Peter Moore is a Conductor/Presenter/Bassoonist and Educator. He has conducted and presented concerts for WASO/ WAAPA and UWA. He has been Musical Director for WAYO (1986- present day). This involves conducting concerts and presenting 'Babies Proms'. As a bassoonist he has held the positions of Principal Bassoon with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (1991-2005), The Brandenburg Orchestra (2005-2016), Contrabassoon with the WASO (1986) and Co-Principal Bassoon with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (1974-1984). From 1986 - 1990 he was lecturer in Bassoon at WAAPA and from 1991 - 2016 he was an Associate Professor in Music at UWA. Peter is married to professional clarinettist Lorna Cook.

Michael Lewis, in a career spanning 50 years, has become one of Australia’s most respected singers. After winning an Arts Council Scholarship in 1973, Michael left Adelaide for Europe, marking the beginning of a successful international career. His major debut at the Wexford Festival in 1976, was followed by performances at opera houses in London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Venice, San Diego, Pittsburgh, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North and Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Opera. He performed 35 major roles with Opera Australia, and appeared regularly with the state companies in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane and New Zealand Opera. He has worked in concert with many major orchestras and conductors in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Malaysia. Michael is a sought after singing teacher, mentor and coach. In 2008 Michael was awarded an OAM for services to the arts.

Raymond Yong is known around Australia as a classical pianist, orchestral conductor and music educator. He has performed in concert with many of Australia’s foremost classical instrumentalists, singers and ensembles, including concerts for Musica Viva Australia and piano concerto performances with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Queensland Symphony, West Australian Symphony and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. Raymond was born in Malaysia, emigrating to Australia at the age of two. He received his initial musical training in Perth as a pupil of Mark Coughlan, before studying piano and conducting at the University of Melbourne under Stephen McIntyre and John Hopkins. A German government scholarship brought him to Hannover, where he undertook three years of intensive piano performance training under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the University of Music and Theater in Hannover. Now based in his home city of Perth, Raymond recently completed doctoral research investigating techniques for reducing pain, discomfort and risk of injury for pianists, applying this knowledge to the training of advanced level pianists. Raymond teaches at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and is a Music Fellow of St George’s College, University of Western Australia.

Micheál McCarthy is a specialist in the areas of Aural and Choral Training. He studied at the Cork School of Music in Ireland (violin, piano and double bass). He graduated from University College Cork and pursued postgraduate studies at the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskemét, Hungary, studying under Péter Erdei. Micheál has held lecturing positions at the Canberra School of Music (ANU), the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, where he is currently Senior Lecturer in Music. He is the founding director of Eneksis, one of Australia’s finest university vocal ensembles, and his choirs have featured on ABC Classic FM. He featured as ‘Classroom Music and Choir Mentor’ in the 3-part ABC Television’s documentary series, ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ - a series that set out to show the transformative effects that music can have on schools. He is the Director of Cottage Music Institute, a school that provides specialist Musicianship and Choral Training for children aged 5-16 years of age. He conducts workshops for teachers in Australia and overseas, and many of these workshops have featured at national and international conferences.

Associate Professor Jonathan Paget has led the classical guitar program at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Edith Cowan University) since 2005. Winner of multiple international guitar competitions, Jonathan has performed throughout Australia, the USA, and Asia, and performed at organisations such as Musica Viva, Perth Festival, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, and Strings Attached (Margaret River). His two solo recordings are regularly played on radio (particularly“Midsummer’s Night” for Move Records). Reviews describe his “formidable virtuosity” [Limelight],“subtle, intimate artistry” [The West Australian], “up there with some of the best” [Classical Guitar,UK]. A Fulbright and Hackett scholar, Paget completed doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music in upstate New York. He was the Associate Dean of Research at WAAPA for six years and is an active music researcher in guitar studies and historically informed performance practice. He has been President of the Classical Guitar Society of WA, Inc. since 2006.

Ruth Lenz is a classical guitarist, who resides in Perth. In the 1990s, after completing her Music Degree, she travelled to the UK on a Churchill Fellowship to study with John Mills and Richard Wright,  as well as attend festivals and masterclasses. Ruth met her future husband, Richard Lenz, whilst at a guitar festival in 1994. Since then, she and Richard have performed under the name of`”Duo Lenz,” playing concerts in Europe and across Australia as well as recording. Ruth continues to maintain a busy schedule - teaching, examining, adjudicating and playing. 

