentration on text in this genre gives him the optimal advantage for the classical and romantic song repertoire.  Together with the guitarist Carsten Linck he recorded Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and early 19th-century songs with guitar and has presented the well-known Schubert song cycles with Eckart Begemann as well as Ludger Rémy on fortepiano.  Together with Johannes Debus and pianist Henning Lucius he has for more than ten years been creating exceptional programs and has also been greatly inspired through his work with Norman Shetler.
Knut Schoch is much in demand as a soloist both at home and abroad, performing all over Europe, in America and Asia, appearing regularly at leading festivals including the Göttingen Händel Festival, Vienna, Milan, Paris, Copenhagen, Tokyo and the Flandern-Festival.  Many radio and television recordings as well as more than 80 CDs (incl. with Acanthus, ARS, BrilliantRecords, cpo, capriccio, DeutscheHarmoniaMundi, Naxos, Sony) reflect the range of his activities.  He has worked with many well-known ensembles and has appeared with well-known conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Thomas Hengelbrock, Jos van Immerssel, Konrad Junghänel, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt, and Joshua Rifkin.
Among the awards that Knut Schoch has received are the 1995 Masefield Grant from F.V.S. Society and a prize at the 1999 International Musica Antiqua Competition in Brugge, Belgium.
Since 1993 Knut Schoch has been teaching singing and historical performance practice at the Hamburg Conservatory.  During 1999-2002 he taught also as a professor at the Hamburg Musikhochschule.

back to top ↑

German based Victorian mezzo soprano Sally Wilson divides her career between opera, chamber music, concerts and recitals in Europe, the USA, Australia and Asia.  She combines technical prowess with vocal beauty and a passion for dramatic authenticity – in both opera house and concert hall – and has performed at such venues and with such companies as London’s Wigmore Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Washington Opera, Ravinia Festival, Savoy Opera, The Handel Project, Kracow Philharmonie, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Victorian Opera, the Puccini Festival and Teatro Instabile.  Ms Wilson is heard regularly on radio broadcasts in Australia, Europe and Asia. 
Her performances have generated much critical acclaim, The Oxford Times observing: "She has many tales to tell, and many moods, from flamboyant to intimate... together with a voice which responds to the heartbeat of the music."
Sally Wilson’s repertoire continues to expand, encompassing a diverse range of art song, oratorio and operatic roles from baroque to contemporary.  She initially made her operatic mark in baroque roles – as Ottone in Vivaldi's La Griselda, Idelberto in Handel's Lotario and the title role in Handel's Amadigi.
Ms Wilson’s 2009-10 season included recitals and recital tours in Europe (featuring a performance for Danish royalty in Aarhus), Asia and Australia, performances of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten as Nefertiti in Berlin, a live broadcast of Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the role of Medée in Augusta Holmés’s Les Argonauts and mezzo solo in Fauré’s La Naissance de Venus with the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt in the Berlin Konzert Haus. 
Performances in her 2010-2011 season include, among others, her debut as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel in Freiburg, Germany, Floßhilde in Wagner’s Ring cycle, several roles in a new production of Kagel’s Aus Deutschland directed by the renowned Calixto Bieito, as well as solo recitals and concerts with, for example, the Polish Radio National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Krakow.
Ms Wilson studied at The University of Melbourne, Pennsylvania State University and the Manhattan School of Music.  She wears performance gowns by Linda Britten Australia.

