C9 Of Fairies and Fools

Violist James Wannan is a founder of the Australia Piano Quartet (APQ), Co-Artistic Director of the Ensemble in Residence at the University of Technology Sydney, a member of Southern Cross Soloists and an Artistic Associate of Sydney Chamber Opera. He teaches chamber music and viola at the Sydney Conservatorium’s Rising Star program and has been a guest teacher at the Australian National Academy of Music. He is currently based in Sydney, having previously studied viola with Alice Waten and Caroline Henbest in Melbourne, Janet Davies in Sydney and viola d’amore in Vienna with Marianne Rônez. He explores his passion for music from ancient to contemporary on a number of instruments. James has appeared as a soloist with many of Australia’s orchestras including the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, ACO2, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Ronan Apcar is a young Australian pianist, composer, and musician who is quickly garnering a reputation of versatility, edge, and tenacity. His love for music across many styles – jazz to the avant-garde, classical to contemporary music – translates into his open-minded, exciting, and unique work as a musician. Though always striving to be a well-rounded musician, Ronan is best known for his work with contemporary classical and modern art music – particularly by Australian composers – and has a passion for challenging and breaking the stereotype of “the piano recital.” Beginning as a self-taught pianist, Ronan went on to study piano performance and composition at the Sydney Conservatorium High School and the ANU School of Music, where he graduated as dux. He has gone on to perform as a soloist in both concert halls and unusual, intimate venues, and as a collaborator with renowned musicians and ensembles across Sydney, Canberra, and regional NSW. Ronan has appeared as a soloist with the Penrith Symphony Orchestra, the ANU Orchestra, and later this year with the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra. He has also appeared in festivals, including the 13th International Music Festival in Moscow and the 2021 Canberra International Music Festival where he was the Young Artist. In 2021, he released his debut album, Dulcie Holland Crescent – a collection of forgotten, unrecorded, and unpublished pieces by the great Australian composer Dulcie Holland. Both Ronan’s album and his live concert performances are regularly broadcasted on the Fine Music network and ABC Classic, where Dulcie Holland Crescent was made one of the ABC’s feature albums.

Theo Carbo (b. 1999, Melbourne, Australia) is a guitarist, composer, electronic musician, producer and sound engineer. Growing up as an astute student of jazz, Theo’s proficiency as a guitarist has seen him working in groups of Australia’s most important improvising musicians including Barney Mcall, Andrea Keller, Sam Anning, Nadje Noordhuis, Joseph O’Connor and Paul Williamson. A keen philosopher of music and a student of composition at the Victorian College of the Arts, Theo has recently been developing a broader practise which involves elements of experimental composition, electronic processes, solo and ensemble improvisation and studio engineering. "Theo is a naturally gifted artist with a unique and refined take on things. His musical maturity is a great argument for the collective unconscious" - Barney Mcall