Guest Artists
The HSO is delighted to have the opportunity to perform with the following guest artists in its 2012 Concert Series.
Amir Farid
Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, Amir Farid has been described as ‘a highly creative musician – a pianist of great intelligence and integrity.’
A graduate of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne and the Australian National Academy of Music, he has received numerous awards and scholarships.
He has performed concerti with orchestras including the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, he is pianist with the acclaimed Benaud Trio winning the Piano Trio prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition.
Tristram Williams
Tristram Williams maintains a busy international career as a leading young soloist, ensemble musician, improvisor and educator.
He is a laureate of major international trumpet competitions (Brussels & Eindhoven) and a prize winner at the Stockhausen Interpreters Course. Tristram has appeared as a soloist across Europe, in the UK, USA, Japan, China and many times around Australia.
In 2007, he won the Symphony Australia Young Performer Award and a Churchill Fellowship in 2008. He has been a guest of international Arts /Music Festivals and worked with a wide range of prestigious composers.
Tristram is a member of the New Music Ensemble ELISION and an electro-acoustic group called DIODE.
The Ashton Smith Singers
The Ashton Smith Singers are a choral ensemble founded and directed by David Ashton-Smith in 1980. Known for their choral sound, the Singers perform regularly with the Australian Pops Orchestra, contributing to diverse programs of opera, music theatre, Viennese, Broadway and ‘Best of British’ programs.
The Singers performed with Dame Edna Everage on invitation in her ‘Song of Australia’ series of concerts and have appeared on TV specials, contributed to film soundtracks (Garbo, Lilian’s Story, The Wog Boy) as well as provided choral input to TV and cinema advertisements(Mazda, Carlton Draft).
The Singers also present concerts featuring classical works including Mozart's ‘Requiem’, Haydn's ‘Nelson Mass’ and John Rutter's ‘Gloria’ and are much loved for their annual Christmas concerts which has resulted in the release of two CD’s titled ‘Christmas with the Ashton Smith Singers’.
Natsuko Yoshimoto
Born in Japan, Natsuko began playing the violin at the age of three and won a full scholarship to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England when she was eleven. She received direct guidance and teaching under Lord Menuhin and Wen Zhou Li. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with distinction in 1998.
She has won many prizes in international competitions including the Wieniawski, the Yehudi Menuhin and the Tibor Varga. She received the Gold Medal in both the prestigious 1994 Shell/London Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa Award. In 2007 Natsuko was presented with the Iwaki Award for outstanding achievement as a Japanese artist.
Natsuko has appeared frequently at major international festivals throughout Europe, U.S.A, Asia and Australia. As a chamber musician she has collaborated with artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Heinz Holliger, Stephen Kovacevich, Brett Dean, Stephen Osbourne and Christina Ortiz.
In 1993, she was honoured to perform solo in the presence of the Queen and the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace. Her debut recital at London's Wigmore Hall in 1998 with Freddy Kempf received widespread critical acclaim.
In great demand as a soloist, she has appeared with many world renowned orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia (London), Halle Orchestra, Odense Symphony (Denmark), Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with many leading conductors and formed a special relationship with both Yehudi Menuhin and Hiroyuki Iwaki over many years.
She performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in July 2009 and with Iwaki Kanazawa's wife, Kaori Kimura in 2010. Natsuko is currently the concertmaster of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
An ever popular guest artist with the HSO over the past five years, Natsuko is Heidelberg Symphony's "Soloist in Residence".