C15 Fyshwick Follies

Sally Walker is Lecturer in Classical Woodwind at the Australian National University, regular Guest Principal with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Principal Flautist with the Omega Ensemble.  She performs on modern flutes and piccolo as well as historical flutes and recorders and has appeared in the London Proms, Salzburg, Lucerne, Tanglewood and Edinburgh Festivals.

She was Grand-finalist in the Leonardo de Lorenzo International Flute Competition (Italy), won 2nd Prize in the Friedrich Kuhlau International Flute Competition (Germany) and was awarded scholarships from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange for postgraduate study in Germany), Ian Potter Cultural Fund and the Queen's Trust.

She has toured and recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, is a former Principal Flute of the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, was a member of Kölner Kammerorchester and has performed as Guest Principal Flute with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Manchester Camerata, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.

Sally devotes herself to both Early and Contemporary Music, having performed with Early Music ensembles such as Das Neue Orchester Köln, Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum and the Leipziger Kammerorchester as well as Contemporary Music ensembles such as Halcyon.  She is deeply committed to chamber music and has collaborated with colleagues across various art forms and styles, including Tamara Anna-Cislowska, Aiko Goto, David Greco, Steven Isserlis, Afro Moses, Ian Munro, Simon Tedeschi, Dénes Várjon, Shanghai and Acacia string quartets.  She has recorded three CDs with Pianist Philip Mayers, was featured on Sally Whitwell’s Aria-nominated CD, “I was Flying”, Cyrus Meurant’s CD “Monday to Friday” and on recordings with Halycon, Australian Chamber Orchestra and other orchestras.

Australian keyboardist and composer Jacob Abela is a soloist and chamber musician specialising in the new music field. Jacob is Australia’s leading voice for the Ondes Martenot, a French keyboard instrument which predates the synthesiser. Jacob is a founding member and co-director of new music outfit Rubiks, who have enjoyed critical acclaim for their contribution to Melbourne’s contemporary music scene. Jacob also performs regularly with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared with renowned ensembles such as Ensemble Offspring, Argonaut Ensemble (BIFEM), Speak Percussion, and Synergy Percussion. Festival credits include the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival (USA), Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, Metropolis New Music Festival, ISCM World New Music Days, Sydney Festival, and Mathemusical Conversations (Singapore).

Monique Lapins began her violin studies at the age of 6 with the Suzuki method. Her early teachers included Nicholas Milton and James Cuddeford and it was at the encouragement of the latter that she formed her first quartet at the age of 16. Monique won a full scholarship to the Australian National Academy of Music where her teachers and mentors included William Hennessy (former violinist with the Australian String Quartet), Howard Penny (a long-time member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe) and the academy’s artistic director Brett Dean. Monique furthered her studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Professor Qian Zhou and subsequently won a position in the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra in Japan, where she was selected to perform as soloist alongside Olivier Charlier in Bach’s Double Violin Concerto at the "La Folle Journée au Japon" in Tokyo and at HPAC concert hall in Hyogo. Monique has twice been a finalist in the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and has participated in chamber music programmes and festivals in the UK, France, the Czech Republic, Holland, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. In recent years, she has received repeat invitations from cellist Stephen Isserlis to take part in the prestigious Open Chamber Music Programme in Prussia Cove in the UK and she has also participated in a residential Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University. A former Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Monique has toured extensively in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed under the baton of Seiji Ozawa in the Okushiga Chamber Music Academy and under Philippe Herreweghe as part of the Orchestre de Champs Elysées Jeune Orchestre Atlantique programme. Monique’s chamber music performances include playing 1^st violin with the T’ang Quartet in a concert in Singapore and multiple performances in Asia with her partner, marimba player Naoto Segawa, in the contemporary music group Ensemble Gô. Monique joined the New Zealand String Quartet as 2^nd violinist in May 2016 and made her international debut with the ensemble at the 2016 Salisbury Festival in the UK. She currently plays an 1883 Gand, on loan from the Rin Collection in Singapore.

Niki Johnson is a percussionist and composer-performer whose musical practice incorporates contemporary classical repertoire, improvisation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and performance art. She is a 2021 nominee of the Classical Freedman Fellowship, and currently undertaking a Master of Research at Monash University, developing her sculptural percussion practice. Niki is a member of the experimental and animalistic duo Throat Pleats with co-director Solomon Frank, and she collaborates with sculptors, theatre professionals, and experimental musicians to create new artworks existing in the liminal spaces of art mediums. She is a 2019-2022 Speak Percussion Bespoke Artist, and has performed with chamber ensembles such as Ensemble Offspring and Synergy Percussion. Niki has recorded percussion for Fox Studios, the ABC, and 301 Studios, and performed in multiple festivals including the 2020 Sydney Festival and the 2019 Canberra International Music Festival.