Introducing Our Guest Songbirds
Welcome to our guest songbirds joining Rubiks on September 28th!
Eliza Shepard is a graduate of the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Music with Honours in Flute Performance studying under Virginia Taylor. She has recently returned from a semester-long intensive flute course in New York City studying with American flutist Robert Dick. Eliza has partaken in numerous music camps across the years, most recently with the Australian Youth Orchestra Australian Tour. She first participated in an AYO program in 2010, and has since progressed to be a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra each year since. Eliza attained her Associate of Music in 2010, and was a finalist in the 2MBS-FM Radio Young Performer Award in 2010 and 2011. In 2014, Eliza received her Licentiate of Music, and was accepted into Honours at ANU, where she also received the Peter Karmel Honours scholarship for Music.
Hamish Upton is a Melbourne-based percussionist, working towards a Master of Music (Research) in partnership with ANAM and Griffith University. He is a founding member of the Bricolage Collective, an ensemble championing new Australian percussion repertoire, directed by Kaylie Melville. In 2015 he was the winner of the St. Silas achievement award at ANAM, and was a performer in Kate Neal’s Semaphore, winner of the APRA Performance and Instrumental Work of the Year . Hamish holds a BMUS (Honours) from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore), and during this course he spent a semester on exchange at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Madi Chwasta is a percussionist in Melbourne. She completed a Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne in 2015 and has studied under Eugene Ughetti, Peter Neville and Sergei Golovko. Madi has a passion for new music. She has been a regular participant in the Speak Percussion ‘Emerging Artists Programs’ in 2011, 2012 and 2015, where she collaborated with members of Speak Percussion and other emerging artists from around Australia on various chamber music projects. She was also an ensemble member in Kate Neal’s award winning Semaphore and has performed with the Argonaught ensemble at the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music for the past two years. As a soloist, she has performed with the Kooyong Chamber Players, was a semi-finalist in the 2014 Australian Marimba Competition, was selected to perform in both the VCE ‘Top Class’ and ‘Top Acts’ Season of Excellence in 2013.
Tickets and further information about songbirdsongs available here.