ROSS ALLEY

Ross, a New Zealander, graduated from Victoria University of  Wellington following which he became sole pianist for the Royal NZ School of Dance and was Musical Director for many shows in the capital city. Moving to Melbourne in 1979 he worked for the Australian Ballet School and Company before arriving in London where, for his first ten years, he was a pianist at the Royal Ballet School and Music Tutor to its Teacher Training Course. In 1990 Ross was appointed as a music lecturer for Birkbeck College, University of London which also led to a wide range of other lecturing experience, becoming a frequent speaker at the Royal Opera House giving over 70 talks on opera & ballet music.

He has given numerous pre-performance talks and informative lectures at the English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, Wagner Society, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Gustav Mahler Society, NADFAS, Kenwood, Artstur and the London Jewish Cultural Centre. Ross also organises his own private lecture series on opera which take place each day of the week in various  venues around London, the longest of which has been running for almost 30 years.

DR HELEN AYRES

Helen Ayres is a Doctoral graduate of the University of Melbourne and founding member of Seraphim Trio. She has appeared as a guest artist with numerous Australian small ensembles including Flinders Quartet, Syzygy, the Australian Octet and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. After spending two years living in London and studying pedagogy at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Helen has now returned to Adelaide to teach violin at Elder Conservatorium’s Centre for Young Musicians.

While living in London Helen performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestra. As part of these orchestras, she performed across England, Scotland, Germany, Austria and China. Closer to home, Helen is a past member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and has performed as guest principal with Orchestra Victoria and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

With Seraphim Trio Helen has regularly performed at various festivals including the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide French Festival, the Peninsular Summer Music Festival and in 2013, Opera Australia’s Ring Festival in Melbourne. Seraphim has recorded numerous CDs for ABC Classics and are currently part way through a series of trio recordings for ABC Classic FM titled The History of the Piano Trio.

Source: Seraphim Trio’s website

ISLA BARING OAM

Isla Violet Baring OAM founded The Tait Memorial Trust in 1992 in memory of her father, Sir Frank Tait and his brothers, who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. Isla’s mother, the singer Viola Tait, inspired her to organise a fundraising concert in support of a young Australian singer, Liane Keegan, who was newly arrived in London. It kicked off with a Christmas Concert at Australia House. The concert was a great success, became the foundation of our yearly events and Liane, after singing major roles in Berlin, is now a featured artist with the Melbourne Symphony, Opera Australia, and Victorian Opera.

In 2009 Isla Baring was awarded the Order of Australian Medal (OAM) general division for her service to the arts — supporting young Australian musicians and performing artists!

DEBORAH HUMBLE

Deborah Humble is one of Australia’s most successful and versatile dramatic mezzo-sopranos performing regularly internationally and at home.

She began 2017 with performances in January of Erda in Siegfried for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Naxos will be recording the performances for commercial CD release. After a solo recital in Adelaide, South Australia for the Wagner Society in February, she sang  the role of Mary in Der Fliegender Holländer for Opera Lille, France, in March and April. In May Deborah joined the Sea Cloud 2 in Lisbon for onboard performances for Opera Australia. Further engagements in 2017 included Waltraute in Die Götterdämmerung for Saffron Opera in the UK, Klytamnestra in Elektra for Edinburgh Opera Players, recitals in Sydney, London and for the Newcastle Festival, Messiah for the New Zealand Symphony and Perth Collegium Choir and masterclasses for the Melba Opera Trust programme in Melbourne, Pacific Opera in Sydney and for the Tait Memorial Trust in London.

Recent engagements include Erda in Das Rheingold in concert performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under the musical direction of Jaap van Zweden (released on CD by Naxos), her Boston Symphony Hall debut as Erda in Siegfried, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with conductor Jan Latham-König in Mexico City, Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle in Melbourne, Catherine in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher and Elektraat the Hamburg Staatsoper with Simone Young and  Kent Nagano, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and Mozart Requiem with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane under the direction of Johannes Fritzsch, Elgar’s Sea Pictures in Bamberg, Parsifal in Birmingham with Andris Nelsons, the Verdi Requiem at Southwark Cathedral in London and at the Sage Concert Hall, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Singapore, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Hong Kong also conducted by Jaap van Sweden and Elgar’s The Kingdom for the Melbourne Bach Choir.         Read More 

CHAD VINDIN (CHAIR)

Chad Vindin is a vocal coach at the Royal Academy of Music and a staff pianist at the Royal College of Music, and he performs regularly across the UK and internationally.

As a collaborative pianist he is the winner of the accompanist prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition, the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Accompanist Prize at the Royal Academy of Music, and the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards Accompanist’s Prize at the Wigmore Hall.

Chad has worked extensively in opera for many years as a répétiteur and conductor. He was a founding member of the Sydney Chamber Opera Company, and has worked as a répétiteur for the English Touring Opera, Grange Festival, Bury Court Opera, Bergen National Opera, and the Royal Opera House, London. He was assistant conductor for the Grange Festival’s production of Yeoman of the Guard, and conductor for Uncovered Opera’s productions of Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Don Carlos.

He is a regular staff pianist at the Oxenfoord International Summer School for Singers and Accompanists with Malcolm Martineau, and he is an alumni of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme. As a chamber musician he has worked with ensembles including Manchester Collective, the Marsyas Trio, the Magnard Ensemble, and the Instante Collective.

Chad is a Trustee of the Tait Memorial Trust.