Strings - staff

Chair/Associate Professor
Alice Waten (Violin), MA Moscow Conservatoire

Associate Professors
Ole Böhn (Violin), AdvDip Royal Danish, AdvDip Höchschule Köln
Goetz Richter (Violin), Kuenstl Staatsdiplom Munich BA PhD Syd

Senior Lecturers
Roger Benedict (Viola), GRNCM Royal Northern College of Music
Susan Blake (Violoncello), Solisten Diplom Basel DSCM
Georg Pedersen (Violoncello), Deuxieme Prix ParisCons

Lecturers
Maxime Bibeau (Double Bass)
Kees Boersma (Double Bass) DipMus VCA
Alex Henery (Double Bass)
Marina Robinson (Violin, Viola), BMus MMus UWA PhD UT Grad Cert AIM
Robin Wilson (Violin), BMus(Hons) MMus AIM

Associate Lecturer
Evgeny Sorkin (Violin), MMus Moscow Conservatory

Part-time Staff
Raffaele Agostino (Guitar)
Janet Davies (Violin)
Nicole Divall (Viola)
Charmian Gadd (Violin)
Louise Johnson (Harp), ALCM(Teach)
Maria Lindsay (Violin), DSCM(Perf)
Marina Marsden (Violin), DSCM(Perf) Perf Dip Vienna
Elisabeth Mitchelmore (Violin), SGPML Stuttgart GradDip(Perf)
Philippa Paige (Violin), LRAM (Teach) Lond BMus(Perf)
Gregory Pikler (Guitar)
Nadia Monastryrsky (Violin)
Alexandru Todicescu (Viola/Violin), DipMus Buch Dip(Spec) Brus
Thomas Tsai (Cello), PerfDip Sth Calif DSCM
Uzi Wiesel (Cello)
Felicity Wyithe (Viola)
Daniel Yeadon (Cello)
Giuseppe Zangari (Guitar)
Peter (Shi-Xiang) Zhang (Violin)

Chair/Associate Professor

Professor Alice Waten

Alice Waten (Violin), MA Moscow Conservatoire

Alice Waten (Violin), MA Moscow Conservatoire, is one of Australia's foremost violin teachers and string pedagogues.
She studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, where her principal violin teachers were Valery Klimov and David Oistrakh, and the Borodin String Quartet for chamber music. Prior to studying in Moscow she studied with Eberhard Feltz at the Hochschule fur Musik, Berlin.

Former teaching positions Professor Waten has held include:

• Head of Strings, Australian National Academy of Music, Melbourne
• Head of Strings & Classical Ensemble, Australian Institute of Music, Sydney
• Artist Teacher in Residence, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
• Head of Strings, Chetham's Specialist Music School, Manchester, UK

Guest Lectureships have included:

• The Menuhin School, UK
• Canberra School of Music, ANU
• The Australian National Academy of Music, Melbourne

She has given master classes throughout Asia - China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, California (USA) and Australia.

Professor Waten is sought after as a jury member, at both national and International competitions.

Alice Waten was a founding member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, holding principal positions for ten years. During this period extensive tours were undertaken throughout Europe, Asia and Australasia. Alice Waten plays on a Paolo Antonio Testore 1743 violin.

However, her interest in the training of violinists was inspired early in her career and has been a consistent force in her professional life. Her rigorous training, years as a performer, teaching experience, continuing study and interest in the development of new string pedagogy trends throughout the world have contributed to her success. The Australian musical community has been greatly enriched by the achievements of her students.

The greatest testament to her teaching is evidenced by the success of her former and present students including:

• Richard Tognetti (soloist & Artistic Director, Lead Violin, Australian Chamber Orchestra)
• Dimity Hall (Goldner String Quartet)
• Kirsten Williams (Associate Concertmaster, Sydney Symphony Orchestra), Sun Yi (Associate Concertmaster, Sydney Symphony Orchestra), Marina Marsden & Kirsty Hilton (Co-principal 2nd violins, Sydney Symphony Orchestra)
• Sophie Rowell (soloist & 1st violin, Australian String Quartet – formerly Tankstream Quartet), Anne Horton (2nd violin, Australian String Quartet– formerly Tankstream Quartet)
• Rebecca Chan and Michael Brooks-Reid (violinists, Hamer String Quartet, 1st prize National Chamber Music Competition 2009)
• Niki Vasilakis (soloist & violinist in Trioz)
• Ji Won Kim (young soloist & violinist in the Melbourne Piano Trio)

Other students are now playing in ACO, SSO, MSO, WASO, TSO, ASO, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Violinists Madeleine Boud & Rebecca Chan have recently been appointed as core members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Kylie Liang as Assistant Principal 2nd violin in the West Australian Orchestra.