back to top ↑

Based in Berlin, Mark Kruger is a laureate of the Orleans International Piano Competition and his performances have been acclaimed around the world. His Spanish debut was hailed by El Pais as “brilliant both technically and musically… it was the revelation of a great artist”, his Purcell Room performance of the ‘Concord’ Sonata by Charles Ives for the Park Lane Group was described as “hugely impressive” in The Times, showing a “command of pianistic color in everything from the clanging chords to the dusky musings”, whilst a performance of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto in Melbourne was hailed by The Age as “masterful”.
He has appeared on television and radio in Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia. International festival appearances include the Saint Ricquer Festival in France, the Festival Ensems in Spain, the Melbourne International Festival, the Melbourne International Brass Festival, the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, and the Brisbane Biennial.
Mark Kruger has an extensive and varied repertoire at his command. Central to his programmes are large scale works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, some of which are rarely performed. Amongst these are Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata, Chopin’s renowned 24 Études in a single concert, Prokofiev’s Ninth Sonata, and Witold Lutosłaswki’s recently-discovered Piano Sonata. A theatrical performance of George Crumb’s Makrokosmos Vol. 1 elicited the following praise from the composer: “both technically and musically you showed an incredible mastery of my Makrokosmos piano idiom”. He is also closely associated with the works of Sergei Prokofiev, and was the Artistic Director of ABC Classic FM’s “Melbourne Prokofiev Project”, a series of live broadcasts dedicated to the composer which contained the complete piano sonatas. Mark Kruger is also a strong advocate of new music. He has had numerous compositions written for him, and has given world premiere performances of works by composers such as Barry Conyngham, Stephen Cronin, Michael Gallant, Mark Grandison, Stuart Greenbaum, Antonio Gomez Schneekloth, Andrew Schultz, Colin Spiers, Nicholas Vines, and Natalie Williams.
As well as having studied in his native Australia with Stephen Savage and Ian Holtham, Mark Kruger studied at the Moscow State Conservatoire with Professor Lev Vlassenko and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Frank Wibaut. He recently recorded the ‘Concord’ Sonata by Charles Ives for Tall Poppies, and in 2011 will record the Complete Works for PIano by Lutosłaswki for Naxos.

back to top ↑

Susan Ellis graduated from The Australian National University with Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and was awarded the Kornfeld Graduate Scholarship for Singers.  In 1993 Susan undertook a teaching fellowship at the Royal Northern College of Music on the teaching of young men.  She studied Italian in Florence and has studied German both intensively in Hamburg and in Australia at the Goethe Institute.
Susan was awarded the CAPO fellowship for 2007 and the Singapore Airlines Traveling Award and used this to further her language studies in Germany.  Whilst there she worked with renowned conductor Cord Garben on German opera roles, Lieder cycles and Brahms Volkslied which she is currently recording.  She gave a recital of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben and was invited back to sing at the Brahms Museum in Germany.
As a concert soloist, Susan has performed with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the Zheijing Symphony Orchestra in China.  She performed in recital in the Netherlands and England.  In Canberra she has appeared in concert for Pro Musica, Canberra Choral Society, Royal Military College Band, National Museum, Gallery and Library of Australia, as well as the Finnish, New Zealand, English and Austrian Embassies with Friends of Opera.
In 2004 Susan joined Opera Queensland’s Young Artist Program and after three years in the program became a Principal artist with the Company. Throughout this time she appeared in many concerts such as Breakfast with Bernstein, Mozart and Moonlight and Fantasie in the Gardens with the Brisbane Army Band for the 4MBS Festival of Classics.  She was invited by City Hall to sing in their 75th Anniversary Concert and has performed countless versions of operas in exciting locations such as Opera in the Canefields, in the Rainforest, at the Rock and in the Outback, where she sang the role of Violetta in a semi-staged version of La Traviata.  She reprised the role for 2006 Opera at the Rock and a fully staged performance in 2007 for the opening of the acclaimed Majestic Theatre.  Susan toured as principal soprano throughout Central and Western Queensland in the production of The Food of Love.  In that year, she also performed the roles of the Witch and Mother approximately 300 times in a chamber performance of Hansel and Gretel around Queensland.
Other operatic roles with the George Limb Opera and other companies have included Anna Glawari in Lehar’s Merry Widow, Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, Madam Silvertones in Mozart’s Impressario, Geraldine in Barber’s Hand of Bridge, The Plaintiff in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and Mrs Grosse and Miss Jessel (cover) in Britten’s Turn of the Screw.
Susan is passionate about vocal coaching, using this skill in Opera Queensland’s Moving Opera! workshops.  Susan coached the Australian National University vocal ensemble in many performances and Qwire for their world première of True for the Sydney Gay Games and subsequently their rework for the Paris Festival.  Since 2006 she has vocally coached  the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus.  Susan is now the vocalist for the new music ensemble – the Griffyn Ensemble.

