Claire Cowan is at the forefront of composition in New Zealand. Her talent was acknowledged early on in her career by significant commissions and awards from orchestras such as the Auckland Philharmonia and the NZSO National Youth Orchestra whilst still a student at University. She has since gone from strength to strength as a composer, recently winning a prestigious Silver Scroll for her first Television series soundtrack “Hillary” and being awarded the APRA Professional Development Award for Film and TV music in 2017. In 2019 she completed the first ballet score ever commissioned from a female composer in the history of the Royal NZ Ballet. Her classical concert work is unique in that it seamlessly merges art music and popular idioms in a way that is both natural and accessible. As a result, her music offers a very strong connection to audiences.

As a performer, Cowan’s expertise lies in strings and keys, often incorporating percussive and folk techniques into her classical string scores. She directs the Blackbird Ensemble – a vagabond chamber orchestra who create highly visual and theatrical musical experiences in non-traditional spaces.

Justine is sought after as soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster and orchestral violinist. Through her Creative Performance Coaching business ListenFeelPlay Justine supports musicians worldwide to maximise their performance success and enjoyment through insightful mind+body awareness.

From 2002 to mid-2017, as a founding member and violinist of NZTrio, Justine performed throughout New Zealand, Australia, Asia, South America, the USA, Europe and Scandinavia.

The group collaborated extensively across the arts spectrum, working with animated film, contemporary dance, theatre, voice, as well as cross-cultural musical works with masters of Māori taonga puoro, Chinese guzheng, and Cambodian traditional instruments. Commissioning and performing close to 40 works from NZ composers, NZTrio was subsequently honoured with a KBB Music/CANZ citation in 2012 and the Lilburn Trust Citation in 2017 for outstanding services to New Zealand Music.

An active recording artist, Justine has recorded Douglas Lilburn’s Piano and Violin Duos with pianist Michael Houstoun, and violin sonatas of Debussy, Janáček and Bartók with pianist Sarah Watkins. During her time with NZTrio, they built up a varied catalogue of recordings resulting in many nominations for awards. Their collaborative ‘classical-meets-jazz’ album, Vicissitudes with the Mike Nock Trio, was a finalist for Best Jazz Album in the 2017 Jazz Awards and their CD Sway won the ‘Classical Artist of the Year’ award in the 2017 Vodafone Music Awards.

In 2015, Justine recorded Chris Watson’s ogee – for solo violin and orchestra with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra – subsequently nominated as a finalist for the 2019 SOUNZ Contemporary Award.

Justine’s notable orchestral career saw her appointed to NZSO Sub-Principal 1st-Violin in the 1990’s, followed by Concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia from 2000-2004, where she was regularly featured as soloist. During that time, she was also involved within the first four international judging panels of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.

A graduate of the University of Canterbury, Justine has a Masters degree from San Francisco Conservatory and a Doctoral degree from Stony Brook in New York. She has taught violin at Wellington’s Victoria University and held a position as Violin Lecturer at The University of Auckland.

Justine plays a 1868 J.B.Vuillaume violin.

Jane Young is a New Zealand cellist who grew up in Auckland, has studied and worked in England, Mexico and the United States and currently lives in Lower Hutt. She holds performance degrees from the University of Auckland and the University of Arizona and enjoys chamber music, teaching, and playing with Orchestra Wellington. Recently she has also begun exploring historically informed performance on the baroque cello.

Chris is a graduate of the Wellington Conservatorium of Music where he studied with Richard Mapp and the Royal Northern College of Music studying with Mark Ray.

He appears regularly in solo recitals and has a busy schedule as a collaborative pianist as official accompanist for Hamilton’s Civic choir and the St Paul’s Collegiate choirs.

Chris is passionate about teaching and has a busy private studio. He has been regional coach for the NZCT chamber music contest, and his students have had regular success in local and national competitions including Wallace National Jr Competition, north shore concerto competition and the NZCT contest.

Brigid, who is currently Assistant Sub-Principal Cello Emeritus in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, was raised and educated in Christchurch.