Former and present students have won prizes in competitions, both international and national. Four students of Professor Waten have been awarded the ABC Young Performer of the Year Award (YPA) - Sophie Rowell, Suyeon Kang, Cameron Hill and Ji Won Kim. Sixteen students have been finalists in the string section of this Award in the last 12 years.

Associate Professors

Ole Böhn (Violin), AdvDip Royal Danish, AdvDip Höchschule Köln
Ole Böhn has pursued an extensive career as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Since his debut in 1969, he has performed regularly with orchestras in Europe, the US and South America. In 1983 he toured the People's Republic of China.

He has collaborated with conductors such as Moshe Atzmon, Herbert Blomstedt, James Conlon, Lukas Foss, Michael Giehlen, Marek Janowski, Franz Welser-Möst, and Oliver Knussen, and is a frequent performer on radio and television world-wide.
In 1990 he gave the world premiere of Elliott Carter's violin concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and has since performed this concerto, which was written for and dedicated to him, with the leading orchestras in Europe and the United States.

Ole Böhn's repertoire ranges from the baroque to the present day and he is regarded as one of the leading interpreters of American contemporary music in Scandinavia.

He has taught at the Royal Danish Conservatory and at the Conservatory of Music in Oslo; given classes at the Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Hart School of Music, the Norwegian State Academy of Music, Gedai Institue, Tokyo, and the University of Northern Illinois; and for several years conducted summer classes at the Officina da Musica de Curitiba, Brazil.

Ole Böhn has studied under Louise Behrend at the Juilliard School of Music, with Ernst Glaser in Oslo, Henry Holst at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, and with Max Rostal at the Statliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.

He is the concertmaster of the Norwegian National Opera and has previously held a similar position with the Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra, and worked for shorter periods as concertmaster of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro del Fenice in Venice, Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, the Residentie Orchestra in Den Haag, Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, The Beethoven Orchestra, Bonn and the Hamburg State Opera.
Ole Böhn uses a violin made in 1766 by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. It was acquired for his use by Nordea Bank of Norway.

He joined the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as Associate Professor in 2009.

Goetz Richter (Violin), Kuenstl Staatsdiplom Munich BA
Goetz Richter Associate Professor for Violin and Chair of the String Unit (1997-2008). His performance career encompasses concerto, recital, chamber music and orchestral performances and he has a particular interest in assisting young performers in developing comprehensive skills and attitudes to sustain a long-term professional engagement with music. His research interests include all areas of violin pedagogy, repertoire development and the history of violin playing. He has also published in philosophy and the philosophy of music.

Richter performs regularly as a chamber musician throughout Australia, playing with ensembles such as Trio Novalis Ensemble and the Sydney Schubert Ensemble and as a recitalist with pianist Jeanell Carrigan. In 2005 and 2006 he was invited to perform and teach at the Euro Arts Festival in Leipzig. He is the artistic director or the Kendall National Violin Competition. He also has a long history performing with many Australian orchestras: he was Concertmaster of the Queensland Theatre Orchestra in 1985, Associate Principal Second Violin of the Melbourne Symphony from 1986 to 1987 andn Associate Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony from 1987 until 2002.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Associate Professor Goetz Richter studied in Germany and Switzerland with Helmut Heller (Hamburg), Gerhart Hetzel (Munich), Max Rostal (Berne) and advanced solo performance with Artur Grummiaux and Riccardo Odnopossoff. He completed a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Sydney in 2007.

Senior Lecturers

Roger Benedict

Roger Benedict (Viola), GRNCM Royal Northern College of Music

Roger Benedict’s wide-ranging career has encompassed work as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, teacher and conductor. In 2002 he moved from the UK to Australia, to take up positions of Principal Viola of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the orchestra’s Fellowship Program.
A highly sought-after teacher, he was a Professor at the Royal Northern College of Music from 1997-2002, and is a Tutor to the European Union Youth Orchestra. He is now Senior Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium and gives masterclasses worldwide.

In 1991 to 2000 Roger Benedict was Principal Viola of the Philharmonia Orchestra, London. He also regularly performs as a guest principal with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

As a viola soloist Roger Benedict has appeared with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Ulster Orchestra in the UK, including performances at the Royal Festival Hall and the Edinburgh, Brighton and Lichfield Festivals. He also performs regularly with the Sydney Symphony in Australia and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. For BBC Radio Three he has recorded Walton’s Viola Concerto, Vaughan-Williams’ Flos Campiand the world premiere of Michael Berkeley’s Viola Concerto, and for ABC Classic FM he makes frequent broadcasts. With the Sydney Symphony he performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in 2002 and 2004, Berlioz’s Harold in Italy in 2005, and Andrew Ford’s The Unquiet Grave in 2007.

