An Ancient Song

Alison Mitchell is the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Flautist and has a vibrant and diverse career, as orchestral musician, chamber musician, soloist and teacher, performing throughout Europe and Australia. She has held Principal positions with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, and Associate Principal with the Sydney Symphony as well as performing as guest Principal with ACO, ASO, BBC NOW, LPO, RSNO, the Royal Northern Sinfonia and as a founder member of the Australian World Orchestra. As concerto soloist Alison has performed and recorded with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, ACO, TSO and QSO. She regularly performs in various chamber groups and festivals, such as at the AFCM 2022 in Townsville, and has recently joined, the Brisbane based, Ensemble Q. Alison is a dedicated educator and, alongside her QSO ‘Connect’ projects, is Flute Faculty at the Australian Academy of Music and teaches at the Queensland Conservatorium.

Judith Dodsworth is regarded as one of Australia’s finest interpreters of contemporary vocal works and renowned for a range which encompasses both the soprano and mezzo soprano repertoire. A graduate of ANU, ANAM and the University of Melbourne, she has studied in Vienna and London, including with legendary new music soprano, Jane Manning. She has created leading roles in premiere seasons for Canberra Street Theatre, Chambermade Opera, Stopera and Neue Oper Wien in Vienna, has worked with Syzygy Ensemble and the Plexus Collective and been presented in the Sydney Opera House’ Utzon Series.

Konstantin Shamray is an exhilarating performer with faultless technique and fearless command of the piano. Based in Australia, he performs on an international level with the world’s leading orchestras and concert presenters. Recent and future highlights include engagements with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. Konstantin performs each season with the Adelaide Symphony who he enjoys a special relationship with. Chamber music plays a strong role in Konstantin’s musical career and he is a regular on the stages of the Melbourne Recital Centre, UKARIA Cultural Centre, with Musica Viva and looks forward to returning to the Adelaide Festival.

Since 1985, the Australian String Quartet (ASQ) has created unforgettable experiences for audiences around the world. Dedicated to musical excellence with a distinctly Australian flavour, the ASQ’s purpose is to create chemistry and amplify intimacy through performances that connect people with string quartet music. From its home at The University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music, the ASQ reaches out across Australia and the world to engage people with an outstanding program of performances, digital content, workshops, commissions and education projects.

Jeffrey Means is an American conductor and percussionist with a special interest in modern and contemporary music. His wide-ranging career has included engagements across North America and Europe, collaborating with many of today’s leading composers and ensembles. He is artist director of the boston-based group, Sound Icon, which has given premieres of numerous major works of the European Avant-Garde. After studying with Pierre Boulez in 2009-2011, he has maintained a close relationship with Boulez’s music. Means is professor of conducting at Berklee College of Music and is an active recording engineer.

Imaginative and versatile Finnish virtuoso Paavali Jumppanen has established himself as a dynamic musician with a remarkable profile internationally as solo recitalist, orchestral collaborator, recording artist, artistic director, and frequent performer of contemporary and avant-garde music. Performing extensively in the United States, Europe, Japan, China, and Australia and commissioning and collaborating closely with such composers as Boulez, Murail, Dutilleux, Penderecki, as well as many Finnish composers, Mr Jumppanen’s expanding discography includes “the best recorded disc of Boulez’s piano music so far” (The Guardian) and the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas (on Ondine).      

As a dedicated curator of music, Paavali Jumppanen is a co-founder and the lead-curator of the Väyläfestival, a wide-ranging arts festival at venues along the shores of the Torne River in northern Scandinavia; from 2015 to 2021, Mr. also Jumppanen held the position of Artistic Director for the renowned international PianoEspoo Festival, in Finland. In 2022 he moved with his family to Melbourne to assume the duties of Artistic Director to the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).