Over the past thirty years, she has had extensive involvement with youth music programmes both here and abroad including the HK Academy for Performing Arts, Asian Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, NZSO National Youth Orchestra, Dunedin Youth Orchestra, Wellington Youth Orchestra, Wellington Youth Sinfonietta, Schola Sinfonica and the Kapiti Youth Orchestra.

She is a former trustee of the Alex Lindsay Memorial Award and the Michael Monaghan Young Musicians Foundation, and is a founding and current trustee of Music Futures, which supports young musicians from the Greater Wellington region.

She has been a previous adjudicator for the NZCT Chamber Music Contest and in 2016, Brigid received the Marie VanderWart Memorial Award, which recognises outstanding service and commitment to fostering the love of chamber music.

Bridget is the NZSO Section Principal Flute and an Artist Teacher in Flute at the New Zealand School of Music. She has had a long association with the Chamber Music Contest, many decades ago as a contestant and in more recent years as a coach and adjudicator. She is a member of many chamber ensembles and has toured extensively for Chamber Music New Zealand.

Craig Utting studied Composition at Auckland University, emerging with 1st Class Hons for his Masters Degree in 1987. Since then he has been a professional pianist (including for ballet), violist (Orchestra Wellington for many years), composer (works played by NZSO, various choirs and published piano music), arranger, and music typesetter for many European publishers, using Sibelius software. He also teaches the piano from his home in Tawa.

Craig and his wife Liz Sneyd run the Porirua-based Virtuoso Strings Charitable Trust, which teaches over 300 students on stringed instruments for free. They both received QSM for music education in 2015. Together they have five children, all of whom are involved in music.

Monique Lapins began her violin studies at the age of 6 with the Suzuki method and continued her studies at the Australian National Academy of Music under William Hennessy, and at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music under Professor Qian Zhou.  

As a chamber musician, she has twice been a finalist in the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and has participated in chamber music programmes and festivals in France, the Czech Republic, Holland, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia and at the prestigious Open Chamber Music Seminars in Prussia Cove in the UK. 

A former Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Monique has toured extensively in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed under the baton of Seiji Ozawa in Japan and under Philippe Herreweghe in France.

Monique joined the NZSQ in May 2016, replacing Douglas Beilman who was farewelled at the end of 2015 after 26 years with the New Zealand String Quartet.

Monique plays a 1784 Lorenzo Storioni violin, kindly loaned by Mr David Duncan Craig, as trustee of the Lily Duncan Trust.

Emma Sayers grew up in Wellington, then studied for five years at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

Emma loves working collaboratively with other musicians and has been involved in ensembles of all sizes and shapes. She has a strong interest in 20th century/contemporary music, and has performed for years with new music group STROMA.

Emma is also an enthusiastic teacher. As a lecturer at the Massey Conservatorium of Music & NZ School of Music from 1999-2012 she coached and accompanied students of all instruments and vocal types, as well as teaching chamber music and solo piano. These days she runs a busy private teaching studio, and is an artist teacher at the New Zealand School of Music

Ursula completed a post-graduate Diploma in Cologne, Germany, and subsequently worked in the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra. Since returning to NZ in 1991 she has been a member of the 1st violin section of the NZSO, alongside a lot of teaching, chamber music performing and coaching.

Julie Ann Link is the Associate Principal bassoonist and contrabassoonist of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to New Zealand in January 2017, Julie lived in Texas working as the Principal bassoonist of the Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, member of the West Texas Winds Quintet, and adjunct faculty with The University of Texas of the Permian Basin. She held positions with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and the City Music Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and currently freelances with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington, and Dunedin Symphony.

Julie completed a Master of Music from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste while working as a Fulbright U.S. Program grant recipient in Switzerland, a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from Arizona State University.

Pianist Sarah Watkins was a founding member of NZTrio, one of this country’s leading chamber music ensembles. She is a proud supporter of New Zealand music, teaches piano and chamber music at the University of Auckland, and continues to enjoy a wide variety of collaborations with musicians all over New Zealand.

