Category: Brass

Andrew Bain

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Australian Hometown: Adelaide
Education: Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide; University of Music Karlsruhe, Germany

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Andrew Bain was appointed to the Chair of Principal Horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Gustavo Dudamel in May 2011.

Born and raised in Australia, Andrew was first introduced to music at age 8 when he took up the piano. Four years later, he was enrolled at Brighton High School in their special music program and soon after switched to the French horn because he loved the sound. Andrew ultimately received a Bachelor in Music from the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide studying with Patrick Brislan. He furthered his studies with Geoff Collinson in Sydney, Hector McDonald in Vienna, and in 2003 completed a Graduate Diploma in Chamber Music under Will Sanders in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Prior to moving to LA Andrew held positions of Principal Horn of the Melbourne Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Münchner Symphoniker and the Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra, and Associate Principal Horn of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. From 2003-2012 he was the Principal Horn of the Colorado Music Festival.

A regarded solo artist, Andrew has appeared regularly as a soloist with the LA Phil since joining the orchestra. Andrew has also appeared at the front of the stage with the Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Colorado Music Festival, Colburn Orchestra and Music in the Round Festival. In 2015 Andrew presented the world premiere of Brad Warnaar’s Horn Concerto with the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra and looks forward to recording the work in 2016. A keen chamber musician, Andrew loves to explore the possibilities of the horn in various ensembles and most recently gave the first performance of Geoffrey Gordon’s Winterleben for Mezzo Soprano, Horn and Piano.

In addition to performing, Andrew is passionate about education and is proud to be the Horn Professor at the Colburn School Conservatory. Andrew has held teaching positions with the Australian National Academy of Music, University of Melbourne, Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and Sydney Conservatorium. He has also given master classes and lectures throughout the United States, Europe and Australasia.

Throughout 2015 Andrew appeared as guest principal horn of the Chicago Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic and the Australian World Orchestra’s concerts with Simon Rattle in Sydney and Melbourne and the AWO’s groundbreaking tour throughout India with Zubin Mehta. As Co-host of the 2015 International Horn Symposium here in LA, Andrew was thrilled to welcome over 1000 horn players and musicians to the Colburn School for a week long celebration of everything horn!

Andrew can be heard on numerous Hollywood films and was overjoyed to fulfill the dream of a lifetime working with John William’s as principal horn for the score of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’

As well as appearing at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Phil, over the Summer Andrew is the Principal Horn of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

In addition to music, Andrew loves traveling, cooking and exploring L.A. with his beautiful wife, Rupal. If he’s not working, you will most likely find him on the golf course trying to improve his handicap.

Last updated 2022

Jenna Breen holding French Horn

Jenna Breen

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Australian Hometown(s): Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Education: Queensland Conservatorium of Music; Australian National Academy of Music

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
French horn player Jenna Breen obtained her Bachelor of Music Performance from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music where she studied under Peter Luff on an Academic Scholarship. During her course she also received the Kurt Blumenthal Music Scholarship and the Yvonne Haysom Women in Music Bursary. Additional study was undertaken for 1 year at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne.

Since completing her studies, Jenna has held permanent positions in the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and now the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, where she has been a member since 2016. In 2014 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to study with some of the best low horn players across the globe, visiting Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. Jenna has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Queensland, Adelaide and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Last updated 2022

Lukas Beno

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Education: Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY 
Lukas Beno is Principal Trumpet of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and is also a member of both the Australian World Orchestra and the historic Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. In addition, he is a founding member of the Gewandhaus Brass Quintett, which successfully tours throughout Europe. 

He has played as Guest Principal Trumpet with many prestigious international orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg and the Bavarian Radio Symphony.

Also as a celebrated soloist, Lukas Beno has performed with many European orchestras including the Gewandhausorchester, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and the Camerata Bern. 

Parallel to his performing career, Lukas Beno holds a professorship at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts and gives regular master classes in Germany, USA, China, Australia, Venezuela, Cyprus, Brazil, Taiwan and Singapore.

Last updated 2022

Michael Bertoncello

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Australian Hometown: Melbourne
Education: Victorian College of the Arts

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Originally from Melbourne, Michael studied music at the Victorian College of the Arts before taking up a position with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Michael went on to hold numerous orchestral positions around the world, including Solo Trombone with the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich and most recently Trombonist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In high demand as a soloist and teacher Michael has made guest appearances at many world class institutions, including Zurich University of the Arts, Northwestern University Chicago, The Juilliard School of Music New York amongst others.

On his return to Melbourne, Michael joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, however his creative focus and passion turned to mentoring and chamber music. Michael held senior academic positions at the Universities of Melbourne and Tasmania as well as the Australian National Academy of Music and also was a founding member of the world renowned Australian Brass Quintet.In 2013, Michael decided to change direction and embarked on a path that involved less travel, concerts and teaching and more focus on things that were more important to us, family and balance.

Last updated 2023

Nick Byrne

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Australian Hometown: Sydney & Canberra
Education: Simone de Haan; Ian Perry; Ronald Prussing; Michael Mulcahy; Charles Vernon; Jay Friedman; Edward Kleinhammer; Arnold Jacobs

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Born in Sydney, Nick Byrne completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Canberra School of Music in 1991. He subsequently undertook further postgraduate study with Charles Vernon at De-Paul University in Chicago. His other teachers have included Simone de Haan, Ian Perry, Ron Prussing, Arnold Jacobs and Michael Mulcahy.

Nick Byrne joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1996, prior to which he held the position of Solo Trombone with the Hofer Symphoniker in Germany. He has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and in 1994 was chosen by Sir Georg Solti for his Carnegie Hall Festival Orchestra.

