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.

Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux

Born in France, violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux was the 2021 grand prize winner of the Young Classical Artists Trust and Concert Aritsts Guild international auditions. A Classic FM ‘Rising Star’ 2022, she made her debut with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2023 and CBSO in 2024.

In 2022 Champs Hill Records released Charlotte’s debut solo album ‘Ostinata’ to critical acclaim. Her next album, featuring Schubert works, is scheduled for release with Delphian Records in 2025.

Performing widely throughout Europe, recent appearances include concerts at Wigmore Hall, Britten-Pears Arts, Konzerthaus Berlin, Radio France, Gstaad Festival and a BBC Prom with the 12 Ensemble. Upcoming highlights include a tour to the United States, and performances at the Thaxted Festival in the UK as their Artist-in-Residence 2025.

In 2024 Charlotte became a member of the award-winning Chiaroscuro Quartet.

Natsuko Yoshimoto

Brigid Coleridge

Brigid Coleridge is an Australian violinist and poet who divides her time between the US and Australia. An “entrancing” (BBC Magazine) and “dynamic” (Classic Melbourne) performer, Brigid’s recent notable performance debuts have included Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebouw, and her playing has been broadcast across the US (WQXR), Australia (ABC Classic FM, 3MBS) and Europe (BBC Radio 3, and Radio 4 Netherlands). Brigid’s poems have appeared in Australian and international publications and she is the winner of the 2023 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize.

Brigid is a founding member of the critically acclaimed US-based Merz Trio, winners of the 2021 Naumburg Competition and the 2020 Concert Artists’ Guild Competition. She has performed as a recitalist internationally, in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Purcell Room, and she is a regular guest at festivals in the US and Australia. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, Royal College of Music and the University of Melbourne, Brigid also holds a doctoral degree from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York where she worked on Beethoven’s late Mass, the Missa Solemnis.

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.

Justin Williams

Justin Williams holds the position of Assistant Principal Viola with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and was the co-founder of Tinalley String Quartet (TSQ).

As a member of Tinalley String Quartet, Justin shared in the experience of winning the 9th Banff International String Quartet Competition and the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition. He has performed with TSQ throughout Australia, Europe and North America.

As a composer, Justin has released several works over the last four years, most notably his first symphony, which was premiered by Queensland Symphony Orchestra; ‘Three Intermezzi’ for solo piano, premiered by Daniel de Borah at the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival; Three Pieces for String Quartet and Voice, premiered at Blackheath Chamber Music Festival; and Movement for String Quartet, most recently performed by Australian String Quartet.

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.

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.

Louisa Breen

Louisa Breen was born in Melbourne, Australia, and started her piano lessons with Nehama Patkin. After attending the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, she graduated with Bachelor of Music Honours from the University of Melbourne. In the same year she began her postgraduate studies on the piano at the Royal College of Music in London, supported by a Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship, an Associated Board International Scholarship, and the Clarke Scholarship. After gaining a Distinction for her Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Performance, Louisa completed her Masters in Musical Performance, followed by two years as an RCM Junior Fellow.

While in the UK, Louisa won many prizes including the highest prize for piano at the Royal College of Music, the Chappell Gold Medal. She has toured Asia and Australasia as a member of the RCM Premiere ensemble and performed regularly as a soloist and as a chamber musician in concerts throughout London and the UK, including such venues as the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and St John’s Smith Square. She has performed concertos with orchestras in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and New Zealand, including the European Premiere of Australian composer Carl Vine’s Piano Concerto with the RCM Sinfonietta. In 2004, Louisa won the piano section of the prestigious Royal Overseas League Music Competition, followed shortly by her solo Wigmore Hall debut.

In 2005 Louisa returned to live in Melbourne, and has been working as a freelance pianist since. She performs regularly as a solo and chamber musician, and is a regular pianist with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. As half of the Brown and Breen piano duo, she has released a CD of Australian compositions for 2 pianists, and has had works written for her by Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards.

Ignas Maknickas

Born in California and raised in Lithuania, pianist Ignas Maknickas is now based in London and was a winner at the 2023 Young Classical Artists Trust international auditions.

Often decorated in competition, Ignas was winner of the 2024 Award for Keyboard at the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition. He also previously won First Prize at the XIX Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Youth in Szafarnia, First Prize at the XX Piano Competition ‘Young Virtuoso’ in Zagreb, Third Prize at the Aarhus Piano Competition,  and  was a semi-finalist of the 2021 Vendome Prize.

Ignas has appeared in concerto with many orchestras including the Aarhus Symphony, Bloomington Symphony in Indiana, Lithuanian National Symphony and London Mozart Players. In recital he has appeared at prestigious concert halls including the Wigmore Hall and Steinway Hall in London, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Charlottenborg Festival Hall in Copenhagen and Lithuanian National Philharmonic in Vilnius.

