Ears Up – A Concert for Dogs

A stunningly virtuosic pianist, Alexander is internationally recognised for his electrifying and poetic performances. Gavrylyuk launched his 2017/18 season with a BBC Proms performance of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto described as “revelatory” by The Times and “electrifying” by Limelight. Highlights of the 2021-22 season include debuts with San Diego Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Rheinische Philharmonie and Antwerp Symphony Orchestras, as well as return visits to Chicago Symphony, Sydney Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic and Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestras. Born in Ukraine in 1984 and holding Australian citizenship, Alexander began his piano studies at the age of seven and gave his first concerto performance when he was nine years old. At the age of 13, Alexander moved to Sydney where he lived until 2006. He won First Prize and Gold Medal at the Horowitz International Piano Competition (1999), First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2000), and Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition (2005). He has since gone on to perform with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including: New York, Los Angeles, Czech, Warsaw, Moscow, Seoul, Israel and Rotterdam Philharmonics; NHK, Chicago, Cincinnati and City of Birmingham Symphony orchestras; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lille and the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker; collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alexandre Bloch, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Thomas Dausgaard, Valery Gergiev, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Kirill Karabits, Louis Langrée, Cornelius Meister, Vassily Petrenko, Rafael Payare, Alexander Shelley, Yuri Simonov, Vladimir Spivakov, Markus Stenz, Sir Mark Elder, Thomas Søndergård, Gergely Madaras, Mario Venzago, Enrique Mazzola and Osmo Vänska. Gavrylyuk has appeared at many of the world’s foremost festivals, including the Hollywood Bowl, Bravo! Vail Colorado, Mostly Mozart, the Ruhr Festival, the Kissinger Sommer International Music Festival, the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam. As a recitalist Alexander has performed at the Musikverein in Vienna, Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall Geneva, Southbank Centre’s International Piano Series, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Master Pianists Series, Suntory Hall, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Cologne Philharmonie, Tokyo City Concert Hall, San Francisco, Sydney Recital Hall and Melbourne Recital Centre. Alexander also performs regularly with his recital partner Janine Jansens throughout Europe. Alexander is Artist in Residence at Chautauqua Institution where he leads the piano program as an artistic advisor. Alexander Gavrylyuk is a Steinway Artist.

Andrew Goodwin has appeared with opera companies and orchestras in Europe, Asia and Australia including the Bolshoi Opera, Gran Theatre Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, La Scala Milan, Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Moscow and Melbourne Chamber Orchestras, and in recital with pianist Daniel de Borah at Wigmore Hall, the Oxford Lieder, Port Fairy and Canberra International Music Festivals. In 2022, Andrew returned to the Canberra International Music Festival and Australian Haydn Ensemble in Haydn’s The Creation, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem, and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra for Messiah. Still to come this year, Andrew will perform Messiah with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, feature at the Tyalgum, Albury Chamber Music and Sanguine Estate festivals, and tour with the new vocal ensemble, AVÉ. Recent engagements include Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Adelaide Festival); Jacquino, Fidelio (West Australian Symphony Orchestra); Nadir, The Pearlfishers (State Opera South Australia); Diary of one who disappeared and Rape of Lucretia (Sydney Chamber Opera); Artaxerxes title role (Pinchgut Opera); Mozart Requiem (MSO); Brett Dean’s The Last Days of Socrates (SSO); Messiah (NZSO, QSO and MSO); and performances at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville.

Mixing jazz, roots, Caribbean, Afro-beats and more, his world of music defies a Universal label. Re-gaining artistic independence in 2008, the prodigious pianist has found time for a prolific work load producing, composing and engineering an EP every six months (or thatʼs his plan) from his Berlin studio, in between collaborations with World Music and Afro-beat superstars. These include celebrated Senegalese percussionist Bakane Seck (featuring Grammy nominee Baaba Maal from Black Panther), and Puerto Rico based ÌFÉ – with a single to be released this spring, FYI. From his native New Zealand to Kreuzberg, Aron has made waves in Europe, touring with WoodKid, writing with Stromae, and also literally making an EP called Waves, which was picked up by Blue Note (along with other releases The Nile and Team Aquatic).

Australian Dance Party is a collective of contemporary dance artists creating joyous, bold and urgent site-specific dance work in Canberra and beyond. We harness the universality, power and playfulness of the human body to connect to the ordinary and extraordinary spaces around us, inspiring thinking, feeling and action in today’s world. Through a focus on creative practice, we are creating and presenting new work, developing and sustaining careers for dance artists in our region. And we have fun….it’s a Party!

Ben Hoadley is principal bassoonist with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra since 2021. He has previously held contracts with the Sydney and Queensland Symphonies, Auckland Philharmonia and Opera Australia Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria and the Trondheim Symphony in Norway. Ben was based in USA for nine years where he completed studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston, also serving as principal bassoonist with the Hartford Symphony, the Rhode Island Philharmonic and as an extra in the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestras, among others. He has held fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Centre, Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and ANAM. Ben studied historical bassoons in Italy and Switzerland over several summers, and also holds a Masters degree in composition. Ben has appeared as guest principal with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Adelaide, Tasmanian and NZ Symphonies, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Halle Orchestra (UK). He performs on historical bassoons with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, and Bach Akademie Australia. Ben taught at the University of Auckland for 15 years, including several terms as coordinator of woodwind. Currently he teaches at the Australian National University School of Music and the Sydney Conservatorium, and has recently tutored at ANAM, the AYO and the ARCO “Young Mannheim Symphonists”.