Guest Conductors

Steven Hillinger

Steven Hillinger graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1992 from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying French Horn with Anthony Buddle and received the Richard Merewether Memorial Scholarship for French Horn in 1991. Steven has performed with orchestras including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra.

In 1993 Steven completed a Graduate Diploma in Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium, studying with Henryk Pisarek. In 1994 Steven was offered a place in the Master of Music course, graduating in 1997, with John Hopkins as his teacher. This was the first time a Masters in Conducting had been offered.

In 1993 and 1994 Steven was awarded the Alan Bellhouse Memorial Scholarship for Conducting.

Steven has conducted many orchestras including the Willoughby, Penrith, Mosman and University of New South Wales Symphony Orchestras, the Ku-ring-gai and East-West Philharmonic Orchestras, the Cove Chamber Orchestra, The Occasional Performing Sinfonia, the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, and in 1994 was shortlisted to audition for the position of Assistant Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1995 Steven participated in a conducting masterclass given by David Porcelijn, and in that same year conducted at the Sixth Sydney International Spring Festival. Steven was a finalist the 1997, 1998 and 2000 Westfield Young Conductor of the Year Awards with the Queensland, Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras respectively and was awarded a TOAN Conductor in the Community Fellowship on each occasion.

In 1998, Steven was awarded a Queen's Trust grant to visit Europe to continue his research into music repressed by the Nazis.

Steven was the conductor of the Lane Cove Youth Orchestra through 1998, Fisher's Ghost Youth Orchestra between 1998 and 2000, Sydney Youth Brass in 2000, Shore School Symphony Orchestra from 2005 to 2006, and was Musical Director of the City of Sydney Wind Ensemble from 2001 to 2006. Steven has also worked as Assistant Conductor with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In January 2003, Steven toured to Eastern Europe with the North Sydney Girls High School Symphony Orchestra and in March 2005 took the Symphony and Wind Orchestras on a tour of China. In September 2005 he undertook a tour of Eastern Europe with the Ascham School Symphony Orchestra.

At present, Steven is conducting the Sydney Youth Orchestra's Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Ascham School Symphony Orchestra, North Sydney Girls High School Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra and Concert Band, University of New South Wales Concert Band and the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

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Warwick Tyrrell

Warwick is one of Australia's most accomplished classical musicians. He was Principal Trombonist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for three years and the Adelaide Symphony for nine, Outright Winner of the International Trombone Competition in 1988 and has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra in London and in South Africa. He has had concertos especially commissioned for him by the ABC to play and record. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation offered him a recording contract to record trombone concertos which went on sale Internationally. It was described in one recording guide as "the most exciting offering to come from the ABC Classic label to date". He also was awarded first prize in the 1984 ABC Instrumental & Vocal Competition.

Warwick now runs a highly successful business as a presenter, putting on shows in Primary and Pre Schools all over Australia. It is called the COOL STUFF! SHOW and promotes good safety and communication values through schools concerts that Warwick has written (around the NSW Education Dept Syllabus) and performs. In this capacity he has compered concerts to over 50,000 Aussie kids.

Four years ago Warwick began a new path in conducting. He took part in the Symphony Australia conducting programme, working with The Queensland Orchestra and The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted the professional St James Choir and Australian Baroque Brass Orchestra in concert. He also took Sutherland Shire Brass to sellout status in the 900 seat Sutherland Entertainment Centre, in addition to raising the profile of The Bankstown Carols to a professional level annual carols event which attracts up to 10,000 people. Warwick is currently conducting Waratah Brass - one of Australia's leading bands.

Warwick also works with the Queensland Youth Orchestra as part of a Fellowship being offered by the Australia Council. He regularly travels to Brisbane and works with The QYO under the mentorship of one of Australia's leading Youth Educators - Mr John Curro.

Warwick is happily married to Donna and they have been blessed with four beautiful children, Benjamin, Isabella, Genevieve and Thomas.

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George Ellis

George Ellis has conducted some of Australia's best symphony orchestras, choirs, opera and musical theatre productions. He conducted at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games for an international television audience of 3.8 billion people and conducted for Queen Elizabeth II on live national television and has performed with international artists including Lou Reed.

He has conducted the Sydney Symphony, The Queensland Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony and the West Australian Symphony Orchestras - the latter in conjunction with popular band Augie March. He was Musical Director for stage productions such as Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for Belvoir Street Theatre, Associate Musical Director for Man of La Mancha for John Frost Productions starring Anthony Warlow and Caroline O'Connor and Assistant Conductor to Simone Young for Opera Australia's production of La Traviata.

His concerts have been broadcast on ABC Classic FM, including the world premiere of Matthew Hindson's Violin Concerto, and he received first prize in orchestral composition at the Sydney Eisteddfod. He has also been orchestrator and musical arranger for artists such as Alex Lloyd and for the Copenhagen National Radio Orchestra.

