Macarthur Clough (clarinet)
Macarthur Clough is a distinguished Australian clarinetist who has collaborated as a soloist with a host of prominent ensembles throughout Europe and Australasia. As an alumnus of the Australian National Academy of Music, Macarthur nurtured his love of contemporary music under the guidance of the former director, Brett Dean. Throughout his tenure at ANAM Macarthur performed with such luminaries as Richard Tognetti, Steven Isserlis, Sebastian Laing-Lessing, Simone Young, and Thomas Adès. He currently performs with Kupka’s Piano and has recently been a guest artist with the Southern Cross Soloists and Collusion Ensemble.
Lachlan O’Donnell (violin / viola)
Lachlan is a Sydney-based violinist/violist who performs throughout Australia and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader. Ensembles with which he appears on a regular basis include the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Opera Australia, and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (as guest Concertmaster/Principal 1st Violin). For the 2018 season, Lachlan is contracted as a full-time member of the 1st Violins of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and in 2019 he will appear as a guest performer with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist, Lachlan has performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra and ACO Collective, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s regional touring ensemble. He makes regular guest appearances with Ensemble Offspring (Sydney) and the Southern Cross Soloists (Brisbane), and is an Associate Artist with Kupka’s Piano (Brisbane) whose debut album “Braneworlds” was released independently in 2017. He has appeared at major international festivals including the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), the Aldeburgh Festival (U.K.), the Melbourne Festival, the Queensland Music Festival and the Musica Viva Chamber Music Festival (Australia). Since 2017 he has regularly collaborated with the Australian contemporary circus company Circa, performing solo works of J.S. Bach and H.I.F. Biber throughout Europe as part of their production What Will Have Been.
Lachlan holds a B.Mus in Advanced Performance (Hon.) from Griffith University and a M.Phil from the University of Queensland. His principal teachers have included Michele Walsh, William Hennessey, Paul Wright, Adam Chalabi, David Takeno (U.K) and Igor Ozim (Austria).
Katherine Philp (cello)
Cellist Katherine Philp performs across a vast range of musical styles and settings, and works for some of Australia’s leading arts companies and festivals. She is currently the principal cellist of Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, new music ensemble Kupka’s Piano, performs with Southern Cross Soloists, and appears at festivals across the country as both soloist and ensemble member.
Katherine’s musical practice crosses musical, cultural and artistic boundaries. For over a decade she has worked closely with Tibetan Singer and Instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal on a series of concerts and recordings that have resulted in performances at the Woodford Folk Festival, the Sydney Opera House, and features on ABC Radio National. In 2009 Katherine undertook an Asialink residency (supported by Arts Queensland and Australia Council) at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India, where she studied Tibetan classical and folk music.
More recently, Katherine has become increasingly acknowledged for her performance of contemporary classical music, and has undertaken study with Rohan de Saram and Lucas Fels (of Arditti String Quartet). She has performed and studied in India, the UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, taken part in Impuls Academy (Austria) and the International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt (Germany), and recently received an award for Best Performer, playing Berio’s Sequenza XIV at the San Marino New Music Project.
Alex Raineri (piano / artistic director)
Described by Limelight Magazine as “a soloist of superb virtuosic skill and musicality”, Australian pianist Alex Raineri is an active recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician.
International performances include tours throughout California, South-East Asia, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany and Austria. Alex has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio NZ, California Capital Public Radio, ABC Classic FM and the Australian MBS Networks.
As a concerto soloist he has featured with the Queensland, Tasmanian, Darwin and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Southern Cross Soloists, Orchestra Victoria, Four Winds Festival Orchestra, Bangalow Festival Orchestra and the Queensland Pops Orchestra. Alex has been the recipient of a number of major awards including the Kerikeri International Piano Competition and Australian National Piano Award.
Alex is the pianist with the Southern Cross Soloists and other notable chamber partnerships include; Andreas Ottensamer, eighth blackbird, ELISION, Sara Macliver, Natalie Clein, Greta Bradman, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Jack Liebeck, Kathryn Stott, Slava Grigoryan, Brett Dean and Opera Queensland.
Alex’s mentors have included Leah Horwitz OAM, Timothy Young, Stephen Emmerson and Genevieve Lacey. He is currently undertaking a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and is an alumni and fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music.