Cheryl Barker - Soprano (2010 Season)

Photo by Keith Saunders

Cheryl Barker is particularly noted internationally for her performances of Madama Butterfly, singing the role for English National Opera, De Vlaamse Opera and in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Houston.  Other international appearances include Jenifer (A Midsummer Marriage) Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Oksana (Christmas Eve), Foreign Princess (Rusalka), Governess/Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw), Musetta (La bohéme), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Tosca, Salome and Emilia Marty (The Makropoulos Case) for English National Opera; Maria Stuarda/ReisOper; Violetta (La Traviata)/Hamburg State Opera/Deutsche Oper; Suor Angelica, Giorgetta (Il Tabarro), Mimi (La bohéme), Desdemona (Otello), Liu (Turandot), The Merry Widow/De Vlaamse Opera and Katya Kabanova/Welsh National Opera/Geneva.
She appears regularly with Opera Australia, in roles including Nedda (I pagliacci), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì - in the award-winning Baz Luhrmann production, Violetta, Donna Elvira, Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Antonia (Les Contes d'Hoffmann),Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Desdemona, Giorgetta, Emilia Marty, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Jenufa, Rusalka, Suor Angelica, Arabella and Manon Lescaut. 2010 engagements include a repeat of her highly praised interpretation of Tosca as well as her role debut as the Marschallin/Der Rosenkavalier, both for OA. London audiences will see her role debut in the title role of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini.
On the concert platform, Cheryl Barker has appeared at venues including London's Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Halle Orchestra, Edinburgh, Spoleto and Melbourne Festivals and has toured for Musica Viva (2005 and 2008).
Television, videos and recordings include Puccini Arias (Melba Recordings); Seduction and Persuasion (ABC Classics), La bohéme/ Opera Australia (CD+Video), Madama Butterfly/Opera Australia (CD+Video) Madam Butterfly (Chandos), Madama Butterfly/De Vlaamse Opera (Belgium and Netherlandse Television), The Makropoulos Case, Katya Kabanova, Rusalka and, most recently, Great Operatic Arias (Chandos). She holds an honorary Doctorate of Music/Victorian College of the Arts.

Ray Chen - Violin (2010 Season)

Photo by Andrew Chiciak

20-year-old violinist Ray Chen won the Grand Prize of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Brussels, Belgium, bringing him prestigious concert engagements, a recording, and a three-year loan of the “Huggins” Stradivarius from the Nippon Music Foundation. He performed as soloist with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Belgique, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg under Emmanuel Krivine, and gave recitals throughout Belgium.
As a Winner of the 2008-09 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, Mr. Chen was awarded the Ronald A. Asherson First Prize and the loan of a 1721 Stradivarius known as “The Macmillan.” He makes his Washington debut at the Kennedy Center and hisNew York debut at Merkin Concert Hall under the auspices of Young Concert Artists, a debut at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum inBoston, and recitals at the Port Washington Library (NY), for the West Philadelphia Music Committee, and the Friends of Music Concert Series (NY). At the 2009 Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Chen performed Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with Robert McDuffie, and also played at the 2009 Sintra Festival of Music and Dance in Portugal.
In 2008, as First Prize Winner of the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition, Mr. Chen came to the attention of the violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov, who had served on the Competition Jury. Maestro Vengerov engaged him for concerto performances with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St. Petersburg and at the International Rostropovich Festival with the State Symphony Orchestra of Baku, Azerbaijan. Mr. Chen will perform on the opening concert of the next Menuhin Competition in April 2010 in Oslo with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Chen’s other awards include First Prizes in the National Kendall Violin Competition in Australia (2005) and the Australian National Youth Concerto Competition (2002).
Born in 1989 in Australia, Ray Chen began Suzuki violin studies at the age of four. He made his solo orchestral debut with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra when he was eight, and the following year was invited to perform at the opening celebration concert for the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. In 2005, he was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he works with Aaron Rosand. He has also studied with David Cerone, Shmuel Ashkenasi (YCA alumnus), and Joseph Silverstein, as well as with Antje Weithaas at the 2005 Beethoven Festival in Bonn.