He was presenter and musical director of the popular Babies Proms series at the Sydney Opera House from 2002 to 2007 and has presented orchestral concerts for children around Australia with orchestras including the Sydney Sinfonia, Orchestra Victoria and The Queensland Orchestra. He has lectured at prestigious music institutions including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Canberra School of Music and presented workshops in music theatre, conducting and singing for NIDA and the Australian Society for Music Education. He is the Musical Director of the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra.

International work has included work for the Athens Olympic Games as musical director of the Millennium Choir. He has also been guest conductor with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuala Lumpur.

So far in 2008, George Ellis has conducted for the movie Mao's Last Dancer directed by Bruce Beresford. He has also conducted a season of Peter and the Wolf for The Queensland Orchestra in Brisbane. He was Musical Director for the Kids First Night Concert featuring Jade MacRae and the Sydney Youth Orchestra for the Sydney Festival for which he also presented an education concert for the Sydney Symphony at the Famous Speigeltent. He recorded the Eminence Symphony Orchestra for the soundtrack to the Japanese movie The Tower of Druaga at Sydney's Fox Studios. year, he is also guest conductor with the University of New South Wales Symphony Orchestra.

His portrait was hung at the NSW Art Gallery as finalist in the 2007 Archibald Prize and won the People's Choice award in Sydney and Melbourne for that year.

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Presenters

Patrick Thomas MBE

Noted Australian conductor, Patrick Thomas made his first solo broadcast as a flautist for the ABC in Brisbane at the age of 12. His subsequent career in the performing arts has extended over sixty years and for much of that time, he became a familiar figure on Australia's music scene. For 22 years he held directional appointments with no fewer than four ABC Orchestras and the ABC's Radio Chorus (The Adelaide Singers). Overseas, he appeared in 12 countries as Guest Conductor of such orchestras as the Moscow Philharmonic, the Halle, Bavarian Radio, Polish National Radio and Television, Munich Philharmonic, BBC, CBC, Prague Radio, and many others in New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and South Africa. Other facets of his diverse career included those of concert, radio and television presenter and interviewer.

As a writer, his later work has included an autobiography, several hundred poems, a booklet of career anecdotes, a published reference text (Overture to Conducting), as well as articles and scripts for 2MBS-FM and also ABC FM. Throughout his life, he has remained a consistent supporter of new music and, in particular, Australian creative and performing talent. He was made a Life Member of the Fellowship of Australian Composers in 1998, a 'first' for an Australian conductor, and is also a Patron of the Music Teachers' Association of NSW.

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John Petersen - Composers' Workshop Mentor

John Peterson (b. 1957) studied composition at the University of Sydney under the guidance of Eric Gross, Ross Edwards, and Peter Sculthorpe.

John has written chamber music for many of Australia's leading performers and performance ensembles, and his compositions for orchestra have been performed or recorded by groups such as the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Youth Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

On two occasions, in 1997 and again in 2001, John was shortlisted for Masterprize, an international competition for orchestral music run jointly by BBC Music Magazine and the London Symphony Orchestra, and, in 2005, he was the winner of the prestigious Albert H. Maggs Composition Award.

John's compositions have been widely performed throughout Australia, the U.K, and the U.S.A. Generally, his music reflects an interest in tonal idioms, as well as the energy and rhythmic propulsion inherent in many popular music styles. He is currently working on a piano concerto and several other new pieces for performances in 2010.

John Peterson graduated from the University of Sydney with a Doctorate in Composition in 2003, and has been Lecturer in Composition within Music and Music Education at the University of New South Wales since 2004.

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Jenny Stephenson - Kids' Proms Presenter

Jennifer Stephenson completed her Bachelor and Graduate Diploma in Music at the Canberra School of Music, Australian National University. She also holds a Graduate Diploma of Education from the University Of New England. Jennifer established herself as a teacher of flute and classroom music in Sydney, teaching at MLC School, Artarmon Public School and Moriah College, amongst others. More recently, Jennifer has been in Singapore, where she taught at the Australian International School, and in Dubai.

In addition, Jennifer has maintained a strong commitment to performance. Her chamber music experience is extensive; she performed often with harp, cello and guitar in Sydney; as a member of The Chambermaids wind quintet, she performed for Musica Viva, and completed three tours with her wind quartet for Saga Tours to Singapore, New Zealand and Perth. Jennifer is also passionate about performing new Australian compositions, performing for Coruscations, Musica Viva and Cellomania concert series in either a solo or ensemble roles. On a different tack, she completed an Australian wide tour with the Persian rock band Dariush, performing to sell-out crowds. In late 2005, Jennifer performed a recital for the Wesley Music Foundation in Canberra with pianist Louise Welsh.

In Singapore, Jennifer was Principal Flute for Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and performed solo recitals at Lasalle College of the Arts and in new music ensembles.

Married to Alan Lourens, Jennifer and Alan have two children, Jacob (born 2006) and Samuel (born 2008). They recently relocated to Perth after 2 years in Singapore and 15 months in United Arab Emirates, Dubai.