Bridget Bolliger – flute

Australian-Swiss flautist Bridget Bolliger was born in Sydney, where she distinguished herself early, studying under Jenny Andrews, Jane Rutter and Vernon Hill and performing the Ibert Flute Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15.

At 18 Ms Bolliger travelled to Switzerland to study with Peter-Lukas Graf at the Basel Music Academy. For four consecutive years she was awarded the coveted Study Grant of the Migros/Ernst-Göhner Stiftung, while also winning the UBS Flute Competition in Zürich, the Kiefer Hablitzel Award in Bern and a prize at the Swiss Woodwind Competition in St Gallen. She attended masterclasses with Alain Marion, Jean-Pierre Rampal and William Bennett, and played Principal Flute with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and Vaclav Neumann, the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach and the European Community Youth Chamber Orchestra under James Judd.

After graduating with the prestigious Soloistʼs Diploma, Ms Bolliger was appointed Principal Flute with the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra. She also appeared as Guest Principal Flute with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Zürich Opera Orchestra and Zürich Chamber Orchestra, under conductors such as Nello Santi, Horst Stein, Franz Welser-Möst and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

Ms Bolliger spent three years in Brazil as Principal Flute of the Sinfonica de São Paulo, before returning to Australia where she has played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Queensland Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, under conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy and Patrick Summers.

Bridget Bolliger has appeared as concerto soloist with the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Basel Radio Orchestra, Collegium Musicum Basel, Gruppo Concertistico della Svizzera Italiana (Lugano), Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar al Teatro Massimo (Palermo), Orquestra Sinfonica do Norte (Porto, Portugal) and the Sinfonica de São Paulo. She has performed the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with harpists Elena Zaniboni, Marielle Nordmann and Sarah O’Brien.

As a chamber musician, Ms Bolliger has appeared at the Ainey International Music Festival in Burgundy, the Curitiba International Music Festival in Brazil, the Huntington Estate Music Festival in New South Wales and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Queensland. She has collaborated with many distinguished Australian and British musicians, and with members of the Chicago and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.

Ms Bolliger is founder of the New Sydney Wind Quintet, which has become one of Australia’s leading chamber ensembles, releasing two CDs, commissioning a work from Ross Edwards and giving numerous world premieres. Ms Bolliger is also founder and Artistic Director of the annual Sydney Chamber Music Festival.

As a flute teacher and chamber music coach, Bridget Bolliger has tutored and given masterclasses in Switzerland, Brazil and Australia. She has taught at the Jugend Musik Schule (Rorschach) and was assistant to Michel Debost at the Oficina de Música de Curitiba. She has taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of New South Wales and the Sydney Conservatorium High School, and given masterclasses for the New England Conservatorium of Music, the Sydney Flute Society and the Australian Flute Festival.

Bridget Bolliger is a Powell Artist, playing on a handmade, 14-carat gold Verne Q. Powell flute.

“Once again flautist Bridget Bolliger played her way into the hearts of music-lovers.” 
Zürcher Zeitung

“Bridget Bolliger enchanted the public at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, distinguishing herself with interpretative grace and delicious virtuosity.”
Rivista di Lugano

“Flautist Bridget Bolliger’s graceful, virtuosic and beautifully-sounding playing was especially admirable.”
Berner Zeitung

“Bridget Bolliger’s playing is rich with light and colour. She delivered the challenging music with warmth and fresh originality.”
Corriere del Ticino

“Bridget Bolliger made a lasting impression with her delicate power. The Andante’s endless melody hovered over the strings like priceless crystal.” 
Zürcher Zeitung

“This is a beautiful performance, where flautist Bridget Bolliger especially gets to show off her impressionistic styling.” 
Music Web International

Rachel Tolmie – cor anglais

Rachel started playing the oboe at ten years of age and the cor anglais at twelve. In primary school she played in the Sydney North Youth Orchestra and on entering the Conservatorium High School, she became a member of the Conservatorium High School Orchestra and the Sydney Youth Orchestra.  During her undergraduate years at the Sydney Conservatorium and for many years afterwards, Rachel was the Principal Oboist of the East-West Philharmonic Orchestra.

On successful completion  of her Fellowship in Music Diploma, awarded by the AMEB, Rachel travelled to England and completed with Distinction, a Post-Graduate Diploma at the Royal College of Music, London, specializing in Solo and Chamber Music Performance.

On her return to Sydney, Rachel started recording her first CD with the brilliant pianist John Martin. John and Rachel continue to perform regularly together and have released four CD’s.

In 2006, Rachel wrote a book titled An Introduction to the Cor anglais and Oboe which is published by Wirripang Publications.