As recitalist and chamber musician Roger Benedict has appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, as well as at all the major festivals in the UK, his chamber music partners including Lorin Maazel, Sir Simon Rattle, Louis Lortie and Leif Ove Andsnes. In Australia he performs widely as a chamber musician, as a guest with such groups as the Macquarie Trio and Sydney Soloists.

As a conductor Roger Benedict has appeared with orchestras at the Sydney Conservatorium and the Australian National Academy of Music. For the Sydney Symphony he has conducted the Playerlink program and education concerts, and he recently appeared in New Zealand with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Lecturers

Maxime Bibeau (Double Bass)

Maxime Bibeau is a lecturer in double bass at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Principal Double Bass with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Inspired by the sounds of jazz, Maxime Bibeau began playing the double bass at the age of 17 in his native Canada, where he completed his undergraduate degree at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal with René Gosselin in 1996. He went on to obtain a Master’s of Music at Rice University in Houston with Timothy Pitts and Paul Ellison for which he was awarded a full tuition scholarship, grants from the Canada Arts Council and from the Canadian Research Assistance Fund.

Bibeau has been a member of the SHIRA International Symphony Orchestra Israel, the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, and has participated in many festivals, including the Spoleto Festival, Italy.

Appointed Principal Double Bass of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 1998, Bibeau has immersed himself in the musical life of his adopted country, giving solo and chamber music performances at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville (2004), Sydney Festival (2004) and at the Huntington Festival in Mudgee (1998-05). He regularly appears in the series Sensational Sunday at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has performed as a soloist with the ACO in performances of Piazzola’s Contrabajissimo and Mozart’s Per questa bella mano with Teddy Tahu Rhodes.

Bibeau has also taught at the National Music Camp, Sydney Youth Orchestra, University of NSW, and at the Australian National Academy.

Kees Boersma (Double Bass) DipMus VCA
Kees Boersma, lecturer of double bass at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, is Principal Bassist with the Sydney Symphony. He also performs and records with the Sydney Soloists, and is a regular guest Principal Bass with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Boersma joined the Sydney Symphony in 1990 and has featured as a soloist on a number of occasions. Solo works with the SSO have included the Dittersdorf Divertimento for Viola and Double Bass, Bottesini’s Double Concerto for two Double Basses and orchestra, Dragonetti’s Pezza di Concerto, Mozart’s concert aria ‘Per Questa Bella Mano’ with Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the world premiere of Colin Bright’s bass concerto Young Tree Green, commissioned by the SSO.

As a chamber musician, he makes regular appearances with the Sydney Soloists and the Australian Ensemble. He has also toured with Musica Viva, appeared at the inaugural Melbourne Spoleto Festival, and in 2007 was a featured performer in the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Boersma was also a founding member of the Brisbane-based contemporary music group ELISION, premiering the works of Franco Donatoni, Richard Barrett, Lisa Lim and Brian Ferneyhough. In his ten years with the ensemble he also recorded CDs and toured Italy and Germany, including an appearance at the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin.

Born in the Netherlands, Boersma trained at the Victorian College of the Arts and later undertook post-graduate studies in his birth country at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Consequently, he performed for two years with the Royal Concertgebouworkest Orchestra, including appearances at the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms London and tours to Montreaux, Lucerne, Paris, Vienna and Berlin. Upon return to Australia, he performed as Principal Bass with the State Orchestra of Victoria and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, before joining the Sydney Symphony.

As a music educator, Boersma has had a long association with the Australian Youth Orchestra and their summer National Music Camps as a tutor. He has been a presenter at many double bass conferences.

Alex Henery (Double Bass)

Alex Henery plays Principal Double Bass with the Sydney Symphony, and teaches bass at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has performed regularly as a soloist in various music festivals, including performances of Bottesini’s Double Concerto (Passione Amorosa), and Bottesini’s Concerto no.2 with the Sydney Symphony.

Henery moved to Australia from the UK and studied the bass at the Sydney Conservatorium from 1985 to 1986 before moving to New York, and later Boston to continue his studies. In 1989, he returned to the UK where he began his professional career, working initially with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He played Co-Principal Bass in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1990 and, in 1992, took up the Co-Principal position with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. During his time in London, he was also a regular Guest Principal with the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and many of London’s Chamber orchestras. He returned to Sydney in 1998 to join the Sydney Symphony and the Conservatorium’s teaching staff.

