From the set of Play School to the mainstage of the Sydney Opera House, internationally acclaimed powerhouse Claire Edwardes is ‘the sorceress of percussion’ (Canberra City News). The only Australian to win the 'APRA Art Music Luminary Award’ four times and recently awarded an OAM for her services to Australian music, Claire leaps between her role as Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring and concerto performances with all of the Australian orchestras.

With her roots grounded in classical music (starting piano at age 5), Claire has focused her career as a percussionist on the music of our time. She is passionate about the wide dissemination of living new music to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Collaboration is at the heart of her musical practice, having worked with many of Australia’s leading and emerging composers and performers to expand the percussion and chamber music repertoire. She has had over 50 new works written for her as a soloist and Ensemble Offspring have commissioned over 300 new works throughout their 29 years in the industry.

For more information about Claire click here

Jason Noble is one of Australia’s most versatile clarinettists – experimental to classical. Jason has performed at festivals locally and internationally, from Warsaw to London, Shanghai to Kabul, and all major cities across Australia. “His expertise and virtuosic playing give new insights into the versatility of the bass clarinet” (Sounds Like Sydney)

His album releases include THRUM (2020) – a collection of improvised ambient sounds created with Kim Cunio on piano – and Chi’s Cakewalk (2017), an album of new Australian works for clarinets. He has also made guest appearances on albums for Gurrumul,  Sally Seltmann, ABC Classics, Gondwana Voices, Paul Mac, Halcyon, SICKO improvising orchestra, and the Tiwi women’s choir Ngarukuruwala. Recently he performed at the Adelaide Festival in Incredible Floridas, curated by Kim Williams, appearing as soloist with the Australian String Quartet. 

Jason collaborates with living and emerging composers, and is an in-demand music educator and examiner. Presently Jason is a teaching fellow at ANU School of Music.

​

In demand as a leader, chamber musician, mentor and collaborative artist, Véronique is known for her inclusive sound world, her willingness to experiment across genres and her work on the six-string violin. She is dedicated to the creation of new music and the exploration of sound through diverse collaborations bringing people together. Folk, rock, experimental art music, dance, improvisation, and her love of nature all contribute to her musical palette. Véronique continues to maintain her strong classical background - for many years she was a member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra as well as US harpist Joanna Newsom’s touring band.

She features on many Australian albums, films and TV working closely with composers and arrangers as well as working as a composer-performer, Véronique is currently touring HEARTLAND at festivals nationally - a modern chamber oratorio co-composed with didgeridoo legend William Barton.

Véronique’s debut six string album Prima Volta is available now through the University of Queensland’s label Corella Recordings. Véronique plays a 1900 Leandro Bisiach violin and a six-string custom violin by Paul Davies.

 Lamorna Nightingale is a freelance flautist, concert presenter, educator and publisher who is passionate about the future of art music in Australia. She is a core member of  Ensemble Offspring since 2007. Lamorna has many years experience working in the orchestral sector performing regularly with many of Australia’s finest ensembles. Since 2017 Lamorna has curated and produced a new concert series dedicated to new music in Sydney ‘BackStage Music’.  Lamorna has created several recordings of new Australian flute music with repertoire selected to suit flute players with less experience with new music. This music is now widely performed by students and professionals Australia wide and internationally, transforming for many flute players their experience of new Australian music. She has recently created an album of new Australian music for flute and electronics ‘Other Voices’ with an associated education kit designed to introduce school students to electroacoustic music. Lamorna has also created several pedagogical volumes of repertoire for young flute players through her publishing company, ‘Fluteworthy’.​

Heather plays cello with the Opera Australia Orchestra. Heather performs with the ACO, has played with the SSO and at festivals such as the Four Winds Festival and the Lake District Summer Music Festival in the UK as well as doing regular session work. She has also worked for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Heather completed her music degree at the Sydney  Conservatorium.  She was a founding member of the Greenway String Quartet with whom she performed in China, Austria, Germany and the UK, as well as  around Australia. The quartet were finalists in the 2005 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and travelled to Austria and  China for festival performances. In 2006 the Greenway String Quartet were awarded the Henderson Scholarship which allowed them to study a Masters of Music Performance together in Germany and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK

​

*. Guest performer

​

Guy Noble has conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Western Australian, Tasmanian, Queensland and Canberra symphony orchestras, the Auckland Philharmonia, and the Hong Kong Symphony and Malaysian Philharmonic orchestras. He is the host and accompanist each year for Great Opera Hits (Opera Australia) at the Sydney Opera House and is conductor and host for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Orchestra Unwrapped series.  In 1991 he was a network announcer on BBC Radio 3, host of Breakfast on ABC Classic from 1999 to 2001 and a presenter on ABC TV’s Dimensions in Time series. 

Guy has worked with a wide variety of international performers including Harry Connick Jr, Ben Folds, The Beach Boys, The Pointer Sisters, Dianne Reeves, Glenn Frey, Randy Newman, Clive James, Conchita, The Two Cellos, Alfie Boe and Olivia Newton John. He has hosted a raffle with Princess Margaret in London, cooked pasta live on stage with Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra & sang the Cats Duet by Rossini with the renowned Korean soprano Sumi Jo.