GU CHEN (winner)
By the age of 9 Gu Chen had won the Shanghai Musical Competition for talented young musicians and given his first public performance. After his winning performance in the 5th National Violin Competition of China in 1993 he performed extensively throughout China and in Shanghai. He moved to Sydney in 1996 to study for his Bachelor of Music degree at the Australian Institute of Music. In that year he won the National Chopin and Wienawski Competition in Townsville, and then continued to carry off prizes in various prestigious international competitions, including the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in Folkestone, England (2000).

In 2001 Gu Chen became a permanent member of the 1st violin section of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra with which he made his solo performance debut  in 2005 before becoming its Acting Associate Concertmaster in the 2005-2006 season. Throughout these years he gave frequent recitals in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as giving solo performances and being involved in chamber music groups in Sydney.

In 2005 he was invited to play as Guest Concermaster with the Macau Orchestra at the Macau International Music Festival and returned the following year to play as the leader of an outdoor performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony during the 20th anniversary festival celebrations. In mid 2007 he left Australia to become Concertmaster of the Macau Orchestra.

Among his important musical influences Gu Chenlists Charmian Gadd, Lois Simpson, John Hardy and Pinchas Zuckerman.He is returning to Kendall in September as a judge in the 11th National Violin Competition, bringing with him his 1766 Guardagnini violin on which he regularly plays.

The Macau Ochestra gives Gu Chen on-going opportunities for solo recitals on his 1766 Guardagnini violin, and he is looking forward to a collaborative performance of the Bach Concerto for two violins with John Hardy.
July 2010

MONICA GROSMAN (now Naselow)
Monica is well established in Amsterdam, where she has been a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since December, 2002 She plays principal 2nd in the Royal Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, and with orchestral colleagues has formed a quartet.

She is involved at the Orchestral Academy in a program that provides mentoring to students through periods of valuable work experience, and happily combines her musical career with the challenges of being the proud mother of 2 very young sons.
July 2010

ERICA KENNEDY
Erica is a Masters graduate of the Faculty of Music from the University of Melbourne where she studied with William Hennessy. As a soloist she has won numerous awards, recorded for national television and radio and performed with various Australian orchestras including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, the Soirées Musicales Orchestra, the Stonnington Symphony and the Melbourne Musicians.  Performance highlights have included the Sibelius, Stravinsky and Korngold violin concertos with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as well as the Beethoven violin concerto and the Brahms double concerto for violin and cello with the Stonnington Symphony and Zoe Knighton and the Bach double violin concerto with Nigel Kennedy and the Sydney Chamber Strings.

As first violinist with the Flinders Quartet, she performs regularly throughout Australia and overseas including residencies undertaken at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, recording cds and performing with artists including Menahem Pressler and Geoff Nuttal, and at the International Musicians’ Seminar in Prussia Cove (UK).  The Quartet has also toured the UK Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore. The Quartet turned 10 early in 2010. It then toured with guitarist, Karin Schaup, and is on the point od presenting its first subs series conecert for the year.

As a chamber musician, in Australia Erica has performed in most of the major festivals including the Bangalow, Barossa, Coriole, Huntington and Port Fairy festivals as well as the Melbourne International Festival, with acclaimed groups and artists including Duo Sol, the Goldner Quartet, the Tang Quartet, members of the Melba Quartet and the Southern Cross Soloists as well as David Thomas, Keith Crellin, Janis Laurs and Dutch duo Grace Kim and Teije Hylkema.  Erica also performs in a duo with pianist Kristian Chong.

Having studied in the USA, Switzerland, London and at the Australian National Academy of Music with masters including Gabor Takacs-Nagy, David Takeno, Hatto Beyerle and the Vermeer and Emerson String Quartets, Erica is now sought after as a chamber music mentor and tutors for Youth Music Australia, Mt. Buller Chamber Music Summer School, Mellbourne Youth Music and the University of Melbourne.  She has also given masterclasses in Singapore.

Erica has worked as concertmaster with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria.  She is a core player with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and also performs with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Commercial recordings include the solo violin arrangement of Richard Meale’s “Cantilena Pacifica” with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Ravel and Bartok String Quartets with the Flinders Quartet, and “Reinventions” with the Flinders Quartet and Genevieve Lacey featuring works by Bach, Mozart, Kats-Chernin and Bowman.

Constantly undertaking new projects, in 2010 Erica led and directed a successful string programme with Orchestra Victoria with which she is continuing to work.
May 2010