Marina Robinson (Violin, Viola), BMus MMus UWA PhD UT Grad Cert AIM

Dr Marina Robinson joined the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2008. Marina was the Head of Classical Performance and Young AIMS at the Australian Institute of Music from 2005 to 2008. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Western Australia and holds a Doctorate from the University of Tasmania. For six years she was a lecturer in violin at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music, an institution highly regarded for its outstanding contribution to Australian string pedagogy and performance. In Tasmania, she was also the Coordinator of Classical Music and Director of the Young Conservatorium and Winter String Schools. In 2005 Marina resigned from her appointment as the Associate Concertmaster of the Sydney-based Australian Brandenburg Orchestra with whom she performed as a soloist and toured nationally and internationally for 13 years.

Robin Wilson

Robin Wilson (Violin), BMus(Hons) MMus AIM

Robin Wilson is Lecturer in Violin at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he also lectures in string pedagogy and teaches in the Open Academy Rising Stars Program. A sought after teacher, his students are the winners of many important regional and national competitions including recently, the String Finals of the Symphony Australia Young Performers Award, the Kendall National Violin Competition, the MBS-FM National Young Performer of the Year Award, the National Youth Concerto Competition, the Ku-ring-gai Secondary Schools Concerto Competition, the Balmain Concerto Competition and the NSW Doctors Instrumental Scholarship. He has given masterclasses in Australia and the USA and previously served on the faculties of the Australian Institute of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts.

Robin has performed extensively in recital and at festivals throughout Australia and New Zealand and has also performed and presented at conferences in the UK and USA. Solo recordings include two discs of violin encores (Universal Music/Decca and Ode Records) and Schubert’s complete sonatas for violin and piano that was nominated for Classical Disc of the Year at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards. His recordings are broadcast frequently on ABC Classic FM, the MBS-FM network and Radio NZ Concert. He is Concertmaster of the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, an Associate Artist with Ironwood Ensemble and has appeared as guest violinist with groups such as the Sydney Omega Ensemble and Nexus Virtuosi. He also plays with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Romantique and Orchestra of the Antipodes.

Robin studied with Associate Professor Alice Waten at the Australian Institute of Music, James Buswell at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and has worked with Janet Davies in Sydney and Felix Andrievsky and David Takeno in London. He holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in violin performance and pedagogy and is currently completing a PhD from the University of Sydney on the historically informed performance of Brahms’s music.

Associate Lecturer

Evgeny Sorkin

Evgeny Sorkin (Violin), MMus Moscow Conservatory

Evgeny Sorkin started playing violin when he was 6 years old. Showing talent from an early age, at 10, Evgeny toured USA giving more then 15 recitals, including performance at the Department of State in Washington. In 1995 Evgeny’s family moved to Australia, where in 1998 after hearing Evgeny perform, Sir Yehudi Menuhin likened his playing to that of young David Oistrakh.

In 2000 Evgeny attended the Moscow State Conservatorium where he studied with Professor Sergei Kravchenko, Leonid Kogan’s assistant. Evgeny also attended masterclasses with eminent violinists including Professors Zakhar Bron, Herman Krebbers and Boris Kuschnir.

Upon his return to Australia in 2005, he studied with Associate Professor Alice Waten at the Australian National Academy of Music and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he is currently completing his Doctorate thesis on instructional materials for the violin.

Evgeny was a member of The International Holland Music Sessions from 2006. He toured over 15 countries as a soloist, appearing at venues such as Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatorium (Moscow), Hamer Hall (Melbourne). Evgeny has performed extensively as a member of the Brevis Trio receiving a recognition medal from the Union of Russian Composers for the promotion and performance of contemporary music. Evgeny has been awarded many prizes in international competitions including 1st prize at the 2002 6th Togliatti International Violin Competition, and 2nd Prize at the 2003 18th Caltanissetta International Chamber Music Competition, Prizes in Taneev International Competition and Gisborne International Music Competition.

From 2006 Evgeny began teaching violin at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne. In 2009 he became a staff member at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and balances his teaching with a busy recital schedule. He frequently performs as a soloist with orchestras and also as a chamber musician.

Evgeny actively promotes music by contemporary Australian composers. In 2010 he gave a world premiere of “The quiet flows of the Waste land” by Calogero Panvino. In 2011, a student of Evgeny Arianna Ricci has performed a premiere of the Violin Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by David Benney.

In 2012 Evgeny will be performing the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas for piano and violin with celebrated pianist Gerard Willems at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and around Australia.

Having previously performed on a violin by Antonio Stradivari (Cremona 1714) Evgeny Sorkin currently plays on a fine Italian violin by Otello Bignami kindly on loan from the Music Council of Australia.