MARY FINSTERER (Australia)

Mary Finsterer was born in Canberra, Australia, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Melbourne. She continued her studies inAmsterdam with Louis Andriessen, then returned to Australia and studied with Brenton Broadstock, completing a Master of Music degree at the University of Melbourne. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2003. Finsterer has taught music and composition at Dusquene University in Pittsburgh, USA, the University of Montreal in Canada, the University of Wollongong, the Victorian College of the Arts, the Conservatorium of NSW, the University of Sydney and the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Her works have been performed internationally. Finsterer has composed for films and electroacoustic events for the Zagreb Biennale, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Ictus Ensemble for performance in Lille and Brussels.

THOMAS FITZGERALD (COMPOSER) (Australia)

Thomas Fitzgerald completed his Doctoral Thesis in Composition at the University of Wollongong in 2005. He also holds a Master of Music and Bachelor of Music (Hons) from Melbourne University. A graduate student of Indiana University and New York City, he returned to Australia after a period of study and professional activity in the USA. Educational appointments have included sessional lecturer at Melbourne University, Scotch College, Melbourne Grammar, M.L.C. Kew and Wesley College. Thomas has composed a diverse range of music works Concert and Musical Theatre Events, electronic broadcast media and for Film and Television. These include productions with Patrick White for the A.B.C., and award winning scores for ABC Television Natural History Film Unit. He has scored for Feature Films and Multi Media projects, including Snapshot, Stanley and The Good Cook and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for his film score in Turtle World.

JOHN PRIOR (MUSICIAN) (Australia)

John David Prior is an Australian drummer, composer and producer recognized for his work with Matt Finish, Adrian Belew (King Crimson), Mick Taylor (The Rolling Stones), Roy Buchanan, Champion Jack Dupree, New Theatre, Coca-Cola, The Great Outdoors, iOTA, Wicked Beat Sound System, Kevin Borich and Dale Barlow. Sydney Morning Herald reviewer John Shand wrote: "Prior was a nexus of energy, fun and accuracy" performing withAdrian Belew. John, a sufferer of Asperger's Syndrome is also owner and director of Mammal Music Pty Ltd, a music and video production company that built and operates Unity Gain Studios, where he has composed and produced many albums for independent artists including the ARIA Award winning and nominated Tibetan Prayer (Best World/Traditional/Folk Album 1995), ARIA Award nominated The Hipbone Connection (Best Independent Album 2000 and #1 on theAustralian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) charts) and ARIA Award nominated The Story Of Abbey(Best Show/Cast Album 2002) and has produced a number of works for film, television, theatre and advertising, gaining an Australian Guild of Screen Composers Nomination for orchestral composition and production.

HUGO ALPEN

Hugo Alpen (26 October 1842, Kellinghusen, Germany 20 June 1917, Strathfield, New South Wales) came to Australia at the age of 16 in 1858, and established a career as a composer, choral conductor and singing teacher. After spending several years in Melbourne, Alpen was appointed director of the Vocal Philharmonic Society in the New South Wales town of Tumut in 1862, and from 1865 was based in Albury. He moved to Sydney in 1880 to work as a singing master for the newly established Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education), teaching at Fort Street and Hurlstone teacher training colleges. In 1884 he was appointed Superintendent of Music in the Department. He advocated enlightened modern methods of music teaching for school children, emphasising aural development and sight-singing, and in 1897 he published a treatise, Practical Hints for the Teaching of Vocal Music in Public Schools. In the earliest precursors of today's Schools Spectaculars, he led massed student choirs in gala performances, often including his own compositions. His Commemoration Ode (1899) celebrated Fort Street School's jubilee. At the celebrations of the Inauguration of the Commonwealth in Centennial Park on 1 January 1901, he conducted an estimated 10,000 school children in a performance of his work Federated Australia. Alpen was also the organist at St Patrick's on Church Hill and St Benedict's on Broadway, both in Sydney. In retirement he lived in Strathfield until his death on 20 June 1917. Among his later works, with words by Roderick Quinn, was Hail! Men of America, Hail!, which was performed as an 'ode of welcome to the American Fleet' on its hugely popular first visit to Sydney Harbour in 1908.

