Howard and Chris are thrilled to welcome such wonderful and talented colleagues to the 2026 festival.
Sophie Rowell
Recently appointed as the Artistic Director of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, violinist Sophie Rowell has had an extensive performing career as a soloist, chamber musician and principal orchestral violinist both in Australia and abroad most recently as the co-concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra,
After winning the ABC Young Performer’s Award in 2000, Sophie founded the Tankstream Quartet which won string quartet competitions in Cremona and Osaka.
Having studied in Germany with the Alban Berg Quartet the quartet moved back to Australia in 2006 when they were appointed as the Australian String Quartet. During the six seasons of their tenure, the ASQ performed and recorded at chamber music festivals all over the world.
Sophie has played in principal violin positions with orchestras including the Scottish and Mahler Chamber Orchestras, and the Vancouver, Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
Sophie studied with Beryl Kimber in her hometown of Adelaide, then with Alice Waten in Sydney. She is the Head of Chamber Music (Strings) at the Australian National Academy of Music.
Nathan Amaral
First prize winner of the 27th Sphinx Competition, Brazilian violinist Nathan Amaral has earned a reputation in South America, USA and Europe for being a “versatile, charismatic violinist with a natural musical understanding” (Liza Ferschtman).
A 2024 Classic FM ‘Rising Star’, Nathan has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Konzerthaus Dortmund, KKL at Lucerne Festival, Mozarteum Großer Saal and Berliner Philharmonie, with orchestras such as the Chineke!, Philharmonia Orchestra, Jenaer Philharmonic, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, OSESP (São Paulo State Symphony), Ilumina Chamber and the Royal College of Music Symphony at the Aldeburgh Festival. Nathan has also been invited to perform with the Krzyzowa Music Festival, Yellow Barn in Vermont, Open Chamber Music (IMS Prussia Cove) and Kaleidoscope Collective.
Highlights this season include his debut at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, a return to the Wigmore Hall and performances at the San Francisco Symphony, as well as his debut at Bendigo Music Festival in Australia.
In 2021 Nathan founded his own festival ‘Week of Musical Integration’ (Festival SIM) to support and teach young musicians from difficult backgrounds in Brazil. With the belief that music should be accessible to everyone regardless of background, alongside his performing career, Nathan’s personal mission is to establish an institution for underprivileged music students and people of colour in his hometown.
Natsuko Yoshimoto
Natsuko Yoshimoto joined Queensland Symphony Orchestra as Concertmaster in 2021, after serving as Concertmaster at Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for 12 years.
Born in Japan, Natsuko Yoshimoto began playing the violin at the age of three. She studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal Northern College of Music in England and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She received direct guidance and teaching under Lord Menuhin and Wen Zhou Li.
She has won many awards and prizes in international competitions including the Gold Medal in both the prestigious 1994 Shell/London Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa Award and the Iwaki Award for outstanding achievement as a Japanese artist.
In great demand as a soloist, she has appeared with many world renowned orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia (London), Halle Orchestra, Odense Symphony (Denmark), Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Melbourne Symphony and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.
Natsuko is also a member of highly acclaimed chamber group, Ensemble Q. She has been the leader of both the Australian String Quartet and the Grainger Quartet as well as the Concertmaster of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Natsuko frequently guests as a Concertmaster with many major orchestras in Australia and Asia and continues to perform chamber music as a guest artist with various groups and musicians in many of the festivals.
Natsuko is also a passionate teacher and is a staff member at the Conservatorium of Music in Queensland teaching violin and chamber music.
She has given many world premieres of works by Australia’s most prominent composers and has recorded for Virgin Classics, ABC Classics, Melba Records and Tall Poppies.
Natsuko plays on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini generously on loan from UKARIA Trust.
Patrick Savage
Bendigo-born and based in London, Patrick Savage has led a multifaceted musical career across genres.
One of Britain’s foremost violinists and a former principal member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he has performed on the great stages of the world as guest concertmaster, soloist and chamber musician.
His album, The Golden Age of Hollywood: Concert Works For Violin and Piano, was selected as chamber music release of the month by BBC Music Magazine, June 2024
He is also a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and has composed a string of feature film scores.
Tobias Breider
Tobias Breider is principal viola at Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Tobias was born in Münster and began his music studies with violin and piano. He studied viola with Rainer Moog in Cologne, completing his Master’s degree, and a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship enabled him to study in New York with Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet. His intensive study of chamber music has also included lessons with the Alban Berg Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Sarah Nelsova and Miriam Fried.
