Australian Hometown(s): Melbourne & Sydney
Education: University of Melbourne
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Sophia completed a Bachelor of Music at Melbourne University and has performed with the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia. She currently teaches in the Taikoz Taiko School, with a particular focus on the taiko/musical development of young children.
Last updated 2023
Australian Hometown: Melbourne
Education: Victoria College of the Arts
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
John Arcaro has been a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 1990. He has also been a guest timpanist/ percussionist with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa Japan, Malaysian Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, The Australian World Orchestra and almost all Australian Symphony/Opera and Ballet Orchestras. He has worked as a chamber musician and soloist with ensembles such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Synergy Percussion, Speak Percussion, Astra, Aphids, The Pokrovsky Ensemble Russia and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Performance highlights have included a critically acclaimed performance of Stockhausen’s Kontakte with pianist Michael Kieran Harvey in 1996. John has recorded numerous film scores and performed with a wide range of popular artists, including Frank Sinatra, Olivia Newton-John, KISS and Sting. John studied in New York and Philadelphia with leading orchestral percussionists after graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) with high distinction. He is currently on Faculty at ANAM.
Last updated 2023
Australian Hometown:
Education:
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
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Last updated 2018
Australian Hometown: Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
A founding member of Sprung Percussion, Richard graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1993 with High Distinction. He was a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra as principal percussionist for four years and toured with them extensively. Richard has performed with Camerata Australia under Paul Dyer and was an ABC apprentice with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
He has appeared with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Coruscations, the Australia Ensemble, the Sydney Opera House Orchestra and the Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
Last updated 2018
Australian Hometown: Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; The Conservatorium van Amsterdam; Rotterdam Conservatorium
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Claire’s musical studies began initially with piano and then percussion in her high school concert band. However she did not move into orchestral percussion until joining the Sydney Youth Orchestra in her first year as a tertiary music student.
Claire graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (BMUS Hon1) as Student of the Year in 1997 under the teaching guidance of Daryl Pratt and Richard Miller. She was the recipient of the NUFFIC Huygens Dutch Government Scholarship and later the Queen Elizabeth Trust Award which funded her studies abroad. During a successful period based in Europe (1999-2006), Claire undertook a Masters of Music with Richard Jansen at the Rotterdam Conservatory and then with Peter Prommel and Jan Pustjens at the Amsterdam Conservatory. She participated in numerous summer schools including Acanthe Academy (France) with Steven Schick and the Darmstadt International Summer Courses (Germany).
Claire was the winner of the 1999 Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year award, first prize in the 2000 Tromp International Percussion Competition (The Netherlands), the 2001 Vriendenkrans Instrumental Competition (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam) and the 2001 Llangollen International Instrumentalist (Wales) and in 2005 the Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition. Additionally in 2005, Claire was awarded the prestigious MCA/Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music.
Claire returned to Sydney in 2006 and became the co-artistic director of the successful and innovative new music group she was a founding member of in 1996: Ensemble Offspring. She is also a member of Overlander – a group specialising in music reflecting the Australian landscape compromising William Barton (didgeridoo), Iain Grandage (cello) and Melanie Robinson (voice/cello). In 2007 Claire won the AMC/APRA Classical Music Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian music, by an Individual.
Claire was an alumnus of SYO between 1995 and 1997 and SYO paid tribute to her outstanding musicianship by commissioning Elena Kats-Chernin’s first percussion concerto which was premiered by Claire and the Sydney Youth Orchestra in July 2009.
Last updated 2020
Australian Hometown: Brisbane
Education: Queensland Conservatorium of Music
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Troy held the position of Associate Principal Percussionist/Timpanist from the young age of 23 when he moved to Perth after completing of a Bachelor of Music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. He has been a member of the percussion section of the Australian World Orchestra since its inception, playing under the great Maestro Zubin Mehta in 2015.
Troy has performed with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, recorded with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and in 2009 he won the Associate Principal Percussion position with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Now Opera Australia Orchestra). He held his post for 18 months before returning to Perth and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) in 2011. That same year, Troy was invited to audition for the Principal Percussion position with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Troy’s passion for education shows through his private lessons as well as lecturing in percussion and timpani at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and at the University of Western Australia. He also joined AMEB as an examiner during his time in Perth.
Currently Troy is based in Mackay, North Queensland and plays percussion with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Last updated 2023
Australian Hometown: Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM); Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Sydney-born Mathew Levy began his musical journey playing both percussion and violin. He holds a First Class Honours degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and has completed post-graduate study at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Before joining Orchestra Victoria as Section Principal Percussion in 2019, Mathew worked as a freelancer throughout Australia and overseas, performing with the Melbourne, Sydney and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Mathew is a past winner of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Snare Drum Award, the Reuben Scarf Award for Percussion, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Concerto Competition.