JOHN CARMICHAEL (COMPOSER)

John Carmichael (born 5 October 1930) is an Australian pianist, composer and music therapist who has long been resident in the United Kingdom. One of his best known works is the Concierto folklorico for piano and string orchestra. His works for piano form much of his musical output, although he composes for many other instruments. His work is described as expressive and lyrical. Biography John Carmichael was born in Melbourne in 1930. He studied piano with Margaret Schofield and in 1947 won a scholarship to the Melbourne Conservatorium, where his teacher was Raymond Lambert. He also studied composition with Dorian Le Gallienne. Moving to Europe, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Marcel Ciampi and in London with Arthur Benjamin and Anthony Milner, a pupil of Mtys Seiber. He wrote the music for Britain's Festival of Women during this period. He also wrote reviews and critiques for music magazines. John Carmichael was a pioneer in the field of music therapy; he developed music teaching and music appreciation projects at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Netherden Mental Hospital in Surrey, and worked for the Council for Music Therapy in London. Between 1958 and 1963, he was Music Director of the Spanish dance company Eduardo Y Navarra, during which time he became fascinated by Spanish folk idiom. He toured internationally with the group, including an Australian visit. From this came the Concierto Folklorico for piano and string orchestra. John Carmichael has twice recorded this work with himself as soloist, both times with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (1970, conducted by Tibor Paul; 1984, conducted by David Measham). In 1980, his Phoenix Flute Concerto was premiered at the Sydney Opera House with James Galway as soloist and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Louis Frmaux. Galway also played in the U.S. premiere the same year, at the Hollywood Bowl by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Michael Tilson Thomas. In 1984, he appeared as soloist in a performance of his piano concerto on the "Last Night of the Proms" during the 10th Perth International Arts Festival. Writing for the piano has always stimulated ideas for compositions, including works for four hands, and has led to collaborations with Australian pianists such asVictor Sangiorgio and Antony Gray.

ANN CARR-BOYD

Ann CarrBoyd (born 13 July 1938) is an Australian classical composer and musicologist. She is considered an authority on the history of European music in Australia. Biography Ann Kirsten Wentzel was born in Sydney. Her grandfather Albert Wentzel came to Australia in 1888 from Bohemia, as a violinist with an orchestra helping to celebrate the centenary of European settlement. Her father Norbert Wentzel was her first teacher of piano and composition, and her uncle Charles Wentzel taught her the violin. Both her father and uncle played viola in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Her formal music studies were at the University of Sydney (Master of Arts; she was the university's first music graduate), and in London with Peter Racine Fricker and Alexander Goehr. She married and had children in London.[1] She returned to Sydney in 1967, where she has been involved in broadcasting, teaching, and contributing to music lexicography, such as the Australian Dictionary of Biography and the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. In 1975 she won the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award. She was a co-founder of the Lane Cove Symphony Orchestra (now known as the Mosman Orchestra), and she and her three daughters play in the orchestra. One of her works was performed at the official opening of the New Parliament House,Canberra in 1988. She now lives in Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Music Her works encompass a symphony, concertos (piano; violin), chamber music and vocal music. The harpsichord figures prominently in her output. She is perhaps best known to the general music-listening public for a short piece for mandolin ensemble, titled Fandango, which ranked 55 in the 2008 Classic 100 chamber survey conducted by ABC Classic FM radio.

ROSALINE YUEN

Rosaline Yuen is an Australian singer-songwriter based in Melbourne, Australia. Rosaline performs on piano andguitar. In 2008, Rosaline Yuen released her debut EP, Garden through her own independent music label, thirtysixbird and Green/MGM. In 2010, Rosaline was selected to perform on the New Music Stage at St Kilda Festival,.[3] Rosaline's song After the Show, was featured in episode nine of the popular Australian television series, Underbelly:The Golden Mile, which aired in 2010. In 2011, Rosaline Yuen will release her first full length album 'Tiny Goddess'.

TIMOTHY JAMES WEBB

Timothy James Webb, as a musician also known as Tim J. Webb (born Warburton, Victoria, 13 February 1967), is an Australian painter and sculptor, who has been living in Munich, Germany, since 2000. Webb studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne from 1986 to 1988, where he got his BFA degree. Later, he graduated with an MFA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1998. In 2000 he moved to Munich, Germany, where he also plays guitar and sings in his band The Silverflies. Some of his works belong to the collections of Sony/CBS in Melbourne, of the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum, of the Melbourne Theatre Company, of the Melbourne City Council, of Arnon Milchan and of the collections of other notable families in Australia, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Ireland, Sweden and in Germany.