back to top ↑

Sarahlouise Owens has varied performing experience ranging from musicals to opera and oratorio, straight theatre to theatre-restaurant.  She gained her Bachelor of Music (Performance – Voice) with distinction from the Australian National University, studying with Ronald Maconaghie.  Since then she has studied with various prestigious singing teachers in both Australia and Europe and also completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Performance Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Sarahlouise has taken part in masterclasses given by, amongst others, Brigitte Fassbaender, Renata Scotto, Nelly Miriciou, Stuart Burrows, Benjamin Luxon, Jane Manning and Werner Baer.  She has been successful in competitions, most markedly becoming a semi-finalist in the esteemed international competition the Belgian Reine Elisabeth 1996 and the Irish international Veronica Dunne 1997.
She has undertaken a large number of recitals displaying an aptitude for song repertoire, some of which have been broadcast on Australian national radio.  She has also, in recital, sung up to six languages.
Sarahlouise has worked extensively in Europe including for the Radio Choir in Cologne, Theatre Hagen, La Monnaie in Brussels, Paris Chatelet and the theatres of Frankfurt and Hannover.  Most significantly she has been a consistent member of the ensemble of the Wagner Summer Festival in Bayreuth where she has sung the role of an Edeldame in Lohengrin, and covered a Blumenmädchen in Parsifal.

back to top ↑

Jee Lee received her L.Mus.A. at age 13 and won a music scholarship to come to Australia to study year 12 at Walford Girls’ Anglican School in Adelaide. Following this she studied at the Australian National University with Susanne Powell and in 1996 graduated Bachelor of Music with Distinction. Jee was awarded the Margaret Green Prize for the best accompanist of the year. In 1994, Jee undertook study with the late Geoffrey Parsons in London. She also studied a Master Diploma Program in piano and piano accompaniment at the Mozarteum, Salzburg, with Prof. Hamlet Hell, and Prof. Kammering.
While Jee was in Australia she was awarded numerous scholarships and won First Prize in Chamber Music and Second Prize in Piano Solo in the Sydney Chamber Music and Piano Competition. As a result of this, Jee was offered a scholarship with the Australian Youth Orchestra as a chamber music pianist.
Jee Lee has performed with the Australian Youth Orchestra as an orchestral pianist and with the Korean Symphony Orchestra in Korea. She has worked as an accompanist for The Tunbridge Wells international competition and many Korean international competitions. Jee has given recitals and was a vocal accompanist at the Kyung University. She has performed in recital with many singers and instrumentalists in London, Austria and Korea and was pleased to return to Australia in 2007. Jee is currently working at Burgmann Anglican School as a music teacher and accompanist. She enjoys an artistic partnership with Susan Ellis.

back to top ↑

Fleur Millar-Brockman, spinto soprano, studies singing with Patricia Whitbread and is coached by Colin Forbes.  She holds a Bachelor of Music Performance – Voice, from the Victorian College of the Arts, having studied musicology at The University of Melbourne, and a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Art History from the Australian National University.
Fleur returned to Australia in 2009 after postgraduate study in Germany and London.  She had received a Youth Music Foundation scholarship for the purposes of voice lessons with Raymond Connell, a teacher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy, London.  On return to Australia Fleur sang the role of Caroline in the première of Capital by Fiona Frazer, conducted by David Kram as part of Canberra Street Theatre’s Opera Development Program; she also performed the role of Therese in The Devil Builds A Chapel.  Companies Fleur has sung with include Opera Australia, Oz Opera and Savoy Opera.  Highlights from festivals include Edith Sitwell’s Façade for The Melbourne Fringe Festival.  Fleur’s repertoire of roles ranges from Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Gilda (Rigoletto) to Adele (Die Fledermaus).
In recital, Fleur has been invited to perform at the Australian Embassy, Geneva (accompanied by pianist Vladimir Vladjarevic), the Lieder Society of Victoria (accompanied by pianist Patrick Lawrence) and the Bloomsbury Gallery London.  Invitations to sing in master classes include Lieder for Cord Garben (visiting German Lieder specialist), the Goethe Institute and as First Lady in The Magic Flute with Richard Gill OAM.
Highlights during Fleur’s time in London include the engagement as a sacred soloist at a central London Church, performances with Floral Opera, conducting the All Saint Singers with stars from the BBC and a recital at Goodenough College.
As a music animateur, Fleur currently conducts the Tuggeranong Arts Centre Choir and runs voice workshops.  She is also a pianist, writer, producer and music educator, having been a music leader at Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School and Geelong Grammar School.  She recently produced The Tuggeranong Arts Centre Grand Concert in which she conducted Sing Australia’s Blokes Choir and performed as a soloist accompanied by Colin Forbes.  In 2005 Fleur founded The World’s Smallest Opera Company, combining original scripts with operatic singing, productions include the classic cabaret Viva La Diva – the Recital of My Life, originally performed at Gas Works Arts Park, Melbourne; it will be revised and performed at The Tuggeranong Arts Centre in February and the 2010 Adelaide and Edinburgh Festivals.  Television and recording credits include Talking Telephone Numbers, Network Seven Australia, and Matilda’s Dream, Victorian College of the Arts.

