Our Musicians
Zoe Knighton
Zoe Knighton is a founding member and Artistic Director of Flinders Quartet, one of Australia’s most respected chamber ensembles. Known for its dynamic performances and deep commitment to Australian music, the quartet has has commissioned over 75 new works for string quartet, reached #1 on the ARIA Core Classical chart, been nominated for numerous awards including ARIA Best Classical Album, toured four continents, mentored over 100 ensembles, and won the hearts of audiences as a vanguard ensemble of artistic integrity.
Zoe picked up the cello at age nine and never looked back. She studied with Jill Kahans, Christian Wojtowicz, Nelson Cooke, Angela Sargeant, and in Paris with Michel Strauss. These days, she shares her experience widely as a chamber music coach and mentor, helping young musicians find their voice in ensemble playing.
As a recording artist, Zoe has released 11 albums on the MOVE label: seven with longtime duo partner Amir Farid. The pair made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2023 with a return invitation and have built a reputation for their expressive playing and intuitive musical chemistry. Critics have described her sound as “thrilling” (Limelight) and her presence as “confident, warm, and full of finesse” (Clive O’Connell). She has worked with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and acted as guest principal cellist of Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on a number or occasions as well as performing numerous concertos with Melbourne Orchestras.
Zoe is the artistic patron of Resonance String Ensemble in Woodend and plays on a modern Australian cello by Rainer Beilharz (2020) and a English cello by Benjamin Banks (1780). When not performing, rehearsing or teaching, she’s keeping up with her kids’ sport and has learned to speak fluent footy and basketball as a proud supporter of Hawthorn FC, Westage Imperial, and the Footscray Hawks.
Joshua Dema
Australian Cellist, Joshua Dema holds a Masters of Music with distinction from DePaul University (Chicago), a Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne and was awarded the Australian Licentiate of Music (LMusA) with distinction. In 2014 Joshua was a prize winner in the Hepzibah Menuhin competition, his string quartet were finalists in the 2014 Musica Viva Chamber Music Award, and placed second in the 2013 University of Melbourne Chamber Music Competition. Josh takes pride in presenting music of the highest quality, with sincerity and expressive depth, and is motivated by a desire to welcome new audiences into the rich, immersive experience of live classical chamber music.
Joshua is a casual cellist with Orchestra Victoria, and maintains a schedule of chamber music recitals, including Trio Conté (Piano Trio), duo collaborations with Pianist Yiyun Gu, Ensemble Liber (String Trio), Alchemy Consort, and Melbourne’s popular “12 Cellos!”. He performs regularly on 3MBS Fine Music Melbourne, including Kawai Live Series and the Young Performer Summer Series. Highlights include solo and chamber music performances at Hamer Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (Townsville), MIMIR Chamber Music Festival (Texas), Pacific Association of Music Schools Summit (Beijing), Lev Aronson Legacy Festival (Dallas), Lyrebird Music Society, Malvern East Chamber Music Festival, Mount Buller Chamber Music Festival and Australian Youth Orchestra.
Joshua’s mentors have included Brant Taylor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Zoe Knighton (Flinders Quartet), Howard Penny (ANAM), Anna Daniel and Felicity Schijf. He received numerous awards during his studies including the Lionel Gell Foundation Scholarship, Kate Flowers Scholarship, Otti Veit Violoncello Scholarship, Corinna D'Hage String Scholarship and twice received the Alexander Kirstein Scholarship for International Students.
Alongside his career as a musician, Josh also works as a UX Researcher at a health-tech company in Naarm (Melbourne).
Joshua performs on a Dutch cello by Jan Lindemann, 1943
Markiyan Melnychenko CF
Ukrainian-Australian violinist Dr. Markiyan Melnychenko CF has been described as “...a master violinist...combining his extraordinary bravura technique with elegance” (Stringendo) and hailed for his “freakishly good" playing (Limelight), “perfection of nuance” and “high level virtuosity” (Zbruc.eu). He has served as Principal First Violin with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Lecturer in Violin at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
He has so far performed in seventeen countries, with solo performances in New York (Alice Tully Hall), Washington DC (Kennedy Centre), and has made a number of solo appearances with orchestras including performances with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Kobe City Chamber Orchestra, Ukrainian Festival Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Corpus Medicorum, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Zelman Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. He has been broadcast on ABC Classic FM, 3MBS FM and Radio NZ, and has released numerous critically-acclaimed recordings on the Tall Poppies, Naxos and Toccata Next and Toccata Classics labels.
In 2013 he was selected to perform in a quartet at the US Capitol for the Inaugural Luncheon at Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration. He is a multiple 1st prize winner in national and international competitions including the Melbourne Recital Centre's National “Great Romantics” competition and the Oleh Krysa International Violin Competition in Ukraine. He was also awarded the 'Australian Development Prize' from the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2013. In 2019 he was awarded the Dr Iain C. Medgett Churchill Fellowship.
