C10 Viola Solitaire

Listed among Australia’s best classical performers by the ABC in 2019, harpsichordist, organist and pianist Donald Nicolson is a prominent figure in performance and research of the music of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, and in high demand as a keyboardist, composer, and arranger. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Donald commenced harpsichord studies with Douglas Mews at Victoria University, and subsequently at the Royal Conservatorium, The Hague with early music legend Ton Koopman. There he focussed on the performance of sixteenth-century English virginal music and the seventeenth-century French clavecin school. Donald graduated with a PhD in Musicology at the University of Melbourne in 2018, submitting a thesis that focussed on the relationship between seventeenth-century French social history and the keyboard preludes of Louis Couperin. An avid reader of the classics and ancient rhetoric Donald teaches historically-informed performance practice at the University of Melbourne, and gives regular talks and lectures on music and history.

Katie grew up playing the violin and piano in her hometown of Brisbane. Shortly before starting her Bachelor of Music at the University of Queensland (UQ), she fell in love with the viola and has never looked back since! Katie studied with Patricia Pollett at UQ, graduating with Honours and a University Medal in 2011. She then spent three years studying at the Australian National Academy of Music under Caroline Henbest and Christopher Moore. Katie likes to keep her musical life varied, and her favourite kind of music making is with chamber groups. She is violist in the Chrysalis Harp Trio (2019 ANAM Artists), early music chamber groups Ironwood Ensemble and The Muses’ Delight, and joined the Australian String Quartet in 2016 in programs of quintets and sextets. In 2017, Katie spent a month in Central Queensland touring with the Orpheus Club, presenting 10 public concerts, 8 schools concerts and workshops, and recording four new Australian works.  In 2018, she joined Van Diemen's Band in a national tour of chamber music of the late baroque period, including performances at the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, and UKARIA Cultural Centre.