Kathryn Selby AM

Australian Hometown(s): Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Curtis Institute of Music, USA; Bryn Mawr College, USA; Juilliard School of Music, USA

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Hailed by the Australian press as a ‘formidable talent’ and ‘Australia’s pre-eminent chamber music pianist’, Miss Selby is the Artistic Director and founder of both the popular nationally touring Selby & Friends concert series and A Little Lunch Music at Sydney’s City Recital Hall. She was honoured with being appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia, receiving the ‘AM’ on Australia Day 2013. She is the recipient of both the prestigious Churchill and Australia Council Fellowships. She began her piano studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and then attended the famed Curtis Institute of Music and Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, and earned her Master’s degree from New York’s Juilliard School.

Miss Selby has won prizes at the Van Cliburn Competitions, the William Kapell Competition, the Bruce Hungerford Memorial award in New York, the Young Concert Artists Competition in New York, as well as the Ferruccio Busoni Competition giving her a debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall. She spent the summer of 1982 at the Marlboro Music Festival, participating at the special invitation of Rudolf Serkin. During the same year she won the Astral Foundation of New York career development grant. In 1987 she was appointed by Affiliate Artists as Xerox Artist for the 1988-89 season.

Miss Selby has performed with the American Chamber Orchestra and was a founding member of the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Group. Those she has been guest artist with include the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, San Francisco Philharmonic, Hartford Chamber Orchestra, the ACO, and the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. She has performed at the Athens, Spoleto, Caramoor, Aspen, Marlboro, Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, ASQ Festival in Victoria, Sydney Mozart and Sydney Festivals. She has performed with the Tokyo, Endellion, Goldner and Australian String Quartets amongst others.

Miss Selby created the successful four-year series “Selby & Friends” when she returned to Australia in 1988 with the sponsorship of IBM Australia. This series was recreated in 2006 and now tours nationally presenting an annual 5-series subscription season.

Also in 1988 Ms Selby was officially appointed the first Musician-in-Residence at Macquarie University, Sydney. She held this position until 1992 at which time she merged her Residency into the creation of an ensemble in residence at Macquarie University – the popular Macquarie Trio which toured and recorded from 1992 – 2006.

Miss Selby has been a presenter of her own program on 2MBS-FM in Sydney and a presenter for ABC Classic FM. Her former piano trio, TRIOZ, was the first ensemble-in-residence at the prestigious City Recital Hall, Sydney from 2008-2011. She teaches privately both advanced piano students and chamber music ensembles at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Miss Selby has recorded extensively including an all-Gershwin disc for the NAXOS label, a solo piano recital disc for the ABC Classics label, a chamber CD with Canberra Wind Soloists and another with artists from the Australian Festival of Music, and with Macquarie Trio, a series of discs for the ABC Classics labels of Beethoven and Piazzolla piano trios and the complete piano trios of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Dvorak.

Last updated 2018