INSTRUCTOR PROFILES

SALLIANA CAMPBELL – multi-instrumentalist

Salliana is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist known for her skills across the 5 String Violin, Nyckelharper, Octave Mandolin, Piano, Hammered Dulcimer and Hurdy Gurdy. Salliana studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. She has performed with Powder nger, Kasey Chambers, Katie Noonan, Kate Miller Heidke, Michael Leunig, Women in Voice and more. She has also supported Missy Higgins, Diesel and Jimmy Barnes. Salliana has written soundtracks and string arrangements and has performed at the ARIA Awards, Sydney Opera House, Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass and Tamworth Country Music Festival to name but a few. She is a current member of Bernard Fanning and the Black Fins, The Invisible Numbers, Sissybones and chambergrass group Kindred.

DR GRANT COLLINS – percussion, drums

Grant is one of the forerunners in the industry, forever pushing the limits and confines of music and leading cutting edge, creative and unconventional drumming. His approach defies stereotypical drum set methodologies with his innovative and enthralling solo drum set compositions. He uses all four limbs both individually and as a collective to present multi-timbral soundscapes, defining the drum set as a contemporary solo instrument for the world stage. Through his determination, Grant has developed powerful and modern drum set solo performances, which have captivated audiences not only in Australia, but around the world. Grant’s vivacious and dynamic one man show is a reflection of his infatuation with the drums, which has seen him tour and perform as an international artist at many concert halls across the globe. Not only does Grant attack the boundaries of a solo performer, he also pushes the restrictions of his instrument to create ground-breaking ingenious works. Grant’s sell out performances have also been trumped with feature presentations on countless radio stations and television programmes.

ROBERT DAVIDSON – composer, bass

Robert is a prolific composer, bassist, lecturer and founder and artistic director of Topology. Davidson studied composition with Terry Riley in California before completing a composition PhD at the University of Queensland. He previously studied South Indian vocal music in Kerala, India. Davidson’s compositions are regularly performed, recorded and broadcast around the world, in venues including Sydney’s Opera House and London’s Barbican. All of Australia’s professional orchestras and many leading soloists and ensembles have commissioned and performed his works. He has released albums and a DVD with Topology, and has directed and participated in numerous artistic collaborations.

CHRISTIAN GANTE – piano

Christian plays for 9 choirs in Brisbane! Even though he has the pleasure of accompanying even more choirs as an occasional backup accompanist for extra rehearsals, or when their regular pianist is away for various reasons; he is so very grateful that each choir time happens to be each conductor’s highlight of their week. Indeed a wonderful place to be; everywhere you go, your co-workers together also looking forward to time spent working on music, challenging and inspiring young musicians. Having appeared on Channel 7 and 10 as a youngster for his pianistic achievements, Christian currently works with just as many high schools during a school week assisting their music departments in music tutoring, soloist accompanying, congregation singing and from time to time as an audio-visual technician. Christian has written a number of instrumental and choral works which have been performed by various high schools and in his spare time adores visiting the great outdoors and photographing Australia’s wonderful wildlife.

THOMAS GREEN – composer

Thomas Green has a reputation in Brisbane (Australia) as a versatile composer whose focus is finding a musical home between many and varied streams, often seamlessly melding classical and contemporary idioms. He is the recipient of various government grants, commissions and is a prize-winner in national composition competitions. He completed his PhD in 2016, and his music has been premiered around Australia and internationally, with performances in Italy, France, UK, Croatia and China in recent years. He has composed and arranged music for The Sydney Symphony (with Josh Pyke), The Australian String Quartet, Katie Noonan, Opera Qld, La Boite Theatre, Plexus (Melbourne), and the Brisbane-based organisations Collusion Music, Trivium Ensemble and Argo. In 2017 he was commissioned by Queensland Music Festival to write a concerto for Manu Delago and QYO, in 2018 his original dance music for Turbine, a show by Collusion, was toured in Brisbane and Shanghai, and in 2019 he is writing music for Katie Noonan with the Australian String Quartet, for The Glad Tomorrow. He also releases experimental electronic music under the moniker Praxis Axis. He lectures in music theory at the Queensland Conservatorium.

LOUISE KING – cello

Louise King is a portfolio musician, recording and concert artist, Teaching Artist, active chamber musician, examiner, conductor, music director and adjudicator. She has extensive international training and professional performing and teaching experience. Louise is a multi-award and competition-winning graduate of the Royal Colleges of Music in London and Manchester, and has worked extensively throughout the UK, Europe and Asia with the BBC Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and on faculty at the Royal Northern College of Music and Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. As a soloist and chamber music partner, she performs in Australia’s major art festivals and established classical concert series and has recorded seventeen albums showcasing diverse collaborations from New Music, Chamber Music, Early Music and singer-songwriters including three albums for ABC classics. As Artistic Director of Cello Dreaming she runs a teaching practice, presents community and professional concerts, music workshops, collaborative performance projects, and mentors emerging young musicians. She is a guest conductor and clinician for school music camps and tutors for the Australian Youth Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra education programs.

