2027 Festival Artists

Winner of the 2024 Australian National Piano Award, Joshua Han has been praised for his “complete mastery of his instrument as well as complete empathy with the music” (Sydney Arts Guide). He has appeared with distinguished orchestras including the Queensland Symphony, Sendai Philharmonic (Japan), and Suwon Philharmonic (South Korea). In 2025 he won first prize at the International Piano Competition J. S. Bach in Saarbrücken, Germany, following his success at the 2024 Australian National Piano Award.

An Australian-born pianist, Joshua began studies at the age of four with his mother and went on to win major international prizes at the Ettlingen (Germany, 2014) and Aarhus (Denmark, 2015) competitions. Upcoming performances in 2025–26 include appearances with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Symphony Orchestra, Albury Chamber Music Festival, Shepparton Arts Festival, Music Shoalhaven, and the Athenaeum Club. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music Studies (Performance) with Dr Paul Rickard-Ford at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, alongside medical studies at the University of Sydney.

David Griffiths has carved out a reputation not only for his superb performances as a clarinet soloist but as a consummate musician equally accomplished as a chamber musician, recitalist and leading educator.  He is a member of two prestigious Australian chamber music ensembles; the Australia Ensemble@UNSW and Ensemble Liaison. In addition, David also holds the position of Associate Director and Professor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the University of Melbourne.

In concerto, recent and future concerto highlights for David include performances with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.

Chamber music forms a vital part of David’s career and as a member of Ensemble Liaison, he curates and performs an annual three-concert series, and has just celebrated its 20^th season. Recognised for fostering long-term relationships with leading chamber ensembles, David enjoys collaborating with the American, New Zealand, Goldner, Tinalley, Arcacia, Flinders and Australian String Quartets, the New York Wind Soloists, and the Southern Cross Soloists.

David has also performed with many leading artists including Nemanja Radulović, Richard Tognetti, Ray Chen, James Crabb, Dale Baltrop, Konstantin Shamray, Anthony Marwood, Henning Kraggerud, and Emma Matthews, and has appeared at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville and the Port Fairy Festival.

As an orchestral musician, David has held positions as Associate Principal Clarinet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Principal Clarinet of the Macau Orchestra and Principal Clarinet of the Shanghai Radio Orchestra. He has appeared as Guest Principal clarinet with all of Australia’s major symphony and opera ballet orchestras along with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

A passionate teacher, David regularly presents performances and masterclasses across the world from Asia to Europe (incl. Wigmore Hall), United States (incl, Carnegie Hall), South America, the Middle East, New Zealand and Australia.

David is a Backun Clarinet performing artist.

Tim is an experienced and active Australian violinist based in Canberra.

As a member of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra for more than 20 years, he regularly performs a wide range of symphonic repertoire, including works by contemporary Australian composers.

Beyond orchestral work, Tim is active in chamber music and collaborative projects, including outreach initiatives that bring live music to diverse and under-served audiences, including aged-care settings and other community centres.

He has toured and performed in remote and regional parts of Australia, as well as destinations in Singapore, Malaysia, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.

Tim enjoys performing and listening to a wide range of music and is also an avid contemporary electric violin enthusiast!

Tom Fell is a Canberra-based saxophonist, composer and educator who has been active in the city’s music community for more than 15 years. He works primarily in jazz and improvised music, performing regularly in small ensembles, collaborative projects and festival settings. Alongside his performing career, Tom teaches saxophone and directs jazz ensembles at Canberra Grammar School. He has also previously taught at the Australian National University School of Music, contributing to both tertiary and community music programs.

Tom’s work often involves collaboration with leading Australian improvisers and musicians from across the contemporary music scene. His performances span a range of contexts, from traditional jazz settings through to interdisciplinary projects that bring together music, visual art and other creative practices. In 2025 he released his debut album Mantra, a collection of original compositions recorded with pianist Steve Barry, bassist Chris Pound and drummer Nick McBride.

Nicole Smede is a Warrimay multidisciplinary artist, composer and poet of cross-cultural ancestry, living and creating on Wadi Wadi Dharawal Country. Working across sound, voice, poetry, and installation, her practice explores the interrelationship between land, language, and memory, guided by ancestral knowledge. Through immersive soundscapes and poetic works, she invites deep listening as a form of connection and return to Country.

Her compositions have been commissioned by leading festivals and ensembles, including Canberra International Music Festival, Ensemble Offspring, and River City Voices. Her voice features on award-winning soundtracks such as Goldstone and Black Cockatoo Crisis, and her poetry appears in Guwayu: For All Times and Australian Poetry Journal, amongst others.