Before moving to Australia to join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2011, he held principal positions at the Rhine Opera Düsseldorf, the Konzerthaus Berlin and with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under Simone Young. He has also appeared as guest principal with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin, Vienna and Cologne radio symphony orchestras, the Qatar Philharmonic and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist he has performed at the Sydney Opera House, the Domain and City Recital Hall, as well as the Melbourne Recital Centre. He regularly tours Queensland giving recitals and is a member of Ensemble Q in Brisbane. He is in demand as a chamber musician, and has performed at numerous festivals in the USA, Germany, the UK and South Africa.
Amanda Verner
The New York Times has described New Zealand violist Amanda Verner’s playing as “alluring” and “passionate”. Following her undergraduate study at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Jeffrey Irvine, Amanda received an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, under the tutelage of renowned violists Roberto Diaz, Misha Amory and Michael Tree.
In 2013, Amanda gave her solo debut at Carnegie Hall, performing Steve Mackey’s Ground Swell as part of the 21st Century American Contemporary Ensemble workshop with John Adams and David Robertson.
As a chamber musician, she has performed with Bendigo Chamber Music Festival (Australia), At the Worlds Edge Festival (New Zealand), Philharmonia Chamber Players (London), collaborated with the Doric String Quartet and toured for Chamber Music New Zealand with the MELERensemble.
Amanda has toured extensively with the Verbier Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy, performed with Sinfonia Grange au lac with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, and Daniel Harding, Les dissonances, Concertgebouw Kamerorkest and Camerata RCO. She has also attended the Seiji Ozawa International Music Academy and Aspen Music Festival.
An experienced orchestral musician, she has served as guest principal of the Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. She has toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and held a position with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. She is currently a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Howard Penny
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.
Chris Howlett
Chris Howlett is a cellist, festival director and producer. He graduated in 2007 at the top of his class with First Class Honors at the University of Melbourne which included semester on scholarship in Vienna with Howard Penny. Following graduation and launching his professional career he continued to take lessons in London with Richard Lester as part of the McKenna Fellowship and was part of the performance class at the Australian National Academy of Music.
Chris has been described as “…one of Australia’s finest emerging talents” and has been a finalist and prize winner at a number of chamber music competitions including the prestigious Trio di Trieste International Competition, the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and The Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition.
As a cellist his focus is on chamber music performances with the trio as well as duo performances of the cello Sonata repertoire with close friends. He performs regularly at a number of Australian festivals and has performed concertos around the world. Chris has also performed concerti with both symphonic and chamber orchestras in Milan, Rome, Paris, Estonia and Melbourne.
Will Duerden
Will Duerden is highly sought-after as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader, with a growing international career. He rose to prominence after reaching the strings category final of the 2018 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.
A winner at the 2023 Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions, he was subsequently nominated as a Classic FM ‘Rising Star’ 2024, and announced as a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship artist in the same year.
Recent performance highlights for Will include his debut at St. George’s Bristol and performances at the North Norfolk Music and Buxton International Festivals, as well as Wigmore Hall and Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. In June 2025 he was part of a stellar ensemble of YCAT artists past and present to celebrate the charity’s 40th anniversary at the Aldeburgh festival.
Will also maintains an interest in new music, and has had several significant new works specially written for him, with recent premieres in London and Milan. He also recently performed Ian Stephens’ double bass concerto ‘Scenes from a Modern War’ with the Kensington Chamber Orchestra in October 2024.
Will has also distinguished himself as a leading orchestral player, regularly performing with the Gothenburg Symphony, Aurora Orchestra, John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Northern Sinfonia; the latter whom he joins as Principal Bass during the 25/26 season.
Daniel de Borah
Daniel de Borah is recognised as one of Australia’s foremost musicians, consistently praised for the grace, finesse and imaginative intelligence of his performances. His busy performance schedule finds him equally at home as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.
Since his prize-winning appearances at the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, Daniel has given recitals on four continents and toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Australia. As a concerto soloist he has appeared with the English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmanian, Adelaide and Auckland Symphony Orchestras.
