ANAM’s String Department is dedicated to inspiring Australia’s brightest talents which will enable them to discover the musicians that they are, become the best musicians they can be, and then make a significant contribution when they enter professional life. Each year our renowned in-house Faculty individually mentor musicians through regular lessons, performance classes, chamber music coaching, and orchestral experience and training. In addition to this, a steady stream of international guest artists give classes and devote their time to side-by-side performance opportunities for musicians.

ANAM performed at the 2019 Easter Festival.

Awarded a fellowship at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) upon their formation in late 2013, Arcadia Winds became Musica Viva Australia’s inaugural FutureMakers musicians from 2015 – 17. They have brought their brand of energetic, joyful and spontaneous performance to festival stages in almost every state and territory in the country, to concert halls across mainland China and to listeners around the world through broadcasts of the BBC Proms Australia chamber music series.

They have revelled in musical partnerships with internationally renowned performers including the Australian String Quartet, piano virtuosi Lambert Orkis, Paavali Jumppanen and Anna Goldsworthy and woodwind masters Ole Kristian Dahl and Thorsten Johanns. Kate Proctor (flute), David Reichelt (oboe), Lloyd Van’t Hoff (clarinet), Rachel Shaw (horn), Matthew Kneale (bassoon).

Formed in April 2012, this Quartet brings together four of Australia’s finest emerging musical talents including Kate Sullivan (violin), Francesca Hiew (violin), Matthew Laing (viola) and Jarrad Mathie (cello).

They made their debut at Quartetthaus as part of the 2013 Perth International Arts Festival, performing works by Bartók, Britten and Adès. They are currently the Associate Ensemble-in-Residence at the Australian National Academy of Music; and the 2013/2014 Visiting Ensemble‐in‐Residence at Four Winds; and are one of two aspiring quartets involved in the Australian String Quartet’s mentorship program, The Quartet Project.

Featuring Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve (principal cello), Stefanie Farrands (principla viola), Maja Savnik (violin), Ike See (violin) and Nicole Divall (viola), together they make for a sound that’s completely transformative.

Four Winds had the pleasure of welcoming The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s String Quintet for a residency and concerts at Four Winds in October 2020. During their residency in the Windsong Pavilion, the ACO players spent time rehearsing, as well as filming and recording for the ACO HomeCasts series.

David Hewitt, composer and percussionist, has been involved in new music and performance making for over 20 years. A founding member of Taikoz, a member of Synergy Percussion and part of the internationally acclaimed outfit The Spaghetti Western Orchestra (SWO). As a musical director, David has worked with many remote, regional and indigenous communities developing new site-specific theatre works such as The Old Van Theatre Company, Musica Viva Australia fLinG Physical Theatre, big hART and most recently with Lee Pemberton and the Bedrock Collective. David is the founder of Stonewave Taiko, which has performed at the National Folk Festival and created the productions Thunder and Waves and Bega Big Groove. Previous Four Winds performances have included- Four Winds Cinematic Orchestra, A Song About Fish, Windsong Community Event, Bermagui Powertool Orchestra, The Resonant Village, Coming Home Olga Masters Festival and the 2018 Welcome to Country with Stonewave Taiko and Djaadjawan Dancers.

We were very excited to have David Hewitt and Jed Silver, Sound Designer, here in residence in May 2018 to finalise the recording of their ONDES Project – The Ghosts Between Us – for a sound installation at the 2018 DARK MOFO | NIGHT MASS event.

From its humble origins as four music students busking on the streets of Sydney in 2006, the last decade has seen the Enigma Quartet carve a reputation on the Australian music scene as one of the brightest and most versatile string quartets. They continue to garner acclaim and win over audiences with their vibrant style and eclectic programming.

Holding coveted positions in a number of Australia’s leading orchestras, this intrepid foursome of Marianne Broadfoot (violin), Kerry Martin (violin), Elizabeth Woolnough (viola) and Rowena Macneish (cello) are united by friendship and a shared passion for chamber music, contemporary music and live performance.

Australian artist Genevieve Lacey creates sanctuaries in sound.

Using found and environmental sounds as well as newly composed material, Genevieve creates poetic, sensual worlds in which it is possible to be deeply attentive. The practice of listening is central to her works, which are always created collaboratively. Recurring preoccupations include flight and birdsong; tracing passages of time and light in sound; reframing old rituals for contemporary times.

Genevieve’s creations combine her skills as performer, composer and curator. Always seeking to connect people and ideas, her works are experienced in a huge variety of contexts. Current collaborators include filmmakers Amos Gebhardt and Sophie Raymond, writers Alexis Wright and Chloe Hooper, choreographers Gideon Obarzanek and Stephanie Lake, ornithologist/composer Hollis Taylor and Antarctic scientist Steven Chown.

Jackson grew up in Orange, New South Wales, before achieving his Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Now, he’s about to wrap up his studies at the Australian National Academy of Music. Beyond academia, Jackson has also achieved some great industry experiences, and has performed with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, and Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.

Jed is a sound designer and self-proclaimed creator of dramaturgically organised noise. In 2018 he and David Hewitt finalised the recording of their ONDES Project as Artists in Residence at Four Winds – The Ghosts Between Us – which opened as a sound installation at the DARK MOFO | NIGHT MASS event.

