Andrea Lam & Friends

Andrea Lam made her orchestral debut at age 13 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In her final year of high school, Andrea won the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Young Performer of the Year award in the piano section, playing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which was broadcast live on the ABC and described as ‘electrifying’.

Andrea has performed with all the major symphony orchestras in Australia as well as the Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Columbus and Wichita Symphony Orchestras in the USA. She has played in venues from New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House, and at Festivals across the globe with works from Bach, Schumann, and Chopin to Aaron Jay Kernis, Liliya Ugay, and Nigel Westlake. In between all these performances, Andrea also managed to complete degrees at both the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. After two decades in New York, Andrea recently returned to Australia and was quickly appointed Lecturer in Piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Co-host of the hit ABC TV series The Piano, with Harry Connick Jr, Andrea Lam won the 2025 ARIA award for best classical album for Piano Diary, a deeply personal selection of piano favourites. The piano has been Andrea Lam’s constant companion through life’s highs and lows. “Saying goodbye to my grandfather. Indescribable depths of love after having my child. Overwhelming feelings that come with moving to a new country. Isolation from a worldwide pandemic. Nostalgia for childhood. Times you just want to yell at the world or squeal with joy. These are some of the moments when I have turned to the piano; the moments I most needed art. This album is a diary of those moments, from childhood to adulthood, and the music that gave solace, hope, inspiration, challenged and transported me to a different place: my very own Piano Diary.”

Andrea’s mastery of the piano and her commitment to artistic excellence are truly commendable. Her extraordinary talent, dedication and mesmerizing performances have captivated audiences at Four Winds and worldwide, leaving an indelible mark on the world of classical music.

Andrew Haveron has been Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 2013 and is described by The Sunday Times as ‘…a charismatic and brilliant soloist who needs fear no comparison.’

A laureate of some of the most prestigious international violin competitions, Andrew studied in London at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music. Andrew is a highly respected soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster. As a soloist, Andrew has collaborated with conductors such as Jiří Bělohlávek, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, David Robertson, Stanislaw Skrowachewski and John Wilson, performing a broad range of well-known and less familiar concertos with many of the UK’s finest orchestras.

His performance of William Walton’s Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2015 was nominated for a Helpmann Award. Andrew’s playing has also been featured on many film and video-game soundtracks, including Disney’s Fantasia game, which includes his performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields. Andrew has also appeared recently in recitals around Australia with pianists Anna Goldsworthy, Piers Lane and Simon Tedeschi.

In 1999 Andrew was appointed first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Brodsky Quartet. A busy schedule saw the quartet perform and broadcast in their unique style all over the world. Amassing a repertoire of almost 300 works, they enjoyed collaborations with outstanding artists and commissioned many new works from today’s composers and were famed for their barrier-breaking cross-genre projects. Andrew recorded more than fifteen albums with the quartet, receiving numerous industry awards. Andrew has also appeared with other chamber groups such as the Nash and Hebrides ensembles, the Logos Chamber Group, Kathy Selby and Ensemble Q.

Andrew is also in great demand as a concertmaster and orchestra director and has worked with all the major symphony orchestras in the UK and many further afield. In 2007 he became concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, broadcasting frequently on BBC Radio and enjoying many appearances at the BBC Proms including the famous Last Night. Joining the Philharmonia Orchestra in 2012 Andrew also led the World Orchestra for Peace at the request of its conductor Valery Gergiev, and again in 2018 at the request of Donald Runnicles. In 2004 Andrew received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Kent for his services to music.

He plays on a violin made in 1757 by GB Guadagnini; a generous loan to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra by Vicki Olsson for Andrew’s use.

After a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici has consolidated his diverse artist achievements to rapid acclaim as a conductor. Umberto is now the Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Umberto began his career as a virtuoso cellist making his solo debut at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major cello concerto in Japan. After years of performing on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, Umberto took up the position as Principal cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino following which he was Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2021.

As a cellist, Umberto remains beloved by audiences worldwide, having performed internationally as a soloist at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musicverein, the great Shostakovich Hall of St Petersburg, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the Salzburg Festival and is one of only two Italians to have ever won a prize for cello in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition. Umberto plays cellos by Matteo Goffriller (made in 1722, Venezia) and Carlo Antonio Testore (made in 1758, Milano).

In addition to his role Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Umberto’s recent conducting engagements include Elgar’s cello concerto with Steven Isserlis for the Volksoper Vienna, and debuts with Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo and Orchestra Regionale Toscana. Umberto has also curated a three-week series with the Sydney Symphony for ‘Symphony Hour’ and returned to the podiums of the Dunedin, Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. In November 2024, Queensland Symphony Orchestra announced the extension of Umberto’s Chief Conductorship until the end of their Season 2027.