Described by Limelight Magazine as “a soloist of superb virtuosic skill and musicality”, Australian classical pianist Alex Raineri (b. 1993) is internationally active as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. International performances include tours throughout California, South-East Asia, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany and Austria. He is the Artistic Director of the annual Brisbane Music Festival and is a passionate exponent of contemporary music having given over 130 World Premieres to date.

Alex has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio NZ, California Capital Public Radio, ABC Classic FM and all of the Australian MBS Networks. As a concerto soloist he has featured with the Queensland, Tasmanian, Darwin and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Southern Cross Soloists, Orchestra Victoria, Four Winds Festival Orchestra, Bangalow Festival Orchestra and the Queensland Pops Orchestra.

Alex has been the recipient of a number of major awards including the Kerikeri International Piano Competition and Australian National Piano Award. Alex is the pianist with the Southern Cross Soloists and other notable chamber partnerships include; Andreas Ottensamer, Twoset Violin, eighth blackbird, ELISION, Sara Macliver, Natalie Clein, Greta Bradman, Li Wei Qin, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Jack Liebeck, Kathryn Stott, Slava Grigoryan, Brett Dean and many others.

Discography includes; Transfiguration (2019), Inventions (2019), I’ll Walk Beside You – Teddy Tahu Rhodes & Southern Cross Soloists (2018 – ABC Classics) and braneworlds – Kupka’s Piano (2017).

Cellist Katherine Philp’s work ranges from the classics, to cutting edge contemporary art music, as well as improvisation, arranging and composing. She is particularly interested in projects that engage in respectful intercultural collaboration, and actively supports the generation of new works by women and non-binary composers. She regularly appears in ensembles and as a soloist at many Australian festivals including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Tyalgum Festival, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, and the Woodford Folk Festival. Katherine’s performances and arrangements have been broadcast live and recorded for ABC Classic FM and ABC Radio National. She is currently the principal cellist of Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, and maintains a busy and eclectic freelance career.

In 2009 Katherine undertook an Asialink residency (supported by Arts Queensland and Australia Council) at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India, where she studied Tibetan classical and folk music. This formative experience has led to 15 years of close collaboration with Tibetan Singer and Instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal on a series of projects including performances at the Woodford Folk Festival, the Sydney Opera House, Tyalgum Festival, the annual Festival of Tibet at the Brisbane Powerhouse, and recordings for ABC Radio National.

More recently, Katherine has become increasingly acknowledged for her performance of new and experimental music, and has undertaken study with Rohan de Saram and Lucas Fels (of Arditti String Quartet). Recent new music highlights include performances with Melbourne-based Rubiks Collective, performing in a portrait concert of Liza Lim’s works with Arcko Ensemble, While You Sleep (a collaboration between composer Kate Neal and artist/animator Sal Cooper), creating improvised solo cello film scores for film-makers Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Jordan Giusti, and recording with the Australian Art Orchestra.

Katherine has performed and studied in India, the UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, taken part in the Impuls Academy and the International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt, and recently received an award for Best Performer, playing Berio’s Sequenza XIV at the San Marino New Music Project.

Recent recipient of the prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarship, violinist Julia Hill has flourished into passionate performer of classical music. Guided by former Arditti String Quartet violinist, Graeme Jennings, she was appointed Concertmaster of the Curro Chamber Orchestra at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp 2020 and has achieved an Award with Distinction on her Licentiate of Music, Australia. In December 2020, Julia graduated from a Bachelor of Music from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University with distinction.

Since moving to Brisbane in 2018 from Hervey Bay, Julia has enjoyed many musical engagements including being appointed Principal Second Violin in Queensland Youth Symphony 2019, and performing alongside professionals in national ensemble, Southern Cross Soloists. In 2019, she performed as a soloist alongside the Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra and the Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra and is looking forward to playing Beethoven’s Romance no. 2 in F major with the Brisbane Concert Orchestra this year. Additionally, she will be curating a series of concerts with emerging ensemble, the Jacaranda String Quartet, and will perform as part of the Brisbane Music Festival as a young artist.

With a 2020 New Colombo Plan Scholarship, Julia has turned to overseas study to propel her love for music. In 2022, she will undertake study, internships and language training in Japan. During her program, she will investigate the role music plays in Japan’s society and is looking forward to collaborating with Japanese musicians and educators as part of her Honours thesis.

Brisbane-born clarinettist Dario Scalabrini has quickly established himself as a passionate and energetic musician in recital, chamber and orchestral settings. 2021 will see him performing both interstate and in Brisbane as he moves to Sydney to complete further studies with Francesco Celata of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As a regular performer in the Brisbane music scene Dario has performed with the Southern Cross Soloists, Queensland Pops Orchestra, Ensemble Q and enjoys taking part in local music festivals including the Brisbane Music Festival and Bleach Festival.

Dario graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2019 where he was the recipient of the Brisbane Club Award’s Jim Massie Memorial Prize. He studied with the renowned soloist and former Queensland Symphony Orchestra principal clarinettist Paul Dean during this time. As an emerging artist, Dario has been invited to perform in masterclasses with esteemed international clarinettists such as Sabine Meyer, Andrew Marriner and Julian Bliss. 2020 saw Dario perform both online and in person, appearing on Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, Brisbane Music Festival Online and Southern Cross Soloists return to QPAC concert. Dario is excited to feature again as a young artist in the 2021 Brisbane Music Festival.

Hailed by The Australian as possessing a “rare gift as a melodist” and by Limelight as expressing “both exquisite delicacy and tremendous power”, Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth writes across the mediums of orchestral, chamber, vocal and experimental music. His vivid musical language is coloured by three years spent in Japan where his immersion in the study of the shakuhachi bamboo flute inevitably became a part of his muse. This is immediately evident in Skipworth’s major orchestral work of 2018, Breath of Thunder, for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Japanese drumming group Taikoz, and shakuhachi grand master Riley Lee. However it was winning the prestigious Paul Lowin Prize for orchestral composition two years earlier which truly established Skipworth’s reputation, leading to a string of major commissions and Skipworth’s appointment as composer-in-residence with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Jodie Rottle is a flutist, composer and improviser. She works in a variety of settings exploring new sound concepts, having performed new and original works across Australia and the United States.

Jodie’s work as a composer explores the sounds of everyday objects alongside traditional instruments. A central theme of her work is the element of surprise, and to achieve this she often skims the outer territories of performance art, puppetry, and comedy. Jodie is a member of Kupka’s Piano (Brisbane) and Dead Language (New York) where she performs and composes new chamber music. She is an alumna of the Manhattan School of Music (MM) and is currently pursuing a PhD at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

VENUE – JUDITH WRIGHT ARTS CENTRE