Nicole has been the recipient of several residencies, fellowships and awards and her video and sound works are held in national and state institutions. Nicole is a founding member of Mudjingaal Yangamba choir, a Koori women’s choir revitalising language, based on Yuin Country.

Neal Peres Da Costa is Professor of Historical Performance and Associate Dean (Research) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. An internationally recognised performing scholar and historical keyboard specialist, he is known for research-led performances that reconnect sound, rhetoric, and embodiment in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music. His award-winning discography includes an Australian Recording Industry Award (ARIA), and he performs regularly with Ironwood, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, and Bach Akademie Australia, in addition to appearing as a guest continuo player with leading Australian ensembles and soloists.

His ground-breaking monograph Off the Record: Performing Practices in Romantic Piano Playing (Oxford University Press, 2012) is widely regarded as a foundational text for pianists and scholars. His publications also include numerous influential book chapters, the complete co-edited Brahms Sonatas for Solo Instrument and Piano (Bärenreiter, 2015/16), and the Performing Practice Commentary for Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin (Bärenreiter, 2020), co-produced with Clive Brown.

Neal has delivered invited and keynote presentations internationally, most recently in Europe and South Korea. He is Lead Chief Investigator on three Australian Research Council Discovery Projects—Deciphering Nineteenth-Century Pianism, Hearing the Music of Early New South Wales 1788–1860, and The Shock of the Old: Rediscovering the Sounds of Bel Canto 1700–1900. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts.

Photo credit: University of Sydney

Miranda Wheen is a Sydney-based independent dancer and choreographer working on Dharug Country. Her contemporary dance practice integrates intercultural collaboration, community engagement, teaching, dramaturgy, and advocacy for the dance sector.

She is Co-Artistic Director and a founding member of Dance Makers Collective, directing all their major works including Dads, The Rivoli, The Saturday Night Social, and All In (touring nationally in 2026). Since 2017, Miranda has been an Associate Artist with Marrugeku, performing in acclaimed works such as Jurrungu Ngan-ga, Cut the Sky, Le Dernier Appel, and Burrbgaja Yalirra. She has been a member of Mirramu Dance Company since 2004 and has collaborated widely across the Australian dance sector, including long-term work with Martin Del Amo, Stalker Theatre, Shaun Parker and Company and many others.

A passionate sector advocate, Miranda was part of Creative Australia’s 2024/25 Creative Leadership cohort, is Vice Chair of Dance Makers Collective’s board, and a dedicated educator and mentor.

Megan is the principal oboist of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, a position she has held for twenty years. She has worked extensively in Australia and overseas including appearing with the Melbourne, Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. Megan has tutored for the Australian Youth Orchestra and toured Europe twice with the AYO as principal oboist. She studied in Switzerland with Thomas Indermühle and in Australia with Eve Newsome. Megan teaches from her home studio in Canberra.

Australian-French saxophonist and composer Joshua Hyde is internationally recognised for a practice that moves fluidly between solo performance, collaborative creation and interdisciplinary work. His repertoire spans historical transcriptions to the most demanding contemporary music, with a particular focus on projects that redefine the role of the performer in new music contexts. Hyde appears internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, working closely with leading composers and ensembles across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. A member of the Australian ensemble Elision since 2016 and a long-standing collaborator with Musikfabrik, he is also regularly invited by ensembles including Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien and Ensemble Nadar. Alongside his work as an interpreter of contemporary repertoire, Hyde maintains a strong profile as a creator-performer. His projects frequently integrate electronics, improvisation and visual elements, and explore the relationship between physical gesture, space and sound. He is a founding member of the Paris-based ensemble soundinitiative, serving as co-artistic director from 2011 to 2021, where he developed performance formats combining movement, staging and new approaches to collective authorship.

Improvisation forms a central strand of his artistic identity. Hyde performs in a range of collaborative settings including the electro-acoustic trio Replicant, the acoustic trio Vitrio, and the hybrid duo scapegoat with percussionist Noam Bierstone, whose work bridges composed and emergent performance practices. His collaborations with composers have resulted in numerous premieres and recordings for labels including Kairos, NMC and Wergo, and his performances have been recognised with major distinctions including First Prize and Audience Prize at the International Jean-Marie Londeix Competition and the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Darmstadt Summer Courses.