Nick Byrne has also performed with Summit Brass, Millar Brass, Chicago Symphony Lower Brass Ensemble, Canberra Trombone Quartet (prize winner at the UMI Chamber Music Competition in Arizona, 1993), and is a founding member of the Sydney Symphony Brass Ensemble.

He is also a recognised performer on the ophicleide (an early keyed tuba) and has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, World Orchestra for Peace (Moscow and St Petersburg, 2003) and in solo recitals at the Melbourne International Festival of Brass (2003 and 2009).

In 2002, Nick Byrne was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship which allowed him to undertake ophicleide studies in Lyon, France, and in 2006 he recorded the world’s first solo ophicleide recording Back from Oblivion.


Last updated 2022

Genevieve Clifford holding horn

Genevieve Clifford

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Australian Hometown(s): Melbourne
Education: University of Melbourne; Australian National Academy of Music; University of Arts, Berlin

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Australian born Genevieve Clifford began playing the horn at the age of 9. During her time as a student at the University of Melbourne, studying both music with Geoff Collinson, and also history, she performed regularly with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. 

She continued her studies at the Australian National Academy of Music before moving to Germany in 2006 to attend the University of Arts in Berlin, as a student of Professor Christian Dallman. In 2009 she graduated with honours.  

After a year spent performing on contract with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Genevieve won her first permanent position, in the Essener Philharmoniker.  

During her time in Essen, she developed a keen interest in chamber music,  and continues to play regularly with various ensembles.  

In 2016 Genevieve moved to Frankfurt to join the Frankfurt Oper und Museums Orchester as a low horn player.  

She has toured on a regular basis with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for many years, including as an Associate member in 2020. Genevieve also performs with other renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bayreuther Festpiel Orchester, Hessischer Runkfunkorchester, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Australian World Orchestra and Musica Aeterna.  

Genevieve holds a teaching position as lecturer for horn at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.  

As a soloist Genevieve has performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Last updated 2023

Alfred Carslake holding trumpet

Alfred Carslake

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Australian Hometown(s): Sydney
Education: Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Germany; Sydney Conservatorium of Music

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Alfred Carslake is currently studying his Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Germany, under the tutelage of Prof. Wim Van Hasselt. He completed his Bachelor of Music performance degree in 2019, studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Leanne Sullivan.

As a performer, Alfred has made guest appearances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Sydney Philharmonia, and in Germany with the Philharmonie Baden Baden. He has performed as Principal Trumpet with Ensemble Apex and the Metropolitan Orchestra of Sydney.

Alfred was a member of the Australia Youth Orchestra in 2019 for their European/China tour, has been a guest performer at the Australian National Academy of Music, and has attended the Australian International Symphony Orchestra Institute in Tasmania in 2015. In 2015 he was a featured performer in ENCORE at the Sydney Opera House.

In 2022, Alfred will tour to the United Kingdom with the Australian World Orchestra and Zubin Mehta.

Last updated 2022

David Cribb

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Australian Hometown: Queensland
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
David Cribb was born in Australia and grew up on a cattle property in Queensland. After studying in Brisbane and Sydney, where he gained his first orchestral experience with the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, he moved to Germany in 1998 and studied with David Glidden in Frankfurt.

During this time he played with various chamber music ensembles such as “HR Brass” and “bach, blech and blues”. From 2000 to 2005 David Cribb was principal tuba player with the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin and has been employed as principal tuba player with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig since 2005. David plays in the “Gewandhaus Brass Quintett” and with his colleagues in the large brass ensemble “Leipzig Brass”.

He has been teaching the orchestra academics in tuba since 2008, has a teaching position at the “Felix Mendelssohn Barthold” University of Music and Theater in Leipzig and is active as a brass lecturer at courses and festivals.

Last updated 2022

Timothy Dowling

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Australian Hometown: Melbourne
Education: Victorian College of the Arts

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Melbourne-born trombonist Timothy Dowling has been living and working in the Netherlands since 1988. Equally at home on modern or historical trombones, he divides his time between his position as principal trombonist of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague, and performing with various Baroque and Renaissance ensembles.

After playing two seasons in the Australian Youth Orchestra, he began his orchestral career in Orchestra Victoria in 1979. Appointments as Principal Trombonist in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (now Opera Australia Orchestra) followed before he became Associate Principal Trombone of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1986.

Upon being appointed Solo-trombonist of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague in 1988, Timothy emigrated to the Netherlands. With the Residentie Orchestra, he has toured Europe, Japan, and South America, and has worked with many notable conductors including Gennady Roszdestvensky, Franz Welser-Möst, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk, Jaap van Zweden and Neeme Järvi. He has also often performed as a guest principal trombonist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2015 Timothy has performed with the Australian World Orchestra in three seasons under conductors Zubin Mehta and Alexander Briger in India, the UK, and Australia.

Timothy is also a noted performer on historical instruments and a founder member of the baroque ensemble In Stil Moderno. He has performed with Orchestre de la Champs Elysees, La Petite Bande, Weser Renaissance, Il Fondamento, and Combattimento Consort. For more than 15 years he has been a member of Anima Eterna Bruges.

Between 2005 and 2023 Timothy was a Professor of Trombone at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague and has given masterclasses in Germany, Denmark, and Australia.

Timothy began playing brass instruments at the age of nine in Wagga Wagga. Following a move to Canberra, he continued learning trombone at the Canberra School of Music with Leonard Fischer. He also gained valuable orchestral experience in the Canberra Youth and Canberra Symphony Orchestras. After returning to Melbourne in 1977 to study at the Victorian College of the Arts with Roger Davies and Michael Mulcahy, he graduated (with Distinction) in 1980.

Last updated 2023