back to top ↑

Judith Colquhoun has been singing since a very early age.  With jazz and the Beatles being early influences, she now has an eclectic repertoire that also includes music theatre, Gilbert and Sullivan,  classical music and music hall.   She studies voice with Pat Davey.  Over about fifteen years, Judith has appeared in stage productions by many companies in Canberra and Queanbeyan in both ensemble and leading roles.  She has sung in lunch-time recital performances at Pilgrim House, Canberra.

back to top ↑

Orlie Beer, contralto, is a clinical psychologist who has been studying with Canberra singing teacher, Mrs Patricia Davey since 2006.  She performed in the role of "Tessa" in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers with ACT Singers in 2007.  Orlie will perform as  "Mona Lisa" and "Lady Macbeth" in a musical comedy, The Department of Heaven written by Canberra composer, Andrew Hackwill in February 2010.  Over the last three years, Orlie has performed in several Art Song Canberra soirées.  She is very pleased to participate further in the society's activities and looks forward to performing in this concert.

back to top ↑

Lawrence Mays is currently completing a Master of Philosophy degree in Music Performance at the Australian National University, having graduated Bachelor of Music with a major in voice performance in July 2009.  His area of special interest is recitativo secco in eighteenth century Italian comic opera.  His teacher is Stephen Bennett and his vocal coach is Alan Hicks.  Prior to undertaking full-time music study, he worked as a medical practitioner.  He continues his interest in medicine through affiliation with the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.  He has been a chorister in several ANU School of Music opera productions since 2000 and more recently in Melbourne Opera company productions, as well performing in the roles of Colas in Bastien und Bastienne in 2006 and Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte in 2007.  He enjoys a wide variety of the vocal repertoire, finding the lyricism and gentle humour of French art songs particularly attractive.

back to top ↑

Colin Forbes graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  He became Lecturer in Piano at the Conservatorium and pianist and percussionist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.  He later joined the Australian Opera as a repetiteur and has also worked with other leading concert organisations including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Synergy and the Australia Ensemble.
A study tour of Germany took Colin to the Essen Hochschule to study piano with Paul Badura Skoda.  Colin subsequently taught and performed in Germany.  On returning to Australia he became Head of Keyboard at Ascham School in Sydney.  He moved to Canberra in 1992 to take up the position of repetiteur at the Canberra School of Music.  Colin gave sonata recitals with the violinist Erich Binder (Concert Master of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) on both of his visits to Australia.
In 1997 Colin helped to establish the Canberra Academy of Music and Related Arts, where he is currently Artistic Director and principal piano teacher.  Under CAMRA's auspices, Colin has performed the complete piano sonatas of Mozart, prepared the music and staging of award winning productions of several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, The Beggar's Opera, the liturgical opera Ordo Virtutum by Hildegard von Bingen, and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
Colin has given many concerts in Canberra as both soloist and accompanist.  In association with St Philip's Church, he has prepared and conducted numerous orchestral masses and directed performances of Handel's Messiah and Bach's St John Passion.
In November 2008, Colin gave a recital of piano works by Ludwig van Beethoven in memory of the Rev. Rob Lamerton, rector of St Philip's and long-time friend of CAMRA.  Colin played Beethoven's Rondo in G Op.5 no.2, Polonaise Op.89 and Sonata no.4 in E flat.

back to top ↑