Hyde studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium. His artistic formation bridges instrumental performance, improvisation and composition, informing a practice that situates the saxophone within a broader ecosystem of contemporary creation. He is currently Professor of Saxophone and Contemporary Chamber Music at the Haute École de Musique de Genève and is regularly invited to give masterclasses and residencies at leading institutions worldwide.

Dylan has been active in the Canberra music scene performing and teaching for the past decade or so. Having graduated with first class honours from the ANU School of Music (where he was awarded multiple prizes and scholarships including the 2021 CASS Honours Scholarship), his career highlights include performances at the National Folk Festival, Groovin’ The Moo, the Woodford Folk Festival and playing in the 2024 Canberra season of Chicago at the Canberra Theatre.

Alex Monro is an Australian violist, harpist, and composer. Born in Adelaide in 2006, he is currently pursuing a double degree in Music and Advanced Science (physics) at the Australian National University and performs professionally on both viola and harp. He composes for chamber ensembles, films and plays, and creates digital media, and is a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra’s (AYO) Youth Council.

Alex is a violist in the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO), playing with acclaimed conductors such as Jessica Cottis and Erin Helyard. He was a Principal Viola in the AYO’s 2026 National Music Camp and is a violist in the AYO flagship orchestra. He will perform with the AYO Momentum Ensemble later in 2026. Alex has appeared as a guest artist with Apeiron Baroque, with Canberra CityNews describing him as a “confident and extroverted figure throughout”. He has performed in Parliament House and has performed solo at the Hungarian and Croatian embassies. His awards include the 2025 ANU Whitworth Roach Performance Scholarship, the Wesley Uniting Church Forrest Music Scholarship, and multiple prizes in Musica Viva’s Strike a Chord chamber music competition. Alex studies viola with Marianne Yeomans, and studies harp with Alice Giles.

Veronica is the Principal Percussionist with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. She has a Bachelor of Music from the Australian National University and a Master’s degree focusing on percussion pedagogy. She also studied at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University.

Veronica is a passionate educator and has been the classical percussion teacher at the ANU School of Music since 2018, ANU Open School since 2010, and also teaches privately. A number of her students have won prizes in national competitions, been finalists of Musica Viva Strike a Chord competitions, participated in Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) programs, and have been awarded scholarships to study at the ANU, Sydney Conservatorium of Music and other universities.

Photo credit: Martin Ollman

Internationally acclaimed for her virtuosity (Fiery virtuoso THE STRAD, True Devil’s Violinist BAYERISCHE RUNDFUNK, Superbement joué DIAPASON, Echte Virtuosin RONDO), her uncommon musicality (honest and heartfelt music-making GRAMOPHONE, the violinist of the soul SANKEI SHINBUN), her blend of creativity (great ornamental skills, true fire of art CLASSICA), energy (Lina shines SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE), and stylistic rigor (strong historical playfulness RONDO, extended colour palette, a finely constructed rhetoric CLASSICA), Lina Tur Bonet has developed a versatile and unique career as a violinist and conductor.

From a very young age, Lina worked in world-class ensembles under the batons of Abbado, Gardiner, Harding, Minkowski, Christie, Currentzis, Gatti, Marriner, Nagano, Biondi, Dantone, Goebel, Egarr, and Carmignola, and shared the stage in chamber music with Zacharias, Pressler, de Figueiredo, Onofri, and Kossenko, appearing at the Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, Bunkamura Hall, the London Proms, and the Berliner Philharmonie.

She is the concertmaster of Le Concert des Nations with Jordi Savall and has led Il Complesso Barocco, Liceu de Barcelona, Concerto Köln, Hofkapelle Munich, Orchestre d’Auvergne, ONE, and many others.

Lina conducts regularly Tafelmusik Toronto, Barokkanerne Oslo, Orchestre de Chambre Toulouse, Barroca de Sevilla, Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, Camerata Villa Musica Mainz, Haydn Philharmonie Eisenstadt, Ciudad de Granada, and Recreation Styriarte Graz.

Lina has toured as a soloist worldwide, appearing at the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie St. Petersburg, Potsdamer Festival, Trigonale Klagenfurt, Bachfest Leipzig, Potsdamer Festspiele, Musashino Hall Tokyo, Israel, NYC, Montreal Baroque, Musikverein, Konzerthaus Wien, and more.

