Category: 2014 Chamber – Southern Highlands, NSW

Francesco (Frank) Celata

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Australian Hometown(s): Melbourne & Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Victorian College of the Arts

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Mr Frank Celata is Associate Principal Clarinet with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and an AWO Board Member. Mr Celata graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts 1987, prior to that he studied, and is now a lecturer, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

He is a founding member of the chamber ensemble the Sydney Soloists and is a member of the New Sydney Wind Quintet. In 2013 he accepted the position of Lecturer in Orchestral and Chamber Music at the Conservatorium of Music in Hobart.

On several occasions between 2003 and 2009 he appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra as guest Principal Clarinet, performing on international tours and recordings. More recently he appeared as guest Principal Clarinet with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London touring internationally and recording with them. Frank plays Principal Clarinet with the Australian World Orchestra, comprising 110 of Australia’s leading musicians drawn from 47 orchestras around the world.

Last updated 2023

Tamara-Anna Cislowska

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Australian Hometown: Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Tamara-Anna Cislowska is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and recognised pianists.

Soloist, recitalist and chamber music specialist, she performs in Australia and worldwide in repertoire spanning three centuries, to critical and public acclaim, and is also renowned for her eloquent writing and popular new role as presenter on ABC Classic FM.

Tamara has won international prizes in London, Italy and Greece, including the Rovere d’Oro, and in Australia has earned awards such as ABC Young Performer of the Year, a Freedman Fellowship from the Music Council of Australia, the 2012 Art Music Award for ‘Performance of the Year’ (ACT) and most recently the 2015 ARIA for ‘Best Classical Album’.

Last updated 2022

Lerida Delbridge

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Australian Hometown(s): Melbourne & Sydney
Education: University of Melbourne, International Menuhin Music Academy, Switzerland

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Lerida began learning the violin at the age of three and at fifteen, began her undergraduate studies with William Hennessy at the University of Melbourne, completing a Doctor of Musical Arts in 2003. Lerida has engaged in study at the International Menuhin Music Academy, Switzerland; International Holland Music Sessions, The Netherlands; Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada; International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, UK; Yale Summer School of Music and Stanford University in the United States.

In 2014 Lerida was appointed to the position of Assistant Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Lerida has also appeared as a guest principal player with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic and Orchestra Victoria and as a ripieno player with Australian Chamber Orchestra. Lerida is a core player with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Virtuosi.

In 2003 Lerida co-founded the Tinalley String Quartet, winners of the 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition and the 2005 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has established itself as one of Australia’s most successful ensembles, performing extensively throughout Europe, Canada, North America and Australia and appearing in such iconic venues as the Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Frankfurt AlteOper, Berlin Konzerthaus and the Sydney Opera House.

Lerida is the grateful recipient of a 1793 Joseph and Antonius Gagliano violin on loan from a private donor.

Last updated 2020

Catherine Hewgill holding Cello

Catherine Hewgill

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Australian Hometown(s): Perth & Sydney
Education: Royal College of Music, London, University of Southern California

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Catherine Hewgill is the principal cellist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a position she has held since 1990.

She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in 1984 at the University of Southern California and went on to win the Hammer-Rostropovich scholarship in the same year. Catherine was invited by Rostropovich to perform at the second American Cello Congress and a period of private study with the legendary musician followed.

In 1985 Catherine toured Europe with I Solisti Veneti and followed with study in London with William Pleeth.

Catherine became a member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in1987 and in 1989 was invited to join the Sydney Symphony. She has toured worldwide with the Sydney Symphony and appeared countless times as soloist with Australian orchestras, including playing concertos under the direction of Charles Dutoit and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

In 2003 she toured Japan as soloist with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and in a varied career has also performed extensively as a chamber musician, including for several years performing and recording with the Australian Trio. She also appears regularly as principal with the Australian World Orchestra.

In 2017 Catherine released a highly acclaimed CD of Russian repertoire for cello and piano with pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy.

She plays a Carlo Tononi cello made in Venice in 1729.

Last updated 2023

Christina Leonard

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Australian Hometown: Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Christina Leonard is one of Australia’s leading saxophonists and was the Artistic Director of the 2018 CLASSIC STOMP and AWO’s Chamber Music Festival in the NSW Southern Highlands. Christina plays regularly with both the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera Orchestra and has performed orchestrally in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Malaysia and in Hobart as a soloist with the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra. Christina has also performed with the ACO, the Song Company, Match Percussion, Synergy, and the Sonic Art Ensemble.