He obtained his Bachelor and Masters of Music at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Oleh Krysa. He was additionally awarded Eastman's Performer's certificate and the highly prestigious Artist Certificate, being the first violinist to receive this award in over 50 years. He completed his Ph.D. focusing on Ukrainian violin music at the University of Melbourne. Additional studies have been at the Australian National Academy of Music with Alice Waten and William Hennessy, and also with Cyrus Forough.
William Hennessy AM
Violinist, advocate and teacher William Hennessy has made over 300 solo concerto appearances with Australian orchestras. He was the founder and leader of the Australian String Quartet for it's first 12 years, Head of Strings at The University of Melbourne for 10 years and was leader and Artistic Director of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra from 2006 to 2021.
His ongoing teaching studio has nurtured many of the many Australian violinists, violists and chamber ensembles of today.
More recently he has been playing both the violin and the viola.
He has been Artistic Director of the Weiland Project for forty years, advocating for the music of Douglas Weiland.
William Hennessy was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to music in 2018.
Zoë Black
Zoë Black is a violinist's violinist, known for her beauty of sound and natural virtuosity. In 1989 she won the National Youth Concerto Competition and in 1991, the string section of the ABC Young Performers Awards.
After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1992, Zoë was awarded grants from the Australia Council and Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Trust as well as the major performance award of the Australian Music Foundation in London, which facilitated her studies at the Guildhall School of Music under David Takeno and subsequently at the Vienna Hochschule with Michael Schnitzler.
Zoë was appointed assistant leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 1993, touring the world extensively. A committed chamber musician, in 2005 Zoë co-founded the Freshwater Trio with whom she toured nationally and internationally. She has also performed as soloist with various chamber and symphony orchestras and is a regular guest concertmaster with MSO and QSO. More recently, Zoë was a guest leader of the Australian String Quartet in 2016, performing at Festivals in Victoria, WA and in Italy (Rome, Venice and Cremona).
In 2011 Zoë co-founded the innovative duo with pianist/composer Joe Chindamo. The duo has performed at all the major festivals in Australia and recorded three ARIA nominated CDs, (Reimaginings, Dido's Lament and their re-versioning of The Goldberg Variations, premiering the latter at Carnegie Hall in 2015). A passionate teacher and tutor, Zoë has taught and tutored at Melbourne University, VCA, VCASS and Monash University.
Zoe appeared for Cygnet Recitals on
Sunday March 29 at Mineral Springs Hotel.
Caroline Henbest
Caroline Henbest is a violist and Feldenkrais Practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia.
During 2023 she has been Guest Principal Viola with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Chamber concerts have included appearances with Wilma & Friends, Kristian Chong & Friends, the Stradbroke Island Chamber Music Festival, Music By the Springs, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra.
In October she gives a solo performance with The Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra of Sally Beamish’s ‘Under the Wing of the Rock’.
Caroline undertook her Feldenkrais Practitioner training at the Feldenkrais Institute of Australia. She runs weekly Awareness Through Movement classes at Green Monday Studios in Carlton, Melbourne.
Since 2015 Caroline has been Head of Viola at the Australian National Academy of Music.
In past years she has acted as guest principal with the SSO, TSO, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia, Glyndebourne on Tour, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
She studied in the UK at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Guildhall School of Music & Drama and her teachers included Robert Masters, David Takeno & Hans Keller.
Caroline appeared for Cygnet Recitals on
Sunday March 29 at Mineral Springs Hotel.
Molly Kadarauch
Molly Kadarauch is one of Australia’s preeminent and versatile cellists who has performed at many leading venues across the world as well as within Australia as a chamber musician, orchestral player and soloist. She is a highly respected and experienced teacher, mentor and director who has worked with all levels of students from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University), Monash University, Australian National Academy of Music, the Melbourne and Australian Youth Orchestras as well as her private studio students.
Originally from a musical family in California, Molly moved out to Australia in 1996 after completing tertiary studies in Boston followed by a Fulbright scholarship to Berlin where she was based for 5 years. She then joined the Australian Chamber Orchestra as an associate principal cellist where she worked in close collaboration with many outstanding artists and enjoyed touring nationally and internationally in leading venues for eight years. Some of her most memorable concert tours were with internationally acclaimed cellists Steven Isserlis (performing Schubert 5tet) and Pieter Wispelwey.
In 2004 Molly began her independent freelance and teaching career, debuting in Melbourne at Federation Square with pianist Benjamin Martin in "Classic on the Edge" recital. Other projects have included touring nationally with the Musica Viva/Victorian opera "pastiche" production of "Voyage to the Moon" (2016), the Australian World Orchestra tours in India and Australia (2018, 2019 and 2025) and as a soloist at the Melbourne International Cello festival (2017). As a guest principal cellist within Australia, she has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Molly appeared for Cygnet Recitals on
Sunday March 29 and Sunday May 17
at Mineral Springs Hotel.
Stewart Kelly
Stewart Kelly is a pianist, artistic director and advisor, teacher and entrepreneur. He is founder and artistic director of Music by the Springs, a chamber music festival held in country Victoria each February and owner of House of Pianos, Melbourne’s premier piano salon. As a pianist, he works principally within the worlds of chamber music and art song and collaborates with many of Australia’s finest musicians and singers, performing across Australia at festivals and leading concert series. For seven years, he presented Stewart Kelly and Friends at Melbourne Recital Centre, and his career has taken him across Australia and to performances in the USA, China, New Zealand, Italy and the UK.