Her 18 solo CDs have been chosen as Best Version by the BBC, Reference for Gramophone, Best Version for Radio France Musique and Scherzo, and Recommended by German radio stations, earning several Diapason d’Or, E for Scherzo, R for Rhythm, and Melómano d’Or, Choc de Classica. Joker by Crescendo, 5* Rondo, 10* Luister, Opus Klassik and ICMA nominations. Her Ravel recording was Best CD of the Year in Japan.

Tur Bonet holds the position of professor of Baroque violin and viola at the MHS Franz Liszt Weimar.

Photo credit: Michal Novak

Lina is supported by         

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, 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 has collaborated with many of the most important 20th and 21st century composers including Sofia Gubaidulina, Thomas Adès, Harrison Birtwistle, Sally Beamish, Luciano Berio and has premiered countless concertos, chamber music and solo works dedicated to him. Recognised internationally as an authority on the music of Astor Piazzolla he was invited to curate the inaugural Piazzolla Festival in Buenos Aires in 2016. James has given the world premiere of Brett Dean’s accordion concerto The Players in Sweden, (recorded on the BIS label) and featured in the on-stage role in Dean’s opera Hamlet with Glyndebourne Opera, Cologne Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, at Adelaide Festival and for Opera Australia. Recent and upcoming projects include returns to the ACO, the AFCM, the UK for performances, including at Wigmore Hall, with Anthony Marwood and recitals at numerous music festivals around Australia.

James is a passionate and sought-after music educator and mentor, and whilst Artistic Director of the Four Winds Festival in Bermagui, curated both the Easter and inaugural Youth Festivals and developed the local school’s music education program.

Photo credit: Christoffer Askman

Based on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country (Canberra, ACT), Luminescence has emerged as one of Australia’s most dynamic ensembles, championing our original instrument: the human voice. Comprised of six professional singers, Luminescence has built an enviable reputation as a uniquely versatile ensemble, performing repertoire that spans more than 2000 years from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary art music, and increasingly working across amplified and unamplified forms.

Recent highlights include sold-out performances at the Sydney Opera House (2025), Melbourne Recital Centre (2024/2025), and National Museum of Australia (2024). In June 2025, Luminescence appeared alongside Elena Kats-Chernin and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performing Kats-Chernin’s score for special screenings of Adam Elliot’s Oscar-nominated film, Memoir of A Snail. In July, the group premiered a new work by Kats-Chernin, commissioned in celebration of their milestone birthday, and in August 2025, Luminescence won the APRA AMCOS State Luminary Art Music Award for the ACT.

2025 marked Luminescence’s 10th anniversary and the beginning of numerous major projects, including a three-year Gesualdo Tenebrae and Luminescence and the Machine, an experimental new music project developed in collaboration with sound designer Tilman Robinson, GRAMMY-award winning producer and composer William Brittelle (USA) and GRAMMY-award winning bass Cameron Beauchamp (Roomful of Teeth, USA).

During 2023-2024, Luminescence recorded and released their first studio recordings, including new music by Australian composers Dan Walker, Jess Green, and Leah Blankendaal. Luminescence’s debut album, Of The Body, was recorded in April 2024 by ABC Classic and released in December 2025.

Photo: WILK

Comprising some of Australia’s top brass musicians, Lyrebird Brass is a collective of artists dedicated to performing the finest brass chamber music. The group’s mission is twofold: to engage Australian audiences through exceptional artistry and accessible programming, and to expand repertoire through new commissions with a particular emphasis on Australian music and works by composers from underrepresented demographics. Members have performed across the globe in many of the world’s premiere ensembles, each bringing a unique musical background to the troupe. Lyrebird Brass is the first professional Australian brass ensemble to feature women as core members.

The name ‘Lyrebird Brass’ is a homage to a unique songbird native to the ensemble’s hometown of Melbourne. Lyrebirds are known for singing for hours each day in a combination of their own distinctive song and mimicked noises and can even vocalise multiple melodies simultaneously. The name is also a reference to Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre (Lyrebird Press), part of Louise Hanson-Dyer’s legacy which has so benefited the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music where each member teaches.

Artists: Carla Blackwood (horn), Joel Brennan (trumpet), Rosie Turner (trumpet), Don Immel (trombone), Alex Jeantou (tuba).

Photo credit: Mads Sørensen

Eugene is the founder and Co-Artistic Director of Speak Percussion as well as the Artistic Director of the Canberra International Music Festival. He is known worldwide as a trailblazer in art music whether as director, composer, performer or conductor.

He has collaborated with iconic figures in new music such as Pierre Boulez, Liza Lim, Steve Reich, and John Zorn.

