Our Musicians
Stewart Kelly
Piano
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 appears for Cygnet Recitals on Sunday November 30 2025 at House of Pianos.
Laurence Matheson
Piano
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 appears for Cygnet Recitals on Sunday November 30 2025 at House of Pianos.
Brigid Coleridge
Violin
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
Cello
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.