Building on their success of Sanguine Estate Music Festival, Howard Penny and Chris Howlett combine again to share their passion of world class chamber music with audiences.
Howard Penny was born in Canberra and after studies with Nelson Cooke moved to Vienna studying with Tobias Kühne, Andre Navarra, Boris Pergamenshikov and William Pleeth.
He won the ABC Young Performers Awards, and his concerto performances have included concerts at the Sydney Opera House, Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Berlin Schauspielhaus, Suntory Hall Tokyo and Casals Festival Prades.
A regular Principal Cello with Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Vienna Radio Orchestra and Australian World Orchestra, he is a long-standing member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, working with the world’s leading conductors and soloists, participating in over 100 CD and DVD recordings. As a chamber musician he has appeared in Wigmore Hall, Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Beethoven Festival Bonn and KREMERata Lockenhaus.
Howard frequently directs from the cello – a Haydn opera at ANAM with tenor Steve Davislim and soprano Sara Macliver being a highlight – and is a regular guest at all major Australian chamber music festivals. He also works closely with AYO in various projects. Since 2007 Howard has been a member of the Resident Faculty of the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, where he is now Head of Strings.
Cellist, producer and artistic director Chris Howlett has built a career combining performance with the creation and leadership of major classical music projects in Australia and internationally.
As a cellist, Chris has performed extensively throughout Australia, Europe and Asia, with a particular focus on chamber music and the cello and piano repertoire. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with symphonic and chamber orchestras in Milan, Rome, Paris, Estonia and Melbourne and has been a finalist and prize winner at international chamber music competitions including the prestigious Trio di Trieste International Competition, the Asia-Pacific Chamber Music Competition and the Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition.
Chris is the Co-Director of the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival and in 2026 founded Classical Music Australia, presenting some of the world’s leading musicians across Australia while pioneering its Pay What You Can model to make exceptional classical music accessible to wider audiences.
In March 2020, Chris co-founded Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, later Australian Digital Concert Hall, in response to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on Australian musicians. Over four years, ADCH presented more than 1,200 concerts featuring over 1,000 artists, reaching audiences across Australia and internationally and generating more than $4 million in ticket revenue for the sector.
Chris has also produced Australian artists and companies internationally for more than 15 years, particularly in China, presenting opera, orchestral concerts, chamber music, theatre and musical theatre across an extensive network of venues.
Alongside his performing and producing career, Chris has held a number of arts leadership and governance roles. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and previously served for eight years on the Board of 3MBS Fine Music, including as Chair and Vice-Chair.
Chris was named Creative Partnerships Australia’s Arts Business Leader of the Year in 2021, Limelight’s Australian Artist of the Year in 2021 and one of The Australian’s Top 100 Arts Leaders in 2022. He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2022, undertaking international research into new models for presenting and supporting classical music.