Christina regularly features in the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Noel Noel concert series, and was a soloist in the Elena Kats-Chernin commission to celebrate the ABO’s 25th Anniversary.  Christina premiered her own transcription of CPE Bach’s Concerto in A minor Wq 170 with the ABO in their Vivaldi Unwired season this year. She has made many recordings and live broadcasts for ABC Classic FM and Fine Music FM.  Christina has premiered newly commissioned music with Marshall McGuire at the Utzon Room Chamber music series at the Opera House and will record a CD of this and other new music later in the year. Christina has recently recorded a CD of Saxophone and Piano repertoire with Tamara-Anna Cislowska

Christina was awarded a Queens Trust Scholarship to complete a postgraduate degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Christina completed her Masters of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has been lecturing Saxophone, examining and facilitating workshops and classes there since 1996. Christina’s transcriptions of Baroque music for Saxophone and keyboard, are included on the current AMEB and ABRSM, (London) Syllabi.

Christina continues to champion opportunities for classical Saxophone commissions and performances and is the first Australian to be endorsed as an International Artist with Japanese instrument maker Yanagisawa.

Last updated 2018

Angela Lindsay smiling at camera

Angela Lindsay

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Australian Hometown: Sydney & Adelaide
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; University of Adelaide

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
With a rich symphonic background Angela has played regularly with the Sydney and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras as well as guest work with the Tasmanian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. She has also played principal viola with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Welsh National Opera and City of Oxford Orchestra.

Angela is very passionate about Chamber Orchestra playing and has played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra as well as principal with the Huntington and Adelaide Chamber Orchestras and the Australian Dance Theatre.

Changing to viola at the age of eleven, Angela spent all her Conservatorium High School years with scholarship gaining valuable experience in the fields of Chamber Music, Chamber and Symphony Orchestra. These, in particular chamber music, were part of daily life. She won many awards including the City of Sydney Eisteddfod’s “Reg Marsh Award” for most promising string player. Angela was also a recitalist for the National Youth Concerto Competition performing in various venues in Brisbane.

Angela took part in a regional tour of NSW with the Sydney Youth Orchestra performing the Telemann Viola Concerto as well as playing, with her sister Maria, the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with the Sydney Youth Orchestra under the baton of Stuart Challender as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Sydney Opera House.

Angela completed her Bachelor of Music with High Distinction at the University of Adelaide studying viola with Keith Crellin. A keen Chamber Musician, she won 1st prize in the 2MBS-FM Young Performers Competition playing with her sisters in the Lindsay Trio and has played with the original Australian String Quartet for expanded works such as Mendelssohn Octet and Mozart Quintets.

Angela has also appeared as soloist with the Bourbaki Ensemble and is a regular soloist and chamber musician for the Blue Mountains Chamber Concerts.

Last updated 2022

Asmira Woodward-Page

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Australian Hometown: Sydney
Education: Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Indiana University School of Music; The Juilliard School, New York

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Australian violinist Asmira Woodward-Page performs internationally as soloist and chamber musician, receiving recognition for her original artistry. Praised for her “transforming intensity and beauty of tone” (New York Times), and described as “an auspicious talent” who “speaks directly to her listeners” (Sydney Morning Herald), Asmira won the 2003 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and continues to enjoy an eclectic career focused on performing traditional and new classical works. Her forays into other musical styles through working with artists like Pandit Prabhakar Dhakde, Herbie Hancock, Riyuichi Sakamoto, John Zorn, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Kanye West, attest to her multi-faceted approach to music making.

As a recitalist who has toured extensively in the Americas and her native Australia, Asmira’s engagements have included Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Ravinia Festival’s Rising Stars concerts, the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, the Washington Performing Arts Society, and Mexico’s Festival Internacional Cervantino. Asmira also enjoys performing in more intimate settings like at WMP’s Strad for Lunch series in Manhattan, at Barbes in Brooklyn, and in numerous classrooms, soup kitchens and community centers. She collaborates with a variety of talented pianists including Inon Barnatan, Ieva Jockubaviciute, Einav Yarden, Steven Beck, Blair McMillen, Scott Davie and Tanya Bannister. Having performed in all manner of venues, Asmira is easily comfortable performing anywhere for anyone.

A “solo artist…in peak form” (Symphony Magazine), Asmira has performed concertos with the major orchestras in Australia and several in North America, including SONYC (the String Orchestra of New York City), The Little Orchestra Society, Wartburg Symphony and the Charlotte Philharmonic, collaborating with conductors like Jahya Ling, Michael Christie, Muhai Tang and fellow Australian, Matthew Coorey. She is heard in many recordings, on live TV and radio broadcasts, and was featured in the ABC documentary “The Little Box that Sings”.

Asmira believes deeply in presenting music to young people through whatever means necessary to inspire in them a love for music. She has led many outreach programs, drawing upon her extensive teaching and performing experience… plus a few crazy ideas. Asmira began her violin studies with Jan Cooper and then Harry Curby at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, later becoming a student of Miriam Fried and Paul Biss at the Indiana University School of Music, where she received her Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma, and was awarded the Performer’s Certificate for outstanding musical performance. She went on to earn a Master of Music degree at Juilliard where she studied with Robert Mann. 

Last updated 2018