Stewart is a passionate educator and has been a member of the piano faculty at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School since 2017. He regularly prepares students for diploma and licentiate examinations, and for other performance and competition paths. He also works as collaborative pianist for students of leading string and voice teachers and remains a casual staff member of the Melbourne Conservatorium at Melbourne University. He is regularly engaged to give guest classes, masterclasses and as an adjudicator for prizes and competitions. Stewart was Artistic Director for the Renaissance Tours Festival of Chamber Music in 2022, and directed the Con Brio concert series at HOTA Gold Coast for seven years. He also enjoys leading music itineraries for Renaissance Tours, Australia’s leading cultural tour company, combining his love of travel and the arts and presenting lectures on the programming.
Stewart is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology, the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and the Australian National Academy of Music. He holds a Bachelor of Music with distinction and a Master of Music Studies, obtained while studying under the principal guidance of Gillian Wills, Diane Selmon, Stephen Emmerson and Timothy Young. In recent years, he has been mentored by the legendary song pianist Graham Johnson OBE.
Stewart appeared for Cygnet Recitals on Sunday November 30 2025 at House of Pianos.
Laurence Matheson
One of Australia’s most exciting young musicians, Laurence Matheson is in demand across the country as a soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist. He studied at the Australian National Academy of Music with Timothy Young as one of their youngest ever students and became a Fellow of the Academy in 2016 after winning the Directors’ Prize, subsequently serving on the faculty.
Laurence records for Decca Classics and ABC Classic, and has appeared as soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Australian Ballet, as well as in recital at the Melbourne Recital Centre and Sydney Opera House.
Laurence has a particular passion for chamber music and has performed with the Aurora Ensemble, Anthony Marwood, Kathryn Stott, as well as at festivals and recitals across Australia and internationally. He has also mentored many of Australia's promising young musicians, including Christian Li and Edward Walton, and enjoyed collaborating with internet stars TwoSet Violin.
Aside from piano, Laurence is a keen conductor, has play-directed multiple projects from the keyboard, is an accomplished harpsichordist and his compositions have been commissioned by Victorian Opera and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.
Laurence appeared for Cygnet Recitals on Sunday November 30 2025 at House of Pianos.
Brigid Coleridge
Brigid Coleridge is an Australian violinist and poet. At present, she divides her time between the US and Australia. An “entrancing” (BBC Magazine) and “dynamic” (Classic Melbourne) performer, Brigid’s recent notable performance debuts have included Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebouw, and her playing has been broadcast across the US (WQXR), Australia (ABC Classic FM, 3MBS) and Europe (BBC Radio 3, and Radio 4 Netherlands). Brigid’s poems have appeared in Australian and international publications and she is the winner of the 2023 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize.
Brigid is the violinist and a founding member of the critically acclaimed US-based Merz Trio. The trio won the 2021 Naumburg Competition and the 2020 Concert Artists’ Guild Competition, and their first album INK debuted at #2 in the Classical charts. From 2018-2021 the Merz Trio was in professional residence at the New England Conservatory, and the ensemble has undertaken further residencies in the US (at Yellow Barn and Avaloch Farm Institute) and in the UK (at Snape Maltings). Renowned for their innovative programming and fresh, nuanced interpretations, the Merz Trio made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2023. They have been featured on BBC Radio (UK) and WQXR (US). Merz Trio is represented by Epstein Fox Performances.
Brigid appeared for Cygnet Recitals on Sunday September 21 2025 at Mineral Springs Hotel.
Josephine Vains
Josephine Vains has worked with myriad artists on diverse projects including piano trio / quartet / quintet, string quartet, opera, baroque ensembles, contemporary and electronic music, and Argentine tango music. Equally at home on modern and period instruments, Josephine performs and records regularly with ensembles including Firebird Trio, Accademia Arcadia, Genesis Baroque, CellOZ, Ensemble Old and New, Gryphon Baryton Trio, Ludovico’s Band, Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Elysium Ensemble and Melbourne Baroque Orchestra.
In Australia she has performed for Australian Digital Concert Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, Musica Viva, the Sydney and Melbourne Arts Festivals, Noosa Long Weekend, Music By The Springs, Castlemaine and Port Fairy Festivals, Woodend Winter Arts and Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields Festivals. International performances include at the Musicfest Vancouver, the Hannover Brahms and Schumann Festivals, White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and more recently at the Longyou Caves Festival (China) and Akaroa Chamber Music Festival (NZ).
Josephine is a Laureate of MICMC 1999 with Trio 303, and was the winner of the inaugural National Chamber Music Competition. She has Honours and master’s degrees in modern and historical performance from Melbourne, Germany and Switzerland. Josephine relishes training the next generation of young musicians in cello and chamber music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School.
Josephine appeared for Cygnet Recitals on Sunday September 21 2025 at Mineral Springs Hotel.