Liam Wooding is a pianist, performing music across a variety of forms and genres. His first commercial recording Play Pen was released on the atoll label in 2019 and spent several weeks at the top of the Radio New Zealand Classical Music Charts. You can find out more about Liam’s work in New Zealand music at SOUNZ: Centre for New Zealand Music.

In 2019 as a member of the Morton Trio, Liam was a touring artist with Chamber Music New Zealand and received the Pettman/ROSL Chamber Music scholarship. Alongside Molly Collier O-Boyle as a member of COW, Liam was an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. They will present their debut show Forgetting Lessons at the Melbourne Recital Centre in 2021.

Liam was a prize winner in the National Concerto Competition where he performed with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and has featured as a soloist with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Wellington Chamber Orchestra, and on several occasions with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Liam is a graduate of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) where he studied with Timothy Young, supported by a Creative New Zealand scholarship. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Waikato where he researches New Zealand piano music. His research is supported by a Waikato Doctoral Scholarship and the Shirtcliffe Fellowship.

Born in Darwin Australia, Lloyd Van’t Hoff boasts a career as a vibrant, young clarinettist, chamber musician, collaborator and educator. Based in Melbourne, Lloyd has shared, created and performed music all throughout the world. Performances at the Beijing International Festival of Modern Music (Beijing, China), Menhuin Festival (Gstaad, Switzerland), Young Euro Classic (Berlin, Germany), Grafenegg Summer Music Festival (Grafenegg, Austria) and the Banff Centre (Banff, Canada) have all showcased Lloyd’s versatility as a musician on a global scale.

Virtuosic, original and exciting, Malumba’s genre-defying music will take you on a sonic journey while making your toes tap and your heart soar. With hints of Klezmer melodies, gypsy jazz harmonies, Celtic instruments and African rhythms, Malumba’s sound is unique and hugely versatile. Blending together the sounds of Australia’s top folk and jazz musicians ensures performances are exciting and full of improvisation.

Since forming in 1997, Malumba have released 6 albums, toured the UK and performed at most of the major folk festivals throughout Australia. A world music ensemble based on the far south coast of NSW, Malumba performs original folk inspired instrumental music, full of intricate melodies and improvisations.

Based in Melbourne, the Penny Quartet formed in early March 2014 at the Australian National Academy of Music. Making their public debut in a live national broadcast that same month, the group have since performed in high profile master classes with prominent artists such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sitkovetsky Trio, as well as numerous concerts and festivals. Most recently, they have been nominated for the 2014 Freedman Fellowship award, are the proud recipients of the 2014 John and Rosemary Macleod Travelling Fellowship and winners of the 2014 ANAM Chamber Music Competition.

With diverse individual backgrounds and experiences across Australia, Europe, America and the UK, the group brings together their many years of knowledge and training to create a mature quartet sound. The Penny Quartet’s repertoire is wide and varied, spanning pre-Baroque to today’s best composers. A love for the core quartet repertoire is at the forefront of their programming, but is closely followed by an urge to explore less charted territory.

In March and April of 2015, the Penny Quartet came to Four Winds for a two-week residency. Their residency program included pop-up shows, workshops, visits to the local schools, and culminated in a recital at the Four Winds site.

Peter de Jager is one of Australia’s most exciting pianists. His repertoire is diverse, encompassing all periods of western classical music, which he often plays on period instruments, as well as musical theatre and cabaret. He is currently on faculty at the Australian National Academy of Music as an Associate Artist, and works regularly as a collaborative pianist.

Performance highlights include the demanding solo Piano part of Messiaen’s Turangalila-Symphonie with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra in 2011, and his critically acclaimed 2017 Melbourne Festival performance of all five major keyboard works of Iannis Xenakis.

Peter won the inaugural Australian International Chopin Competition in 2011, and in 2016 he was awarded second prize in the Australian National Piano Award, as well as Best Australian Competitor in the 2013 Southern Highlands International Piano Competition. In 2017 he was awarded ‘Performance of the Year’ at the Australian Music Centre’s Art Music Awards for the premiere of Chris Dench’s 100-minute Piano Sonata, which he commissioned. He has three times participated in the Lucerne Festival Academy, performing orchestral, chamber, and piano duo works by Pierre Boulez under the supervision of the composer.

The Paper Plane Trio are an ensemble from the Australian National Academy of Music. They were Four Winds Artists in Residence in 2016.

Renowned acoustic chamber-folk trio The String Contingent have toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Scandinavia, with their unique sound that confidently walks the line between folk, classical, jazz and bluegrass. Australians, Chris Stone (violin) and Holly Downes (double bass), with Scotsman Graham McLeod (guitar) share a musical ethos that showcases the individuality of each musician and eclipses genre. Young stalwarts of the Australian acoustic music scene, TSC are equally comfortable rocking a festival stage or playing for an intimate crowd. In performance, their camaraderie and cheeky banter shines through, as does their passionate musicianship and instrumental skills; a joyful combination of precision, refinement and beauty, balanced with visceral energy and drive.

2017 sees the launch of their fifth album, Iterations, recorded in the beautiful acoustic of the Windsong Pavillion at Four Winds, Bermagui NSW. Holly, Chris and Graham embarked on a two-part residency at Four Winds to explore different creative approaches to music-making. The resultant album features music that they developed at and between the two sessions, and live free improvisation, which they collectively and spontaneously created in concert.