DAN WEBB

Dan Webb is an Australian singer, keyboardist and songwriter. Webb has released two self-produced EPs to date which were recorded at Melbournes Sing Sing Recording Studios with engineer Matt Voigt and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London. Webb has garnered much attention for his spontaneous and energetic live shows. In December 2009 he was main support for Davey Lanes (You Am I) The Pictures at East Brunswick Club in Melbourne. He headlined an east coast tour of Australia in support of the release of Hyperspace Clearance in September/October 2010 which saw him play to crowds in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Newcastle. In December 2010 he took residency at The Evelyn Hotel in Melbourne. In 2011 he will play two sets at St Kilda Festival and support Conway Savage (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). Webbs live shows occasionally feature Kieran Conrau and Ari Farrar from The Cat Empire horn section The Empire Horns.

HAYLEY WARNER

Hayley Warner (born 23 January 1992), is an Australian pop rock singer-songwriter from South Sydney, who was the runner-up of Australian Idol in 2009. Days after the idol finale, Hayley signed to Sony Music Australia and released her debut single, "Good Day". At the age of 12, Hayley started her first band, Cloud 9. She was the lead singer of former band Bleached Academy alongside Dom Cabusi (guitar, backing vocals), Jayson Robertson (bass) and James Hill (drums, programming) On 14 April 2009, Bleached Academy funded and released their own EP titled Set This City Alight. Due to Hayley's appearance and success on Idol, Bleached Academy's popularity has highly risen. Hayley was a standout performer in the Australian Idol Top 12. She built a large and loyal following in a very short time and her high energy performances earned her massive credit. Many people have said she is the female version of superstar, Robbie Williams. Warner said her main ambition during the idol journey was "not to be boring." Warner has been described as a vocal "powerhouse" whose breathtaking performances displayed her versatility in range & emotion. Hayley's interpretation of Pink's "Funhouse" not only got her a standing ovation on Australian Idol but also scored her a "Rexona Moment". Idol judge, "Dicko" Dickson described her as "possibly the coolest 17-year old girl in the southern hemisphere." After the finale, Hayley was granted a record contract with Sony Music. Hayley is one of only two contestants in Australian Idol history, the other being Season 2 winner Casey Donovan, to make it to the grand final despite appearing in the bottom three or two on more than one occasion during the finals. All other contestants to make the final were in the bottom only once or never at all.

MARIA VENUTI

Maria Venuti is an Australian actress and singer. Venuti was born to an Egyptian father and an Italian mother. She began her career as a 'performer' on Brian Henderson's Bandstand and on The Mike Walsh Show in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early 1990s, she had guest roles in A Country Practice and in G.P. It wasn't until 2000 where she gained national popularity. Since 2000, she has starred in the SBS One comedy, Pizza, where she plays the role of Bobo's Mama. In 2003, she had a role in the show's move to film, reprising her role in the film, Fat Pizza. In 2002 and 2003, she had a guest role on Always Greener, and in 2008, guest roles in Stupid Stupid Man.

ERINN SWAN

Erinn Swan is a Singer, Songwriter, Performer and A&R Representative for Sony Music from Brisbane, Queensland,Australia. Erinn is the lead singer for the Brisbane based band Streamer Bendy. She has performed live on MTV's 'The Lair,' Channel 9 and NOVA and AUSTEREO national radio, supported the likes of The Klaxons, Good Charlotte, Kisschasy, Stafford Brothers [1] and more. Singing and Songwriting however are not Erinn's only talents. An accomplished actress, Erinn has appeared in many Brisbane based projects, including the lead role in Yahoo7's PS TRIXI, and has been a roving reporter for Austero's 'Hot 30', which broadcasts nation wide. Erinn is also an active member of the Australian Youth Music Council.[2] Erinn is Sony Musics A&R scout for Queensland. She also ran a small independent label Smile Or Die Music for three years where she managed and worked intimately with the Brisbane scene. Erinn also worked at Mercury Mobility for a year where she drove efforts involving programming music for mobile platforms, and researching and developing programs for how to cope with the music industries shift to the digital realm.