In Conversation

Making his film debut in Wolf Creek 2, Philippe Klaus has been in such Australian dramas as Rake and Home & Away . He’s appeared on stage with the Old Fitz Theatre, and toured his one man show with the Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festivals. His next gig, though, is a bit of a contrast – appearing in the title role in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt , the next show from Endangered Production, from June 30...

A much-loved cellist who Australia has adopted from his native Finland, Timo-Veikko Valve (known as Tipi) came to this country to become principal cellist of the Australian Chamber Orchestra 16 years ago, a position he has held ever since. He spreads his wings far beyond the ACO, making frequent guest appearances with chamber groups across the country, and of course has played across Europe, North...

Internationally renowned clarinettist David Rowden has performed throughout Europe, Asia, North America, as well as Australia. Not content with being just a soloist, he founded the Omega Ensemble, championing Australian musical talent, and has picked up plenty of APRA/AMCOS classical music nominations along the way. His playing has been described by critics as possessing “superb technique and arti...

Through the Sydney Art Quartet, founder James Beck connects audiences with layered, multi-sensory experiences based on live music woven with contrasting art forms and the wider world of history, arts & sciences. In the pursuit of that goal, he’s performed over 150 original Art Quartet shows with a cross section of some of Australia’s most vibrant creative voices. Previously the Artistic Manage...

Julia Fredersdorff is a violinist who has planted her flag very firmly with the Baroque violin – so much so, that she was the first student at the Victorian College of the Arts to study the instrument, separate from the modern violin. After a period in Europe playing with some of their finest ensembles, she returned to Australia to found the perfectly titled Van Diemen’s Band, as well as playing f...

A multi-award winning actress, Anne Wood has been strutting the stage both here and overseas in musical theatre for over 30 years. Whether it’s Cats or Mamma Mia , Crazy for You or The Sound of Music , she’s covered the full spectrum of what the genre has to offer. Melbourne based, she’s currently in Sydney playing Madame Baurel in An American in Paris , now playing at the Theatre Royal. Anne shar...

A soprano and actress who has established an international career spanning opera, theatre, concert and film, Anna O’Byrne has performed with the likes of Anthony Warlow and Emma Thompson, sung for Charles and Camilla, and appeared in everything from West Side Story to Barnum , and Guys and Dolls to A Little Night Music . But her most well known role on these shores was as Eliza Doolittle in the 60...

An internationally acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, director, novelist and actor, not to mention cultural icon and activist, Leah Purcell stands at the forefront of the Indigenous cultural renaissance and protest movement. A proud Goa-Gungarri-Wakka Wakka Murri woman, she is well known to audiences in Australia and around the world for her many roles, including in Wentworth, Redfern Now, Jindab...

Brisbane born Francesca Hiew was quite the child prodigy. Her career took her to the United States at the age of just 9 and in her later studies she won every chamber music competition she entered – often twice! She’s appeared as soloist with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria, was part of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and is now one quarter of the Australian String Quartet...

A sought-after specialist in baroque and classical period violin in Australia, Skye McIntosh is the founder, artistic director and principle violin of the Australian Haydn Ensemble. For the last decade, they’ve made their mark on historically informed performance practice in this country. Skye speaks with Simon Moore about one of Haydn’s greatest works, The Creation, and talks about her own journe...

One of Australia’s most distinguished violinists, Dene Olding has a long history with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, having been their Concertmaster for two separate stints. He’s performed as a concerto soloist in Australia and internationally, whether it be performing the great concertos of the past or premiering new works. A member of the Australia Ensemble, he’s also first violinist of the reno...

A celebrated actor and director, John Bell has been a driving force in the shape and direction of Australian Theatre for more than half a century. A former Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK, he’s performed all of Shakespeare’s seminal roles, often several times over. He’s also formed two theatre companies, one of which still bears his name. In this conversation, John Be...

A composer across a full spectrum of genres, Christopher Gordon has written for Australia’s leading orchestras, for major events such as the 2006 Commonwealth Games, has penned ballets, and scores for films such as Master and Commander, Mao’s Last Dancer and Ladies in Black. In this program, Christopher talks candidly with Simon Moore about his unorthodox entry into composing after recovering from...

