2002 Finalists

MARIANNE BROADFOOT (winner)
Marianne is currently completing her PhD in Music Performance with Wanda Wilkomirska at the Sydney Conservatorium where she holds a full APA Scholarship. She gained her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the Canberra School of Music in 2004, studying with Barbara Jane Gilby and Alice Waten. Marianne performs as a casual player with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and was an Emerging Artist in 2006, studying with Aiko Goto. As winner of the University of Sydney Concerto Competition, Marianne will perform the Szymanowski Violin Concerto no. 1 with the Conservatorium Orchestra in September this year.

In 2004 and 2005 Marianne studied with Igor Ozim at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg with the assistance of the E.V.Llewellyn Memorial Fund. Marianne was the winner of the Kendall National Violin Competition in 2002 and the North Queensland Concerto Competition on 2004. In the same year she was the 2nd prize winner in the Gisborne International Music Competition in New Zealand.

In 2003, Marianne performed with The Queensland Orchestra in the ABC Young Performer's String Final. As recipient of a Young Artists Award in 1999, Marianne recorded a movement of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Marianne has also appeared as soloist on two occasions with the Barrier Reef Orchestra and the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, as well as with the Melbourne University Orchestra and the Canberra Chamber Players, performing works by Beethoven, Bruch, Mozart, Edwards and Prokofiev.

Orchestral highlights have included the Australian Youth Orchestra Europe tour in 2001, several National Music Camps. Marianne was the concertmaster of the MYO for two years, and has also performed with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra in Melbourne and the Canberra Symphony Orchetsra, as well playing in the Canberra International Chamber Music Festival.

Marianne performs with the Enigma String Quartet Sydney and will be travelling to the Banff Centre in Canada early next year to study with quartet. She teaches at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School and the Open Academy. She has performed in masterclasses with Pinchas Zukerman, David Takeno, Anthony Marwood, Vivane Hagner, Charles Castleman, Rudolf Koelman and Valerie Oistrakh.
June 2007

NEELA DE FONSEKA
Neela has been studying in Berlin with Professor Nora Chastain for the last year, and has performed with the "Kaleidoskop" chamber orchestra in Berlin (a new group which specialises in modern and contemporary music) and also the American "Absolute Ensemble" conducted by Kristjan Jaarvi. She has completed a 12 month fellowship with the Deutsche Oper Orchestra in Berlin and will be starting a 2-year contract with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester in September 2007.

She completed her Diploma from the University of the Arts in February 2006 and has just embarked on a Konzertexamen (masters in performance) degree which will continue for the next two years, with her same teacher, Nora Chastain.

Neela plays regularly with the Absolute Ensemble and also works with the Radio Symphony Orchestra and the opera orchestra in Berlin. She has been awarded a generous scholarship from the University of Sydney-- the Eleanor Woods Memorial Scholarship-- for which she will be awarded $40,000 over two years to support the completion of her study overseas.

The Absolute Ensemble will be touring in New Zealand in March and later that month playing in Sarajevo with Balkan Folk cult figure Goran Bregovic.

Through her work with Absolute Neela has discovered a definite leaning towards fusion music, and different styles generally. She took a course in improvisation over the Summer and plan to develop that side of her playing as much as possible.
December 2007

KATHERINE LUKEY
See 2004.

HIROAKI YURA
Hiroaki is the founder, concertmaster and solo violin of the Eminence Symphony Orchestra which has about 60 young musicians. They have recently performed in Sydney and Melbourne. Eminence is about changing the perceptions of symphonic music. It is about opening orchestras up to a wider audience, challenging the notions of classical music and reviving its popularity.
September 2006