Canadian guitarist Steve Cowan has performed and taught extensively throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. His debut album “”Pour guitar”” has established him as one of Canada’s top classical guitarists. He currently teaches at McGill University in Montreal.

He was supposed to be touring New Zealand with flutist Hannah Darroch in May as part of the CMNZ Regional Series.

Composer and bassoon player Ben Hoadley is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. He served as principal bassoon with Hartford Symphony and an extra in the Boston Symphony before returning to New Zealand in 2007, where he has taught at the University of Auckland since. Ben has worked with many of the leading orchestras in Australia and New Zealand and is principal bassoonist of the Sydney Omega Ensemble.

Kiwi-Korean pianist Somi Kim has established herself as one of today’s most highly regarded young pianists with a string of competition successes and an extensive concert experience. A graduate of Royal Academy of Music (DipRAM), Somi splits her time between NZ and Europe. Sought after as a chamber musician, song accompanist and répétiteur, Somi is the official pianist for NZTrio, International Holland Music Sessions, International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Gisborne International Music Competition and the New Zealand Opera School. In recital, Somi’s recent and future appearances include Het Concertgebouw, Slovak Philharmonic, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, Bridgewater Hall and the Edinburgh Fringe and Oxford Lieder Festivals.

Tony is a Chinese New Zealand pianist currently based in Budapest, Hungary who studied in New Zealand, Germany and Hungary. He is a regular artist and teacher at the “Semaine Internationale Piano & Musique de Chambre” festival in Switzerland and a previous adjudicator of the Royal Over-Seas League ARTS Chamber Music Competition.

Huw Dann is the section principal trumpet of the Auckland Philharmonia and the Brass Unit Coordinator at the University of Auckland. He is also a founding member of the chamber music trio ACE Brass, who are passionate about sharing world class chamber music around New Zealand.

Justin is a widely acclaimed pianist, teacher, arranger, tuner, and collaborator. He has twice been part of the winning group in the NZ National Chamber Music Contest, and loves to play the violin and viola in orchestras and string quartets. He has been a finalist in the NZ Young Musician of the year Competition, and represented New Zealand in the finals of the Kowhai Australasian Piano Concerto Competition.

Originally from the Highlands of Scotland, Sarah holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the Royal Northern College of Music and a Masters in Chamber Music from the Robert Schumann Musik Hochschule. As well as performing with Auckland’s orchestras and the Villani Piano Quartet, Sarah is part of the amazing team at Sistema Aotearoa.

Ludwig is a pianist currently teaching at both Albany School of Music and the University of Waikato. Through his love of collaboration, in 2019 he performed alongside singing groups Shades and Sol3Mio around Aotearoa.

ludwigtreviranus.com

New Zealand flutist Hannah Darroch currently teaches at McGill University in Montreal, where she is finishing up her DMA. Before that she played regularly with the NZSO and Orchestra Wellington.

She was supposed to be touring New Zealand with guitarist Steve Cowan in May as part of the CMNZ Regional Series.

My name is Holly Miller Jones. I attended university in the USA and hold a bachelor and master’s degrees in piano performance. I studied chamber music with the New World String Quartet for several years, and received chamber music training at the Aspen School of Music. I co-founded the Einstein Chamber Music Society in New York City, and performed chamber music for several seasons with musicians from the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra. I feel privileged to have been part of Chamber Music New Zealand since 2014.

Jonathan Tanner received his Bachelor’s degree from the NZSM in Wellington and his Master’s degree from Bern University of the Arts in Switzerand. His past teachers include Stephen Larsen, Vesa-Matti Leppänen and Helene Pohl and he has received chamber music coaching from members of the Tokyo, Takács, Penderecki and New Zealand String Quartets. He now performs regularly with the CSO and NZSO as well as teaching his studio of more than 30 students in Christchurch. He is a versatile musician, playing both violin and viola and he enjoys playing many styles of music from Bach to Bluegrass.