Elina Vähälä’s 2022/23 season sees her debut at the Adelaide Festival. Born in the US and raised in Finland, she debuted with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra at twelve years old, since when her international career has won press accolades and praise from audiences and musicians alike. Elina Vähälä appears regularly with the key Finnish orchestras, and is guest performer with countless high-profile orchestras. With a touring schedule covering China, Korea, Japan, Northern Europe, and the Americas, she enjoys fruitful working relationships with leading conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Carlos Kalmar, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Okko Kamu, Jakub Hrůša, Thierry Fischer, Sakari Oramo. A versatile soloist with a wide stylistic repertoire, she has given world premieres of Sallinen’s Chamber Concerto and Curtis-Smith’s Double Concerto. Elina Vähälä performs with a 1780 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin.

Jakub Jakowicz has worked as a chamber musician with many distinguished colleagues including Heinz Holliger, Garrick Ohlsson, Michel Lethiec, Avri Levitan, Paavali Jumppanen, Daniel Möller-Schott, Andrzej Bauer and Zvi Plesser. From 2008 to 2014, he was first violin of the Lutosławski Quartet and since 2006 has been a member of the Zehetmair Quartet, an ensemble founded by the Austrian violinist Thomas Zehetmair.

Jakowicz studied violin at the Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin University of Music under the supervision of his father Krzysztof Jakowicz. He was also the last student of Prof Tadeusz Wroński, one of the Polish legendary violinists. He made his debut at age 11 and in 1998 Krzysztof Penderecki invited him to play at the Penderecki Festival in Cracow. Jakowicz has played with all leading Polish orchestras, and made solo appearances with renowned orchestras in Europe and South America. In 2018, the Witold Lutosławski Society awarded Jakowicz the Witold Lutosławski Centennial Medal for outstanding contributions in the dissemination of the composer’s music. Jakowicz is a lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He plays an instrument by Gand Frères (Paris 1859), courtesy of the Fondation Jerzy Semkow.

Christopher Moore studied piano and violin before he discovered his passion lay in the rich harmonic and rhythmic complexities of the inner voices – so he bought a viola and the rest is history. After ten years as Principal Viola of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, he is now Principal Viola of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and is in high demand as a soloist and chamber musician in Australia and abroad. He currently holds the position of Creative Producer of Melbourne Symphony’s chamber music programs, including the conductor-free Melbourne Recital Centre concerts. His musical home is often filled with the sounds of his talented family who all play instruments and sing. Christopher also plays Theremin. If you don’t know what that is, just ask him. Christopher is fortunate enough to play on a 1610 Giovanni Paolo Maggini viola - kindly on loan from an anonymous benefactor. He also owns a wonderful 1937 Arthur E. Smith which isn’t for sale, but you could borrow it if you promise to look after it.

Stephen King was the violist of the Australian String Quartet for 10 years until 2021 and a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra for nine years prior. This led to countless performances, tours, recordings, collaborations and festivals across Australia and the world. Stephen holds a Doctorate in Chamber Music from the University of Maryland and has been guest principal of the Adelaide, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. Stephen teaches viola and chamber music at the Elder Conservatorium and for AYO.

Timo-Veikko 'Tipi' Valve grew up in Helsinki, surrounded by a family who were “musical, but not musicians”, and who wanted music lessons to be a part of their children’s lives. Tipi was encouraged to pick up the cello because one of the teachers at the local music school, upon seeing him as a toddler, declared that he “looks like a cellist.” Tipi is still not sure what this actually means.

Tipi performs on both modern and period instruments and describes the cello as flexible and adaptive, both in its role in an ensemble or as a soloist across all forms of music. Tipi reflects this versatility and is enjoying a varied career as a musician, play-directing from the cello, and appearing as a soloist with many of the major orchestras across his two home countries, Finland and Australia. Tipi also has an active interest in new music, having commissioned and premiered concertos and other works written specifically for him. Tipi plays a Brothers Amati cello from 1616, kindly on loan from the ACO Instrument Fund.

Sharon Grigoryan was with the Australian String Quartet from 2013-2020. Prior to this, she was a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, and has been guest principal cellist of many Australian orchestras. From 2011 Sharon toured regularly with the ACO, and has also toured with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She has performed with the Australian World Orchestra since 2015, and plays in a duo with guitarist Slava Grigoryan. She is currently guest principal cellist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.