For more than 40 years, Geoffrey Lancaster has been at the forefront of the historicallyinspired performance practice movement. He has appeared as pianist and conductor with such orchestras as the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; the Royal StockholmPhilharmonic; the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Dortmund Philharmonic; GürzenichOrchester Köln; Tafelmusik of Toronto; Ensemble 415 of Geneva; the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Concerto Copenhagen. He was Artistic Director of the Australian Fortepiano Trio, Ensemble of the Classic Era, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and the Tasmanian Symphony Chamber Players. He has performed to critical acclaim at the Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Shanghai and Mostly Mozart Festivals, at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and with every major Australian symphony orchestra. Dr Lancaster was the first Australian to win a major international keyboard competition, receiving First Prize in the 23rd Festival van Vlaanderen International Mozart Fortepiano Competition, Brugge. As a recording artist, his more than 60 albums have won many awards including the ARIA Best Classical Album and Gramophone Best Recording. He has recorded for ABC Classics, Tall Poppies, Sony Classical and Supraphon. An inspiring teacher and public intellectual, Dr Lancaster is the author of three scholarly monographs and undertakes regular residencies at significant European conservatoria, including the Royal Conservatory of the Hague; the Conservatory of Amsterdam; Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music; the Royal Academy of Music, London; the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg; the Basel Musik Akademie. He holds several emeritus and professorial appointments. From 1991 to 1992, Dr Lancaster was Curator of Musical Instruments at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. In 1996, he was Associate Professor at the Royal College of Music, London. Between 1999 and 2007, Dr Lancaster was visiting Professor of fortepiano at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland. He served as Professor and Head of Keyboard of a Group of 8 university for over a decade, before moving to Perth in 2014 and assuming his current appointment as Professor in the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University. Dr Lancaster’s career honours include the Australia Council’s Australian Artists Creative Fellowship, the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship, and elected Fellowships of the Australian Academy of Humanities, the Australian College of Educators and the Royal Society of Arts. Dr Lancaster was named Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory in 2006. He was appointed to the Order of Australia and to the Order of Arts and Letters, for services to music.

Tommy Seah is a Singapore-born pianist based in Perth. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed across Australia, Asia, North America, and Europe. Tommy holds a Graduate Diploma in piano performance and a Master of Arts in music from WAAPA where he has been a lecturer since 2017. Aside from performance and teaching activities, Tommy is also an active researcher. He has presented for Musicology Society Australia, Historical Performance Institute at the University of Indiana, and WAAPA. His work has also been published in the Liszt Society Journal. Tommy is also the artistic director and founder of Perth Recital Series.

Described as ‘Incandescent... a masterly display of skill and insight... as an apologistfor contemporary music-making, you would search hard to find this young clarinettist's equal’ (The Age), Ashley William Smith has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Australia, USA, Europe and Asia. He performs regularly with ensembles including the Southern Cross Soloists and the Calder, Dover, and Australian string quartets. He is a laureate of prizes including the APRA Performance of the Year, the Music Council of Australia Freedman Fellowship, anABC Symphony International Young Performer Award, and a Churchill Fellowship. Agraduate of Yale University, the University of Western Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music, Ashley was awarded prizes as the most outstanding performance graduate of each institution.

Sara Macliver (Soprano) is one of Australia’s most popular and versatile artists, and is regarded as one of the leading exponents of Baroque repertoire. Sara is a regular performer with all the Australian symphony orchestras as well as the Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane & New Zealand Festivals, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Musica Viva, and a number of international companies. Sara records for ABC Classics with more than 35 CDs and many awards to her credit. She has also recorded for the Decca label in a double album of Calvin Bowman’s songs. In 2022 Sara performed with the West Australian, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony orchestras, as well Genesis Baroque, St. George’s Cathedral, West Australian Jazz Project, Freeze Frame Opera & Irwin St. Collective. In 2023, she performs with the Sydney, Melbourne & West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Australian Digital Concert Hall, St. George’s Cathedral, Freeze Frame Opera and festivals in Victoria and Stradbroke Island. Sara is a Lecturer in Voice at the Conservatorium of Music, UWA and sits on the board of WASO and Freeze Frame Opera. She has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia in recognition of her services to singing.

Biography not yet published here

Grace Ah-quee studied in Sydney and worked as a full time Violinist & Violist playing for Les Mis, the Australian Opera & Ballet , the Midday show and many film and TV recordings at EMI and FOX studios. As a professional musician she has played with Tim Rice, Joan Sutherland, Shirley Bassey, Jerry Lewis, André Bocelli and Monty Python’s Eric Idle, Touring with Pavarotti. Grace currently works as an orchestral musician for Perth Symphony Orchestra, WA Phil ballet orchestra and as principal Violist for Fremantle Chamber Orchestra. Grace continues her role as Music Director of Perth Summer Orchestra Camps including the Baroque specialisation camp. She is Conductor & Music Director for Allegri Chamber Orchestra. Grace has worked as a conductor for the Western Australia Youth Orchestra for 20 years and has taught strings to Uni entry level for 30 years.

Emma Matthews has performed with all the Australian opera companies, symphony orchestras and major Australian festivals. In 2022 Emma appeared at Perth Festival in recital, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Brahms Requiem), Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven Symphony 9), and in the title role of Alcina for National Opera, Canberra. For Opera Australia, Emma has sung the title roles in Partenope, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lakmé, The Cunning Little Vixen (also at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden) and Lulu; Leila (The Pearlfishers), Amina (La Sonnambula), Ilia (Idomeneo), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Marie (La Fille du Regiment), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), the four heroines (The Tales of Hoffmann), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) and Cunegonde (Candide). Her concert repertoire extends from Handel, Bach and Mozart to Fauré, Brahms, Poulenc and Mahler. She has also appeared as guest artist with José Carreras and at New Year’s Eve Galas for Opera Australia. Emma’s recordings include Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo, (Monte Carlo Philharmonic); Mozart Arias (TSO); Agony and Ecstasy, (MSO); Violetta (La Traviata), title role of Lakmé, and Gilda (Rigoletto) for Opera Australia on DVD. Emma is Head of Classical Voice/Opera Studies at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and Patron of the Wesfarmers Young Artist Program at West Australian Opera.