In 2008, Rachel recorded a solo album with the Bourbaki Ensemble, conducted by David Angell. This album featured Andrew del Riccio on trumpet in Quiet City by Aaron Copland. Rachel’s latest CD “Bushfire” with the Concertante Ensemble was released In 2011 .

Rachel has appeared as soloist with the East-West Philharmonic Orchestra, Central Coast Symphony Orchestra, Concertante Ensemble, Con Spirito, Bourbaki  Ensemble and Balmain Sinfonia.

In December 2011 Rachel graduated with a Master of Music degree from Sydney University.

Gregory Kinda – piano

Gregory Andrew Kinda was born in Katowice, Poland. In 1983, his family immigrated to Australia. In 1984, at the age of 6, he became the youngest scholar to enter the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in the preparatory department. In 1986 he moved to Papua-New Guinea, and in 1990 he returned to Poland. He studied at the Katowice Secondary Music School. In 1999, at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Gregory completed his Master of Arts degree in an accelerated three years instead of the usual five. He also studied post-graduate courses in Oslo, Norway and Gdansk, Poland. He returned back to Sydney in 2000. In 2003, he completed his Bachelor of Teaching degree at the University of Western Sydney. From 2001 to 2006 Gregory was a piano lecturer at the Australian International Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. From 2008 till 2010 he worked as a teacher at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Conservatorium of Music. Since 2010, he works as an Associate Artist at Trinity Grammar School in Summer Hill, NSW.

Gregory has performed in Australia, Poland, Norway, Germany, Russia, France, Czech Republic and Japan. He was the star performer in March 2010 at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place in Sydney, during the official NSW state celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Frédéric Chopin, where he played in the presence of the Polish Ambassador and the Governor of NSW Professor Marie Bashir AC.

His prizes at international competitions have included:
3rd Prize in the F. Chopin Competition in Szafarnia, Poland 1993.
Artistic Scholarship from the F. Chopin Foundation in Warsaw, 1994.
3rd Prize in the M. Magin Competition in Paris, 1995.
2nd Prize in the National Competition in Zagan, Poland 1996.

Jacqueline Kent – narrator

As well as playing flute for Mosman Symphony Orchestra – and presenting her own version of the plot of Carmen at several concerts – Jacqueline Kent is an author and book editor. She has written fourteen books including fiction for young adults, social history and biography.

Her first book, published in 1983, was Out of the Bakelite Box: The Heyday of Australian Radio, a social and oral history of Australian radio, drawing heavily on original interviews. In the Half Light: Life as a Child in Australia 1900-1970 (1988) consists of reminiscences of people from all walks of life, with emphasis on events and personalities in Australian life seen through a child’s eyes. A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life (2001) the biography of a pioneering Australian book editor, won the 2002 National Biography Award, as well as the Nita B. Kibble Award for Women Writers; it was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award. An Exacting Heart: The Story of Hephzibah Menuhin (2008), the story of the brilliant pianist and social reformer who lived all her life in the shadow of her violinist brother Yehudi, was the 2009 winner of the Nita B. Kibble Award and was shortlisted for the New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria Premiers’ Awards, the Adelaide Festival Literature Award, the Magarey Medal for Biography and a Walkley Award.  Her biography of Australia’s first woman prime minister, The Making of Julia Gillard (2009), was a best-seller updated three times; its sequel, Take Your Best Shot (2012) analysed Gillard’s prime ministership.

Forthcoming books include the reissue of A Certain Style (September 2018), a memoir Beyond Words (February 2019) and a biography of pioneer Australian suffragist Vida Goldstein (2020).

She has written several entries for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and occasionally works as a book reviewer. She holds a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Graham Nichols – French horn

Since completing horn studies with Anthony Buddle at the Sydney Conservatorium, Graham has participated in music festivals in Germany, France and Japan and undertaken further study in Germany and England. Graham has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, the Brandenburg Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, and as guest principal with the Queensland Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Graham also played French Horn and Wagner Tuba for the acclaimed 2004 production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Graham is active as a chamber musician with a number of ensembles and occasionally appears in front of the orchestra as a soloist, nineteen times so far!

In the commercial music field, Graham has played in most of the major shows that have come to Sydney and has toured the country with many international artists (José Carreras, Barbra Streisand, Michael Ball, Michael Crawford, Andrea Bocelli, Al Jarreau, Roberta Flack, Marvin Hamlisch, Rob McConnell) as well as with our home grown talent (Tina Arena, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Newton-John, Marina Prior, Anthony Warlow, David Hobson, Human Nature and numerous concerts with the late Tommy Tycho). Graham has also played in a number of television orchestras and can be heard performing in numerous TV jingles and station promos shown in Australia, New Zealand and throughout South East Asia.