As a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician Eugene has worked across the globe. He has premiered new concerti with Australian Symphony Orchestras and worked with renowned conductors including Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Sir Andrew Davis, and Valery Gergiev.

Eugene’s compositions have been commissioned by The Australian Ballet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra the ABC, and other prestigious institutions. His works have been featured at international festivals and venues, including Darmstadt (Germany), Roulette (USA), SONICA (UK), Ruhrtriennale (Germany), Transart (Italy), Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Noordezon Festival (The Netherlands), SIPFest (Jakarta), National Museum (Singapore), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), and George Town Festival (Malaysia).

Eugene has received many prestigious awards, such as the inaugural Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, the Freedman Award for Classical Music, and the Luminary Art Music Award (organizational). He is a PhD candidate at Monash University, focusing on Signature Pedagogies in Creative Collaboration.

Eugene’s classical training, diverse leadership experience, and adventurous spirit make him a pioneering force in the Australian music scene.

Photo credit: Bryony Jacks

One of Australia’s leading musicians, YAMAHA artist and pianist Kristian Chong has performed extensively throughout Australia and the UK, and in China, France, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, and Zimbabwe. He is in frequent demand as concerto soloist, solo recitalist and chamber musician.

As concerto soloist he has appeared with the Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Queensland, Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, and orchestras in the UK, New Zealand and China with conductors such as Andrey Boreyko, Nicholas Braithwaite, Jessica Cottis, Roy Goodman, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Nicholas Milton, Benjamin Northey, Tuomas Hannikainen, Marcus Stenz, Arvo Volmer and Marco Zuccarini. Highlights have included Rachmaninoff 3rd (Sydney Symphony), Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody in Beijing and Canberra (Canberra Symphony), and Britten (Adelaide Symphony). Recent highlights include Shostakovich 2nd, Brahms 1st, Rachmaninoff 3rd, Beethoven’s 3rd and Emperor in Melbourne, Ravel’s Left-Hand concerto with both the Australian Youth Orchestra & Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Saëns 2nd & Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody with the Melbourne Symphony, and Malcolm Williamson’s 2nd with the Canberra Symphony.

Described by The Age as ‘a true chamber musician at work’, Kristian has collaborated extensively with musicians such as cellists Li-Wei Qin and Timo-Veikko Valve, violinists Vadim Gluzman, Rebecca Chan, Sophie Rowell, Dale Barltrop, Daniel Dodds, Jack Liebeck and Satu Vänskä, violist Christopher Moore, mezzo soprano Caitlin Hulcup, clarinettist Philip Arkinstall, baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, (with whom he has recorded with ABC Classics) flautist Megan Sterling and the Australian String Quartet amongst many others. His festival appearances include the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Adelaide, Coriole, Huntington Estate, Mimir and Bangalow Festivals.

Other recent solo and chamber highlights include Oxford May Music Festival (UK) in May 2025 and the ‘Kristian Chong and Friends’ series at the Melbourne Recital Centre, in its thirteenth year in 2026.

Kristian studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Piers Lane & Christopher Elton, with Stephen McIntyre at the University of Melbourne and with Noreen Stokes and Stefan Ammer at the Elder Conservatorium. He is on piano and chamber music faculty at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Photo: John Tsiavis

Aaron is an accomplished violist, conductor, composer, programmer and academic. He has played in a wide variety of ensembles across many different genres, and is a long term member of the award winning Decibel New Music ensemble. As well as performing with the ensemble, he is the developer behind the Decibel ScorePlayer app, the group’s cutting edge, animated graphic notation software for the iPad.

An emerging conductor, he was nominated for a Helpmann Award for his role as musical director of the premiere season of Cat Hope’s opera, Speechless, and is the director of Ensemble Dutala, Australia’s first First Nations chamber ensemble. An advocate for Indigenous classical music and musicians, he premiered Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s work, Nanyubak, for viola and orchestra as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and during a conducting engagement with them he became the first Indigenous Australian to conduct one of the state symphony orchestras in concert. He has since gone on to work with the ASO and SSO, and conducted the premiere of the first opera in Noongar, Gina Williams’ and Guy Ghouse’s Koolbardi Wer Wardong with the WA Opera.

As a composer he has been a participant in the Ngarra-Burria First Peoples composer program, writing for Ensemble Offspring. He has also written a number of electro-acoustic works, using a mix of traditional and animated graphic notation for Decibel, GreyWing Ensemble, Ensemble Dutala, and for Kyla Matsuura-miller’s Freedman Fellowship project, Three Conversations.