An avid chamber musician, Daniel has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with many leading soloists including Vadim Gluzman, Andrew Haveron, Dale Barltrop, Kristian Winther, Baiba Skride, Umberto Clerici, Nicolas Altstaedt, Li-Wei Qin, Roderick Williams, Steve Davislim and Andrew Goodwin. His festival appearances have included the Musica Viva Festival, Adelaide Festival, Huntington Estate Music Festival and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Daniel is a founding member of Ensemble Q, ensemble-in-residence at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University since 2017.
Daniel studied at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music, London. He now lives in Brisbane where he serves as Head of Chamber Music at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
Andrea Lam
Pronounced a “real talent” by the Wall Street Journal, Australian pianist Andrea Lam performs with orchestras and leading conductors in Australasia, Japan, China and the United States, including the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and all major Australian symphony orchestras. Recently returned after two decades in New York, Andrea has played from New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House, she has played for Sydney Festival, Musica Viva’s Huntington Festival (Australia), Orford Festival (Canada), and Chelsea Music Festival (USA) with works from Bach, Schumann and Chopin to Aaron Jay Kernis, Liliya Ugay, and Nigel Westlake.
The 2024 season includes soloist engagements with Queensland Symphony Orchestra with conductor Umberto Clerici, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with conductor André de Ridder, Sydney Symphony Orchestra for works by Nigel Westlake, Lior and Lou Bennett, and with Orchestra Victoria for Arts Centre Melbourne. Chamber concerts include a return with the Australian String Quartet at UKARIA, with the Australia Ensemble UNSW (Sydney), at the Sanguine Estate Music Festival, as well as solo performances for Musica Viva, at the Melbourne Recital Centre, and regional touring.
In 2023, Andrea featured in acclaimed performances of Schumann and Rachmaninov concerti with the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras with conductors Sir Donald Runnicles and Jaime Martín, and featured in Adelaide Festival in both the Chamber Landscapes weekend curated by Paavali Jumppanen, and the Ngapa William Cooper Project, commissioned by UKARIA and Finding Our Voice, composed by Lior, Lou Bennett and Nigel Westlake and performed with the Australian String Quartet. Engagements also included Sydney Opera House’ Utzon Music Series, Newcastle and Sanguine Estate Music Festivals, with the Australia Ensemble UNSW, in recital at Elder Hall with violinist Emily Sun, alongside several regional concerts. In 2022, Andrea toured Bach’s Goldberg Variations nationally for Musica Viva Australia alongside Paul Grabowsky, performed as soloist with the Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, as pianist alongside baritone Bo Skovhus at Sydney Opera House, and for Sydney Opera House’ 2022 International Piano Day livestream, as well as numerous solo concerts and masterclasses in regional and metropolitan centres Australia-wide.
A keen chamber musician, Andrea was pianist of New York’s acclaimed Claremont Trio from 2010 – 2020. Other recent engagements include New York’s Chelsea Music Festival, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as soloist with the Melbourne and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and Australian Youth Orchestra, with tenor Andrew Goodwin, and as guest of the Australian String Quartet at Dunkeld Festival.
Andrea Lam was a Semifinalist in the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, Silver Medalist in the 2009 San Antonio Piano Competition, and winner of the ABC’s ‘Young Performer of the Year’ Award in the Keyboard section, and the Yale Woolsey Hall Competition. Recently appointed Lecturer in Piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Andrea holds degrees from both the Yale, and the Manhattan Schools of Music.
Reuben Tsang
Described in a review as a pianist with “technical wizardry and versatility”, Cairns-born Reuben Tsang is now guided by Natasha Vlassenko OAM in his Bachelor of Music studies at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
Most recently, Reuben won First Prize, the Best Recital Prize and the Peoples’ Choice Award at the 2024 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition. At the final’s night, he performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Northey.
Reuben was also a semi-finalist and recipient of several prizes including the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist Award at the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition. Other achievements include receiving the Elisabeth Murdoch First Prize in the 2022 Great Romantics Competition and reaching the semi-finals of the 2023 Aarhus International Piano Competition in Denmark.
He also performed in a national recital tour organised by Piano+ in 2024, performing in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. He has also performed in many music festivals including the 2024 Musical Chairs Chamber Music Festival in Montreal Canada and the Peninsula Summer Music Festival in Victoria.
Cathy-Di Zhang
Award-winning Australian soprano Cathy-Di Zhang is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. Since returning to Australia in 2019, she has sung a number of leading roles for the nation’s major performing arts organisations.