Cellist Hyewon (Grace) Chang was born in Seoul, South Korea, and started cello at the ageof 18. After two years, she began her formal cello studies at Kyungwon University where served as an assistant principal cellist of the KU Symphony Orchestra. When she was in her third year, her passion for music led her to the United States to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under a scholarship, the mentorship of Jean-Michel Fonteneau and graduated early. During her time in San Francisco, Hyewon developed her love of chamber and orchestra music with lessons from Brian Thornton, Amos Yang, and Anthony Kitai and a masterclass from Alisa Weilerstein. She participated in the Miami Summer Music Festival in 2015 where she played as a soloist in Albert Herring Opera at the New World Center and Texas Summer Orchestra Music Festival in 2016 with full scholarships for both competitions. She moved to Australia in 2018 and has built a broad range of professional experience. She passed an audition for the casual cello position in WASO in 2019, tutored cello at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts from 2019 to 2020 and won the Honorable Award in the American Music talent competition in 2021, followed by winning the 3rd prize in the France Music Competition in 2022. Hyewon also recently received her Masters in Teaching (Secondary) from Edith Cowan University in 2022.

Dale Pointon lectures in pedagogy and music education at the University of Western Australia and WAAPA at Edith Cowan University. He is the past director of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at WAAPA. Dale earned his Masters of Music in Conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), a Bachelor of Music Performance (UWA) and a Graduate Diploma of Education majoring in Music (ECU). Dale is the Conducting Support and Ensemble Development Officer with Instrumental Music School Services (Education Department of WA) where he also works as an ensemble director. He offers various ensemble related workshops and Professional Development opportunities. Dale is an active community ensemble director, clinician and adjudicator. He adjudicates at various Australian festivals and eisteddfods, including the National Band Championships in Sydney. Dale also serves on the panel of the Advisory Committee for the AMEB WA where he is an examiner. He is a conductor with the West Australian Youth Orchestras Association and has served as the Vice President of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association (WA).

Pianist Emily Green-Armytage studied at the University of Western Australia, the Royal Conservatorium of The Hague and also undertook private postgraduate lessons in London for several years. She returned to Perth to complete a Master of Music Performance Degree at UWA. She has almost 30 years teaching experience and currently tutors at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University and at Perth College where she also holds a position as an accompanist. She works as an examiner for the AMEB and has adjudicated at eisteddfods in London as well as in Perth and Bunbury. As a performer she has a particular interest in contemporary classical repertoire and regularly performs and records with her ensemble Intercurrent, as well as maintaining a busy freelance career playing solo, collaborative and orchestral piano.

William Theis is currently Head of Brass at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He was previously Co-Principal Trumpet of the Malaysian Philharmonic for over 20 years. He also served on the Faculty of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra in Singapore for 12 years. During that time, his students won and placed in national and international competitions, and also gained entry at the graduate level to some of the finest conservatories and music schools in the United States.

The recipient of many prizes in the fields of performance and academia, Lisa studied at the University of Western Australia, and was a member the Young Artist Programmes with West Australian Opera and Opera Australia. She has studied at the Britten-Pears School, with Janice Chapman, Dame Joan Sutherland, and New York’s, Michael Parker and Marlena Malas. Lisa’s past roles for WAO include the Soprano in Elijah, the title role in Alcina, Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), 1st Lady and Pamina (The Magic Flute), Venus (Orpheus In The Underworld), Frasquita (Carmen), and Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro). For Opera Australia, her roles include Pamina and First Lady (The Magic Flute), Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Elsa (Lohengrin), Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos), Diana (Orpheus In The Underworld), Belinda (Dido & Aeneas) and multiple seasons of Countess Almaviva (The Marriage Of Figaro), for which she received a Helpmann Award. Other operatic appearances include, Musetta (La Boheme) Opera Qld, Ortlinde (Die Walküre) State Opera of South Australia, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) Opera NZ, First Lady (The Magic Flute) Hamburg State Opera, Elizabeth (Maria Stuarda) Days Bay Opera NZ. Concert appearances include Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 with MSO, Symphony Under The Stars, Gerhilde (Die Walküre) with SSO, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater for Perth Festival, Elijah Downside Abby (UK), Carmina Burana with WASO, Verdi’s Requiem for NZSO, Mozart’s Mass in C, Haydn’s Creation, Berlioz’s La nuit d’ete and Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Hawkes Bay Orchestra, NZ. Lisa divides her time between her performing commitments and her other passion: Teaching. Having taught for 30+ years across three continents in a variety of educational settings, Lisa’s extensive ‘on-stage’ experience, research into Vocal Pedagogy and Languages, make her a highly sought-after Voice Teacher, Choral Trainer and Adjudicator.