The forthcoming season sees Ignas performing extensively throughout the UK and mainland Europe, including performances at Wigmore Hall, St. George’s Bristol, Brunton Theatre concerts in Scotland, and his debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Further afield Ignas will make his Australian debut with performances at the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival near Melbourne. 

Ignas completed his Bachelor, Master of Arts programmes and Advanced Diploma Programme at the Royal Academy of Music on full scholarship under Professor Joanna MacGregor CBE, and is currently holder of the Aud Jebsen Piano Fellowship. In 2021 he received ‘The Queen’s Award for Excellence’ as the highest-scoring graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. He is a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, and recipient of the ABRSM Scholarship Award, Imogen Cooper Music Trust Scholarship, Munster Trust Mark James Award, Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation Award, Tillett Trust and Colin Keer Trust Award and Hattori Foundation Award. Ignas is also a current member of the Munster Trust Recital Scheme, and Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists Scheme. 

In 2017, graduating from the National M.K. Čiurlionis School of Art in Vilnius, he was honoured by the President of Lithuania, H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė. With his sister and three brothers the talented Maknickas Family Ensemble has represented Lithuania on National Television and at State Occasions.

Ignas is extremely grateful to Dasha Shenkman for her support during his time with YCAT.

Alexandra Flood

Lloyd Van’t Hoff

Lloyd Van’t Hoff is an award-winning clarinetist, director, educator, and recording artist. He has been lauded for his “life-affirming music making” (Limelight Magazine ) and “spectacular brilliance, charisma and sensitivity” (Tasmanian Mercury).

Born in Darwin, Australia, Van’t Hoff came to prominence as the winner of the Grand Prize and Sir Charles Moses Trophy, along with the Triffitt Prize in the 2015 Symphony Australia ABC Young Performers Awards. He now performs regularly regularly as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals around the world, with many of Australia’s leading symphony orchestras, and is a founding member of Arcadia Winds.

In 2021 Van’t Hoff released his solo album, Johannes Brahms: Music for Clarinet and Piano, in which his recordings were described as “interpretations that live in the memory for their verve and deep musicianship.” A Yale University graduate, Van’t Hoff has served as teaching faculty at Melbourne University, the Yale Department of Music. He currently serves as the Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s Pathways Program and has recently been appointed to the role of Head of Woodwind at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium, South Australia. Van’t Hoff is a Buffet Crampon and D’Addario endorsed performing artist.

Peter Luff

Peter Luff is an Associate Professor in Horn and Head of Brass at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.  Formerly Associate Principal Horn with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Peter has performed with professional orchestras and ensembles across Australia and internationally including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian World Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Queensland Festival Philharmonic.

Peter currently performs, records and broadcasts with Queensland’s premier chamber ensemble “Ensemble Q” and has performed as a solo recitalist in the USA, Japan, China, Korea, Canada and Europe.

Peter has conducted many orchestras and ensembles including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Brisbane Philharmonic, Brisbane Symphony Orchestra, and the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony and Opera Orchestras.

Tarilindy String Quartet

The Tarilindy String Quartet (TSQ) has an impassioned enthusiasm for chamber music.

Representing Australia, TSQ was nominated to perform at the internationally acclaimed ‘Musical Chairs Festival’ in Montreal (2022), take first place in the 4MBS Ross Peters Chamber Music Competition (2023) and collaborate with renowned musicians such as William Barton, Katie Noonan and perform Paul Stanhope’s Octet, ‘Naphesh’ with the Australian String Quartet. In 2023, the quartet participated in AYO Chamber Players where they had the opportunity to showcase their recital under the guidance of Sophie Rowell in Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital Hall. Since commencing at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), TSQ is now primarily mentored by Sophie Rowell while often receiving training by ANAM faculty Howard Penny, Caroline Henbest and Adam Chalabi.The Tarilindy String Quartet (TSQ) has an impassioned enthusiasm for chamber music. Representing Australia, TSQ was nominated to perform at the internationally acclaimed ‘Musical Chairs Festival’ in Montreal (2022), take first place in the 4MBS Ross Peters Chamber Music Competition (2023) and collaborate with renowned musicians such as William Barton, Katie Noonan and perform Paul Stanhope’s Octet, ‘Naphesh’ with the Australian String Quartet. In 2023, the quartet participated in AYO Chamber Players where they had the opportunity to showcase their recital under the guidance of Sophie Rowell in Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital Hall. Since commencing at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), TSQ is now primarily mentored by Sophie Rowell while often receiving training by ANAM faculty Howard Penny, Caroline Henbest and Adam Chalabi.