Tony Gould - Piano, Composer, Improviser (2009, 2010 Seasons)

Tony Gould is one of Australia's most respected musicians. His career has embraced many styles of music, not least jazz and other improvisatory musics in addition to traditional and contemporary classical musics. He gives many concerts each year and for fifty years he has been involved in an extraordinary number of recording projects both as pianist and composer and has been at the forefront of music education in Australia via various tertiary institutions in Melbourne and throughout Australia.

Roger Jonsson - Violin (2009, 2010 Seasons)

olds the position of Deputy Concertmaster with Orchestra Victoria. Originally from Sweden he has also worked with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Orchestra

Simon Oswell - Viola (2009, 2010 Seasons)

Born and educated in Brisbane, Simon Oswell started his musical training with John Curro, and later with Jan Sedivka in Hobart. During this period, Simon co-founded the Petra String Quartet, a group that actively commissioned and performed works by contemporary Australian composers.
In 1981, Mr. Oswell moved to the United States and undertook further studies with Janos Negyesy (University of California, San Diego) and Donald McInnes (University of Southern California)
In the United States Mr. Oswell worked with artists such as Elton John, Barbra Streisand and Rod Stewart and played on over 800 film scores, including those of Academy Award nominated composers John Williams, Randy Newman, James Horner, and the late Jerry Goldsmith. He was also active in the solo and chamber music field as a member of the Capitol Ensemble and Pacific Serenades, both Los Angeles based chamber music groups.
Mr. Oswell is currently Principal Viola of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a position he has held since 2002. Since returning to Australia in 2006, Mr. Oswell has appeared as Guest Principal Viola with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and is currently residing in Melbourne.

Wilma Smith – Violin (2008, 2009, 2010 Seasons)

Wilma Smith is Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Before her appointment in 2003 she held the same position with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for nine years and on leaving, the orchestra honoured her with the title of Concertmaster Emeritus. Wilma's other musical passion has always been chamber music and she spent the first part of her professional life as founding first violinist of two quartets, firstly the Lydian String Quartet in Boston where she studied after leaving Auckland and then the New Zealand String Quartet when she returned to Wellington. During her seven years with the Lydian they won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in New York and were second and third prizewinners in Evian, Banff and Portsmouth International String Quartet Competitions. Wilma's teachers in Boston included Dorothy DeLay and Louis Krasner. She plays in the Munro/Smith/Berlin Trio with Ian Munro and David Berlin and leaps at the opportunity to play other chamber music whenever possible.

Elizabeth Sellars - Violin (2008 Season)

Born in Melbourne, Elizabeth Sellars has enjoyed a career in both Great Britain and Australia with an emphasis on contemporary, solo and chamber performance. She made her concerto debut at the age of 13 and was the winner of the Hepzibah Menuhin and Australian Musicians' Guild Scholarships. Elizabeth appeared as soloist with the Geelong Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Pops Orchestra as well as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the state final of the ABC Young Performer of the Year. With the generous assistance of the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee and Northcote Trusts, Elizabeth left Australia in 1985 to study at the Guildhall School of Music in London with David Takeno. While there she was awarded the Peskai and Warshaw prizes for solo performance along with the Guildhall Chamber prize
Under the guidance of the Takacs and Gabrieli String Quartets, Elizabeth became a founding member of the Techinski Quartet which went on to become the recipient of the inaugural John Tunnel Trust and Royal Overseas League Ensemble Prize and Miller Trophy. The Quartet toured extensively throughout Great Britain, broadcast for the BBC, played in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and appeared as group soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Elizabeth also played throughout Europe with the Academy of St Martins in the Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra.
Now resident in Australia, Elizabeth has played with Elision, Libra, Ensemble 24, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has also lead and played with many of the Symphony Australia orchestras. In addition to recording for Naxos, she has broadcast for the ABC on Sunday Live and at Castlemaine and Port Fairy Festivals.
Her trio Temenos, who presented their inaugural series in 2001 were third prize-winners in the 9th Concorso Musicale Internazionale "Riviera del Conero" in Italy. Elizabeth was appointed Lecturer in Violin at Monash University in 2003. She has recently been awarded an Australia Council grant to commission and record works for solo violin by two prominent Australian composers.

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