pip thompson

Pip Thompson is a longstanding member of the Canberra Symphony orchestra and many other ensembles in Canberra and Sydney. A student of Miwako Abe and a graduate of the Canberra School of Music, ANU, Pip has performed with groups in both Australia and Eastern Europe.

Highlights have included recitals in Hungary and Moldova and recent performances of chamber music with Barbara Gilby and Canberra Strings. Pip has also performed and recorded with many folk ensembles, including Closet Klezmer, Triplika and most recently Romanian band Super Rats. With these groups she has played the major Australian folk festivals, including Womadelaide in 2020. She has also made guest appearances with Di Naye Kapelye and Schrajim (Budapest) and done extensive fieldwork collecting klezmer music in Transylvania.

Pip maintains a busy performance schedule with both folk and classical ensembles, and enjoys gardening and flamenco dance in her spare time.

Ella Brinch

Originally from Sydney, Ella studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music later moving to England to complete Post Graduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. She remained in England for 9 years, returning to Australia in 2012.
Ella has performed with orchestras both in Australia and England since 1999. These include the Sydney Symphony, Halle, Philharmonia and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. She was also a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for three years.

A passionate chamber musician, Ella was the violist of the Barbirolli Quartet for 8 years. The quartet performed throughout the U.K. and internationally and as a member of the quartet she has given concerts in some of the greatest halls in the world including Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, the Concertgebouw, Cologne Philharmonie, Stockholm Konserthuset, Vienna Konzerthaus and the Lincoln Centre in New York. As well as this, the quartet appeared in major music festivals such as the Cheltenham Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Festival Aix-en-Provence and the Verbier Festival. She has collaborated with some of the finest English musicians such as violists Philip Dukes and Garfield Jackson and pianists Simon Crawford-Phillips and Steven Kovacevich. In 2009 the quartet gave a series of performances of Mendelssohn’s Octet with the Australian String Quartet. Later that year the Barbirollis toured Singapore, New Zealand and Australia for the Royal Overseas League giving concerts and masterclasses as well as adjudicating solo and chamber music competitions.
During her years in England, Ella studied with some wonderful musicians including Thomas Riebl, Gabor Takacs, Ferenc Rados, Eberhard Feltz, Andras Schiff and members of the Belcea Quartet, Quatuor Mosaiques and the Alban Berg Quartet. She in turn has given chamber music masterclasses and workshops to students of all ages and tutored chamber music at the Guildhall and Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2010 and 2011 she taught at Dartington International Summer School.

Since returning to Sydney Ella has been working as a freelance violist performing with orchestras and in recording sessions as well as being involved in chamber music projects.

ANDREW WILSON

Andrew Wilson began his cello studies with Denise Lawrence before studying at the Sydney Conservatorium with Susan Blake. After playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a couple of years he travelled to the USA as a Tanglewood Fellow, then to the UK to undertake postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music with Eduardo Vassallo. Andrew has also performed in Masterclasses with such cellists as Ralph Kirschbaum, Joel Krosnick, Alexander Baillie and Michael Goldschlager. He has performed with orchestras in Australia, the UK and the USA including the Tasmanian Symphony, Hallé, BBC Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestras. Andrew currently freelances and teaches in Sydney, performing primarily with the Opera Australia Orchestra, where he has been a Guest Principal. He has taught at several highly respected Sydney schools as well as his own private studio, and is the founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble Vinifera.

Edward Neeman

The Australian-American pianist Edward Neeman has performed across five continents. Critics have lauded him as a “true artist” with “an excellent technique” who “isn’t afraid to put a distinctive stamp on whatever he touches, without resorting to mannerism.” A top prizewinner of numerous international piano competitions, including first prize in the Joaquín Rodrigo Competition in Madrid, Dr. Neeman has appeared as a soloist with the Prague Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Kentucky Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, and the American West Symphony among others.

Dr. Neeman’s debut album, Rachmaninoff & Sitsky, was released to critical acclaim in March 2016. An enthusiastic collaborative artist, he has performed with musicians including Itamar Zorman, Abigail Fischer, Ben Capps, and members of the JACK quartet. Dr. Neeman has made numerous piano duet arrangements for the Neeman Piano Duo, in which he performs with his wife, the Indonesian pianist Stephanie Neeman. 

Dr. Neeman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Australian National University, a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School. His teachers have included James Tocco, Jerome Lowenthal, Solomon Mikowsky, Santiago Rodriguez, Larry Sitsky, and Irena Orlov. He currently is a Lecturer at the Australian National University in Canberra.