Soloist

Byron Westbury - trumpet

Byron completed a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying with trumpet players from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Opera & Ballet Orchestra. He was accepted as a Postgraduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he studied with Murray Grieg and John Miller.

While living and studying in Europe Byron was invited to play principal Trumpet with the Royal Northern College of Music Opera Orchestra, Wind Band, Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra for performances, tours and recordings. Especially exciting experiences included Professional Development Schemes with the Halle Symphony Orchestra, performing in a UK premiere of Stockhausen’s ‘Lucifer’s Tanz’ at te Festival Hall in London, and also performing a Fanfare from the Festival Hall’s high balcony to signal the end of a week long London Stockhausen festival.

As a soloist, Byron has performed the Aratjunian Trumpet Concerto with the Wollongong Symphony, and has performed in masterclasses for Rod Franks, principal trumpet of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (and the principal trumpeter on the Star Wars recordings!), German Brass and James Thompson at the Melbourne International Festival of Brass.

Byron now manages the Five Cities Brass Quintet, which has a number of recitals this year at St Stephens Church in Macquarie St, as well as 2 regional tous where the group will be performing and running master classes at regional conservatoires. The ensemble began in the UK where they performed as the Royal Northern College’s premiere brass group. The Five Cities Brass Quintet performed in and around Manchester’s many brilliant cathedrals, and won the pretigious RNCN chamber music prize.

In his youth Byron performed with the Sydney Youth Orchestra, the SBS Youth Orchestra and was offered a place in the Australian Youth Orchestra. He is now a very active teacher, holding positions at several private schools in Sydney, conducting bands and teaching privately at his studio. Byron is passionate about new music, especially for the trumpet and loves to work closely with composers and other musicians in chamber groups.

Outside of music, Byron is a health and adventure enthusiast, pursuing a number of activities including rock climbing, surfing, snowboarding and spearfishing. He loves to cook, and lives in Sydney with his wife.

Sophia Li - piano

12 year old Sophia is a full Music Scholar in year 7 at St Andrew’s Cathedral School. She commenced piano lessons at an early age and has competed with significant success in many eisteddfods throughout Sydney.
She has performed for the Chinese Festival and at the Sydney Opera House.

Sophia was awarded her AMusA when she was 11. Last year she was a finalist and prize winner in the inaugural Allans Youth Piano Competition. She already possesses a diverse repertoire and earlier this year performed the complete Haydn Piano Concerto in D at St Andrew’s School. Sophia is a student of Paul Rickard-Ford.

Claire Cameron - French Horn

 Claire Cameron began playing the French horn in 1994 when she was a student at Queenwood School for Girls in Mosman. She was an active member of the school’s instrumental and vocal ensembles until completing her HSC in 2000. During this time she also played with the Sydney Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Sydney Youth Brass.

Claire returned to playing horn when she joined the University of NSW Orchestra and Wind Band, and in 2008 commenced a Bachelor of Music degree at UNSW which she hopes to complete next year. During the last 2 years Claire has received instruction from Steven Hillinger and Saul Lewis and is currently studying with Robert Johnson, Principal Horn in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2007 Claire has enjoyed playing with many ensembles in Sydney, including The Occasional Performing Orchestra (TOPS), Strathfield Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra 143, the Bourbaki Ensemble and various chamber groups.

She is currently performing with the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, TOPS, North Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the UNSW Orchestra and Wind Band and the Mosman Orchestra.

‘Strauss’ Horn Concerto no 1 in Eb is a work which brilliantly fuses both the simplicity and complexity of the horn,’ says Claire. ‘It calls for all the character of a valveless horn, whilst being almost unplayable on anything other than the valved horns that are standard today.

I am delighted to be making my first solo appearance performing this work which is, in so many ways, Inspired.’

Cameron Hough - Violin

Cameron has been concertmaster of Mosman Orchestra for 6 months, and this will be his first solo performance with the orchestra.

He has been playing violin for 17 years, as well as viola and mandolin, and is currently learning from Scott Taggart in Wollongong. Cameron has almost 10 years of experience as an orchestral musician, starting with the Bluescope Steel Youth Orchestra in Wollongong and currently playing with Orchestra 143, North Sydney Orchestra, and of course Mosman Orchestra. He will appear as a soloist with Orchestra 143 in their July concert playing Vivaldi and Telemann.

Cameron was previously the concertmaster of the South Coast Orchestra, and has played with the Wollongong Symphony Orchestra, Steel City Strings, the Illawarra Choral Cociety and the Sutherland Orchestra, as well as in the orchestra for several musicals such as West Side Story, Les Miserables and The Producers. Away from the concert hall, he is a keen chamber music player, as well as playing in such diverse ensembles as backing strings for a Blue Mountains indie rock band through to playin in a bluegrass pub band named ‘Doodlebug’.

Previous highlights of Cameron’s career include touring New Zealand and Tasmania as soloist with the Bluescope Steel Youth Orchestra, playing Vivaldi’s ‘Summer’ Concerto in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, and as orchestra manager and concertmaster for a world-premiere musical at the Theatre Royal, Sydney.

The Saint-Saens showpiece that Cameron will be playing with Mosman Orchestra this concert has been a wonderful challenge to prepare for - especially while juggling full time work as an acoustics engineer and playing in 3 orchestras, and he is looking forward to bringing this exciting and energetic work to life in the Mosman Art Gallery.

Ken Allars - Trumpet

Ken is currently 17 and has just completed his HSC examinations at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. He has been nominated to perform in the Encore concert at Sydney Opera House, a showcase of outstanding musical performances from the HSC.  He achieved his AMusA on trumpet at age 14 and has been selected to attend next year’s Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp in Adelaide.  He is currently studying trumpet with Daniel Mendelow, Prinicpal Trumpet in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Del Riccio, the Musical Director of the Mosman Orchestra and Jazz Trumpet with Warwick Alder.

Since commencing to learn trumpet at age 7, Ken has been a member of as many music ensembles as he could, from primary school concert bands and rock bands to high school wind ensembles, orchestra, brass quintet and stage bands. At the age of 10 he was accepted into the Department of Education and Training Arts Unit Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Ken has toured twice to USA with this ensemble, in 2007 performing at International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago. An extra highlight of this trip was an impromptu improvised solo performance with Marvin Hamlisch on piano at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC which received a standing ovation and a special message from Senator Edward Kennedy who was in the audience. Other overseas tours include Japan in 2002, and Germany and Austria in 2005 where he performed the Hummel trumpet concerto as soloist with the NSW State Schools Symphony Orchestra.

He joined Mosman Orchestra at age 13, where a highlight for him was being given the opportunity to perform the Hummel Trumpet Concerto as a soloist in 2005.  More recently he has been perfoming a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from Stravinsky’s Firebird with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in August this year, to Big Band Jazz with Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra and Judy Bailey’s Jazz Connection, Latin music with Son de Tagua, and Carlitos Orchestra, and even performances with members of the Wiggles.

Ken really enjoys the experience of playing in all of these ensembles and the wonderful opportunities it gives to meet other musicians.  He loves to play all types of music, and is keen to continue his studies of music and to pursue a career in performance of both classical and jazz music. He will be studying the Bachelor of Jazz Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music this year.

The Wolfe Trumpet Concert that Ken will be playing with Mosman Orchestra in March allows him to combine both his classical and jazz training to create excitement,  energy and vibrancy to a modern Australian trumpet concerto and who better than one of our  own young  17 year olds  who loves the beach, surfing, playing  computer games and wielding a jackhammer when required.