For Opera Australia, she has appeared as Micaëla in Carmen and Rosina in The Barber of Seville; for Pinchgut Opera – Amour/La folie in Rameau’s Platée and Créuse in Charpentier’s Médée; Mimì in La bohème for State Opera South Australia; Zhu YingTai in Richard Mills’ new work The Butterfly Lovers for Victorian Opera.
In 2023, Cathy-Di sang Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Opera Australia, Zhu YingTai in The Butterfly Lovers in Singapore and returned to Opera Australia as Rosina. In 2024, she sang Euridice/Amore in Gluck’s Orphée and Musetta in La bohème for Opera Australia; she returns to the national company in 2025 as Musetta and Paquette (Candide).
Prior to the pandemic, Cathy-Di sang the role of Mädchen in a new production of Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny for Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Esa-Pekka Salonen and, subsequently, for Dutch National Opera under Markus Stenz. Her other operatic roles have included Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) and Lisa (La sonnambula).
She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout Europe and Asia and has performed regularly in chamber music across Italy in trio and quartet (with violin, cello and piano).
Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin has appeared with opera companies and orchestras in Europe, Asia and Australia including the Bolshoi Opera, Gran Theatre Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, La Scala Milan, Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, the New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Moscow and Melbourne Chamber Orchestras, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and in recital with pianist Daniel de Borah at Wigmore Hall, the Oxford Lieder, Port Fairy and Canberra International Music Festivals.
Recent engagements include Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Adelaide Festival); Canberra International and Sanguine Estate Music Festivals; Jacquino, Fidelio (West Australian Opera); Nadir, The Pearlfishers (State Opera South Australia); Diary of one who disappeared and Rape of Lucretia (Sydney Chamber Opera); Artaxerxes title role, Egeo in Cavalli’s Giasone and Florival in Grétry’s L’amant jaloux (Pinchgut Opera); Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ and Mozart Requiem (MSO); Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates and Mozart Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento (SSO); Messiah (Sydney Chamber Choir, NZSO, QSO and MSO); Bach Magnificat and The Rake’s Progress title role (Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra). Andrew is also a founding member of the new Australian Vocal Ensemble, AVE.
Joshua Batty
Joshua Batty is an internationally renowned flutist who joined the Sydney Symphony as solo flute in 2019 at the age of 27, after serving for two years in the same position with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Ireland. He studied with Michael Cox on a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, supported by Sir Elton John, and also trained at HEMGE in Switzerland with Jacques Zoon. During his studies, he was awarded an Associateship from the Academy and served as Principal Flute for both the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in Austria.
Over the past decade, Batty has performed as guest Principal Flute with more than 30 leading orchestras worldwide, working with top conductors and soloists across Europe, the USA, South America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Joshua’s solo career has seen him perform to critical acclaim at major venues such as Buckingham Palace, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, National Concert Hall, Dublin, Bridgewater Hall Manchester under conductors such as John Wilson, Johannes Fritz, and, Simone Young. He is also committed to expanding the flute repertoire, commissioning and premiering new works from composers like Sir Stephen Hough, Harry Sdraulig, and Nigel Westlake, and is working on recording his first solo catalogue.
In addition to his orchestral career, Josh has an active recording career, contributing to major films, games, and series for Disney, Netflix, Marvel as well as numerous classical recordings for EMI, Naxos, and Chandos.
Batty’s early success included participation and multiple prizes in competitions at the Royal Academy of Music, the British Flute Society, the Maxence Larrieu International Flute Competition, Royal Overseas League and LSO Academy (formerly Shell Competition).
Osmana String Quartet
Formed in 2024 at the Australian National Academy of Music, the Osmana Quartet is quickly establishing itself as a vibrant and dynamic ensemble. The quartet’s first appearance was at ANAM’s Bennelong Dinner in the Sydney Opera House and has since worked closely with leading musicians including Paavali Jumppanen, Dale Barltrop, Sophie Rowell, Howard Penny, Sharon Grigorian, Katie Hewgill, Henry Shapard and Marko Ylönen. In August 2025, the group received a masterclass with András Fejér of the Takács Quartet. Looking ahead, the Osmana Quartet will be excited to perform alongside Brooklyn Rider at the 2025 UKARIA Chamber Festival in November and at the Bendigo Chamber Festival in 2026.