KATHRYN MCKEE – composer, cello

Kathryn is a cellist who also sings, plays keys, programs electronics and writes music. As a cellist she has played with Opera Queensland, Queensland Theatre, Il Divo, Kanye West, Eminem, Guy  Sebastian, Archie Roach and Vera Blue.  She also runs dynamic string quartet Angel Strings, known both for their passionate classical playing and edgy pop renditions. As original artist ‘K Mak’, Kathryn has played Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Woodford and has featured at a Tedx Youth Forum. Her works have been nominated for a Q Song Award, the International Songwriting Competition and an Independent Music Award, and have received airplay on community radio stations Australia-wide as well as on ABC local radio and ABC Classic FM.

LUCAS MONTGOMERY – guitar

Lucas Montgomery is a versatile guitarist and bassist with skills spanning a wide array of contemporary music styles. Lucas is a master of many aspects of guitar performance from acoustic finger-style through to rock, fusion and beyond. Since obtaining his music performance degree at JMC Academy in 2018 , Lucas has performed live with a variety of bands and artists ranging from pop (Jade not Jane, Harley Meszaros) to progressive rock (Patient Lounge) and more.  Lucas is a freelance educator at the Independent Music Academy and JMC Academy, alongside private tuition. He is looking to further his music studies with a Master’s Degree in music performance in 2021.  Lucas seeks to broaden his musical horizons with as much experience and knowledge he can get, and share that with as many people as possible.

NICOLE MURPHY – composer

Australian composer Nicole Murphy’s music has been described as “exquisite, sensitive and delicate”. She is the recipient of various awards, including the ICEBERG International Call for Scores (2017), Nief Norf International Call for Scores (2016), the MAFB International Commissioning Prize (2015), the Theodore Front International Orchestral Prize (2013), and the Definiens C3 International Composer’s Award (2011). She was chosen as the young composer to represent Australia at the 30th Asian Composers League Festival in Tel Aviv (2012). Recently, Nicole was selected as one of six composers to work with Steve Reich in Toronto (2016) as a part of Soundstreams celebrations of his 80th birthday.

Nicole has been commissioned by eminent arts organisations including the Australian Ballet, the Royal Academy of Dance (London), Experiments in Opera/Symphony Space (New York), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Wild Rumpus (San Francisco), Chamber Sounds (Singapore), and the Definiens Project (Los Angeles). Her music has been performed by ensembles such as the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, NOWensemble (New York), Ars Nova (Dallas), and Halcyon (Sydney). She has received performances at numerous festivals including the Atlantic Music Festival (Maine), the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Connecticut), the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, the Nief Norf Festival (Tennessee) and the Bowdoin International Music Festival (Maine).

CHRISTA POWELL – violin

Highly-respected performance artist, session musician, and music educator, Christa is as comfortable lending her talents to the orchestra pit as she is in character wardrobe, playing on stage with Led Zeppelin or playing solo violin and strolling the stage with Expressions Dance Company. One of Topology’s founders, a steadying influence and strong driving force towards the shared common goal, Christa has helped steer Topology from the start, emerging as Creative and Education Director. When she’s not playing with Topology, she performs a wide range of chamber music (she and Therese are two thirds of the Muses Trio with cellist Louise King), her long-held passion. She also plays orchestral music with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, gigs with bands and teaches violin at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, in her private studio and as a guest at various education institutions. Christa studied at the University of Queensland (BMus Hon 1991) with Elizabeth Morgan, in London (1991 – 1993) with Emanuel Herwitz of the Melos Ensemble and at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music with Carmel Kaine, obtaining her Master of Music in 1996. In London, she played with the Olyver Gypsy Ensemble.

SONIA WILSON – violin

Sonia began learning the violin at age seven once she realised it always played the melodies in the ballets she grew up watching on VCR. She studied with Graeme Jennings at the Queensland Conservatorium before completing a masters with Goetz Richter at the Sydney Conservatorium. Sonia has a great love for chamber music and was a founding member and first violinist of the Geist String Quartet from 2015-2019. The quartet was awarded the Westheimer Fellowship, E.V. Llewellyn Memorial Award and the Mary Vallentine Award and toured both nationally and internationally; performing at the Musica Viva Festival in Sydney, the St Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar in Stanford, USA, the Orford Music Academy in Quebec, Canada, Internationale Sommerakademie für Kammermusik Niedersachsen in Germany and the Luberon International String Quartet Festival as part of a ProQuartet professional training course in France. Sonia has a keen interest in contemporary classical music and in 2018 travelled to Germany to attend the Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music, performing works by György Kurtág, Elliott Carter and Holly Harrison. She has guested with a number of contemporary ensembles including Topology, Sirius Chamber Ensemble and Rubiks Collective, who she joined for their 2018 international tour. Sonia has worked with orchestras all over Australia, including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Australia Orchestra, the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and AYO’s Momentum Ensemble. In 2018 she was an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and a member of ACO Collective and in 2019 joined the Australian Chamber Orchestra for one of their national tours. In November 2019 she began a full-time position as tutti first violin with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.