An exciting and dynamic young conductor, Leonard Weiss has made a name for himself with the Canberra Sinfonia, and the Sydney, Queensland and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, to name just a few. He’s the inaugural winner of the Conductor NSW Orchestral Early Career Fellowship with the Sydney Youth Orchestras in conjunction with Create NSW, and was recognised as the “rising star of 2020” by John Hopk...

He made the role of Lola in Kinky Boots his own, performing it on three continents, including on Broadway and the West End, and winning a Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical for his performance on these shores. He’s also appeared in such seminal musicals as Rent, The Lion King and Miss Saigon. Callum features as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera, on Sydney Harbour from March 25. He spe...

One of Australia’s leading harpists, Emily Granger has performed across the world, including as Principal Harp of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Sydney, Tasmanian & Canberra Symphony Orchestras. She’s played for presidents and prime ministers, presented recitals from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall, and performed with international artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Jonas Kau...

A regular director with Opera Australia, Constantine Costi was responsible last year for the triumphant production of La Traviata on Sydney Harbour. He’s worked with other leading Australian arts companies including Pinchgut Opera and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and is co-artistic director of Red Line Productions at Sydney’s Old Fitz. Simon Moore speaks with Con in the lead up to him tak...

Multi-Helpmann Award winner Amber McMahon plays Eve Kendall, one of the ultimate Hitchcock Femme Fatales, in the stage adaptation of North by Northwest at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from the 9th of March. In this conversation, Simon Moore takes Amber on a deep dive into her 20 year stage career and delve into the craft of acting. She’s worked with Cate Blanchett, picnicked at Hanging Rock, and climbed...

He is a conductor who has fast established himself as a versatile artist covering the symphonic, operatic and ballet genres. He’s made a splash in Europe with such orchestras as the Mariinsky, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and the Odessa National Philharmonic. He and his wife, soprano Eleanor Lyons, have more recently created Live at Yours, an exciting and ever growing project, bringing top qua...

Jeanell Carrigan is an Associate Professor in the Collaborative Piano Unit at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She has performed throughout Australia and Europe as a soloist, chamber musician and collaborative duo partner. Her area of research is Australian solo piano repertoire and more recently in the piano music composed by early 20th Century Australian women composers. She’s released 32 alb...

He is a man who has entertained Australia for over 30 years. He’s danced on film in Strictly Ballroom, stepped into stilettos for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, donned top hat and whip for a tightrope-walking PT Barnum, and everything in between – including West Side Story, Singing in the Rain, The Pirates Penzance, Cabaret, and Anything Goes. But perhaps his most well-known performance has been t...

It’s difficult to find a more well-rounded musician than violinst Henning Kraggerud. The Norwegian virtuoso has had a career that covers everything – a soloist, composer, arranger, improviser, plus he’s the Artistic Director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. The discussion, from when he was visiting Australia in 2017 to guest direct the Australian Chamber Orchestra, provides some fasci...

If you’ve ever had the chance to see Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto perform live, you’ll know he is quite the entertainer. It’s been said that he strips every piece, however familiar it is, back to first principles, and we get to hear it as if for the first time. At the time of this conversation in 2016, he had just been appointed artistic director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s emerging...

Olli Mustonen is music's ultimate triple threat – a virtuosic pianist, an extraordinary conductor, and an outstanding composer. He speaks to host Simon Moore about his start playing the harpsichord from the age of 5 in his native Finland, as well as sharing a story about a misprint in a program which led to him to having to rearrange one of his chamber works for full orchestra, and how he pref...

Dean Bryant is a multi-award winning theatre director and writer. He has a string of directorial credits, including (with the Melbourne Theatre Company, where he was associate director from 2016 thru 2019): The Lady in the Van and An Ideal Husband; for Opera Australia Anything Goes; and for the Hayes he directed Assassins, as well as their debut production Sweet Charity, for which he won the Helpm...