Last updated 2022
Australian Hometown(s): Brisbane
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
David has been Principal Percussion of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra since 1994. He has worked with many of the nations leading orchestras and manages his time between performing, composing and teaching.
As a composer, he has been commissioned by Opera Queensland, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Isorhythmos and ABC Radio National. David has also worked as a sound designer and composer for the Queensland Theatre Company and La Boite Theatre on productions such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Heroes and Walking By Apple Tree Creek. His most recent work Fergal Onions, music to the children’s story of the same name by Australian author/illustrator John Harrison, was performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 2017.
David is presently completing a doctorate in music with a focus on percussion pedagogy. His composition work has been dedicated to this area over the past few years. In 2013 he completed work on a new percussion syllabus for the Australian Music Examinations Board. He was a finalist in the category of Award for Excellence by an Individual in the 2014 APRA Art Music Awards for this work.
David is the Artistic Director of Isorhythmos percussion ensemble and editor of Isorhythmos Publications. The ensemble comes together on a project by project basis and will be touring regionally in Queensland in 2018 to Longreach and Mount Isa.
David taught at the Queensland Conservatorium between 1998 and 2012 and now teaches at The University of Queensland developing a new percussion program there. He has also been a guest teacher at the Australian National Academy of Music. He is an active and passionate educator and works regularly within the school environment conducting workshops and participating in performance programs. In 2018 he will run a percussion-based music education project in regional Queensland involving around 350 students from the Longreach area.
Combining his experience as a composer, performer and teacher, David continues to work on developing concepts for the learning and teaching of percussion from beginner to professional performer.
Last updated 2022
Australian Hometown: Melbourne
Education: Victorian College of the Arts
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Peter Neville was appointed as the inaugural Head of Percussion at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in 2013 and oversaw the establishment of the department. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and was appointed Head Of Percussion there (now The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music) in 2000. Whilst he works across a range of musical styles he has a particular commitment to new music.
As the percussionist of the ELISION Ensemble for twenty-five years, Peter has been involved with practically all their concerts, compact discs, and international tours. Works including Chris DENCH’s DRIFTGLASS, for percussion and ensemble and Richard Barrett’s; ABGLANZBELADEN- AUSEINANDERGESCHRIEBEN, have been written for and premiered by him.
Peter is also a member of groups including Jouissance, the David Chesworth Ensemble, The Raga Dolls Salon Orchestra, The Bolt Ensemble, Six Degrees Ensemble and SPEAK Percussion and he has recorded and toured internationally with each of them. His orchestral work has included tours to Europe with the Australian Youth Orchestra and Japan with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. With that orchestra he was also part of the Australian premiere of Messiaen’s TURANGALILA Symphony, in the presence of the composer, and he took part in their Australian tour with Elton John..
He has performed in numerous musicals, including West Side Story, Cats and Company, and in three Australian tours of the Broadway version of The Pirates of Penzance. He toured Australia as musical director of Tap Dogs. Other theatrical tours have included the Australia/China tour of Playbox Theatre’s Cho-Cho-San, and Richard the Third with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Within dance orchestras he has supported performances of the Bolshoi Ballet, the Russian State Ballet, the Nureyev Farewell Tour and the Netherlands Dance Theatre. With HumanVeins Dance Theatre he took part in the Australian premieres of Iannis Xenakis’ Oresteia, and was guest drummer with the Balanescu Quartet in their three Australian seasons of Possessed with the Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre.
Last updated 2018
Australian Hometown(s): Sydney & Melbourne
Education:Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australian National Academy of Music
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
James began the study of drum kit at the age of 7 with Adam Manning. He completed the HSC in 2010, gaining first place in the Dioceses for Music 1. In 2011 James began his Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with teachers Daryl Pratt, Rick Miller and Mark Robinson. He has performed in the Sydney Conservatorium’s Wind Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Modern Music Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra and Early Music Ensemble.
Outside of University James has performed with the Sydney Youth Orchestra, the Manly Warringah Chamber Orchestra, the Ku-Ring-Gai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and the Eastern Suburbs Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 James moved to Melbourne to study at the Australian National Academy of Music and has since played with the ANAM Symphony Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, Synergy Percussion and the Australian Brass Quintet. James currently plays casually with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria.
Last updated 2018