Princess Piccolo

Our opening July concert with WASO at Winthrop Hall was a brilliant collective challenge, led beautifully by conductor Anja Bihlmaier. Performing "The Saqqara Bird" by contemporary Australian composer Melody Eötvös involved some very exposed piccolo lines—especially when I found my parts cued into the majority of the orchestra's scores! 😳Very grateful for the kind mention in The West Australian review.🗞️

We paired it with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony—always a major test of physical stamina. Proud to share the stage with such phenomenal colleagues for this team effort.

🎼 Take a look at the attached excerpt from the finale. How many high A’s can you spot on this final page? Drop your answers below!

Joyous teaching and coaching of enthusiastic fellow Queenslanders during my recent winter break on the East Coast! ☀️

Proud and honoured to work with current students and recent graduates of my beloved old QLD Con, as well as UQ. It was inspiring to be part of such a warm, collaborative environment—the organisation was smooth and the vibe was so enthusiastic!

We dived into a great variety of flute and piccolo techniques:
🎶 Sonority & a singing sound
✨ Performance presence & vibrato
⚡ Finger action & legato connectivity
🎼 Relaxed third-octave piccolo & AYO excerpts
🎯 Effective practice strategies for accuracy and detail
🙌🏻 lunch chats about career and life choices
What an inspiring group of musicians! I can’t wait to see your futures evolve ! 🦄

Bravo to your amazing teachers putting in the hard lifting - Tim, Alison, Patrick 🪈 xx

Recording at ABC studios this week. Aaron Wyatt’s “Voiceless” and James Ledger’s “Indian Pacific” - with the composers conducting!

Lovely cooler Maluru-Winter temperatures and rains. The cosy season has begun.

A piccolo player’s dream program ! The extreme twittery highs of ROSSINI’s Semiramide overture - followed by the Luscious 2nd flute lows in DVORAK’s 9th symphony.

Stamina + required when there are two morning shows one after the other starting at 10.30am

West Australian Symphony Orchestra / UWA Conservatorium of Music- woodwind side by side collaboration - 2 hours of encouraging and empowering our next generation of young musicians ! Always such a pleasure ⭐️

Another early morning start for the week (!) 👀 and - I got to play that FAB solo on my big silver piccolo !

Bravo Jensen and Sophie 🪈

🌅 7.30am (!) Monday Cafe - breakfast show on Radio Fremantle 107.9 FM with Luke - to promote Musica Viva ‘s national chamber music competition (Strike a Chord) - great prizes 🏆
⭐️ Entries close 28 May!
🤩 I’m honoured to represent WA on the National Judging Panel

Link to enter
https://www.musicaviva.com.au/strike-a-chord/

Link to hear radio interview
https://www.radiofremantle.com.au/shows/monday-cafe/

2025 education wrap‑up: 11 masterclasses, around 250 attendees and 80 participants across UWA in Perth, plus Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Focusing on piccolo, body awareness and winning auditions has been a highlight of my year, and it’s a privilege to support the next generation of players and teachers.