Strathfield Symphony Orchestra

Kenichi was born in 1986 in Sydney, and began his cello lesson at the age of two and a half with Takao Mizushima, his father, and has appeared as a soloist on many occasions since he was five. Kenichi has toured Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Italy, England, Singapore, USA and New Zealand both as a soloist and an ensemble musician. At the age of eleven he won the cello section of the Inaugural Young Instrumentalist Competition.

Kenichi’s debut as a soloist with a full orchestra was at the Adelaide Town Hall when he was twelve years old. Since then he has performed concertos regularly with orchestras nationally and internationally, including a performance with the Korean Symphony Orchestra in 2001. Under the tutelage of his teacher, Mr Zoltan Szabo, he has won numerous local eisteddfods and competitions that include the senior section of the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra Secondary School Concerto Competition in 2002 at the age of fifteen and Open Age cello section of the City of Sydney McDonald’s Challenge in 2002 and 2003. He was a recitalist at the National Youth Concerto Competition in 2003 and gave a forty-five minutes live recital for the 2MBS FM radio in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He was also the winner of 2MBS FM Young Performer’s Award in 2006. Kenichi played the Schumann Cello Concerto with Strathfield Symphony Orchestra in 2003.

After he completed high school as a music scholar, he began his Bachelor of Music
Performance Degree study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he received the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Board of Governors Scholarship in 2005, Joys Billing
Memorial Scholarship for the cello in 2005 and 2006 and Mary Patricia Bell Grant in 2006. In 2005 he was accepted into ENCORE Summer School at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio, USA on a scholarship under Richard Aaron.

In January 2007, Kenichi visited Europe to expand his cello playing horizon, and received tuition from two world class cellists in Hungary and Germany, Miklos Perenyi and
Alexander Baillie, and was offered a scholarship to study under Professor Baillie.

In 2007, Kenichi was offered a contract to work with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra as a soloist to play Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variation during their Sydney season, and invited to play for Melbourne season as well, alongside Australia’s prominent cellist Emma-Jane Murphy.

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Elena Kats-Chernin studied music in Moscow, Russia (Gnessin Academy 1972-1975), Sydney, Australia (Sydney Conservatorium of Music 1975-1980) and Hanover, Germany (Musikhochschule 1980-1982).

She has created works in nearly every genre, from orchestral compositions to chamber, choral, among them pieces for  Michael Collins, Evelyn Glennie,  Ensemble Modern, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Tasmanian, Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, as well as soundtracks to 3 silent films and 4 chamber operas.

Her music featured at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup and she received several awards, among them the Sounds Australian Award in 1996 for “Cadences, Deviations and Scarlatti” as well as Green Room and Helpmann Awards in 2004 for score to Meryl Tankard’s ballet “Wild Swans” (Australian Ballet).

“Russian Rag” (composed in 1995-96)  was used as  Max’s theme in the 2009 claymation “Mary and Max” by Oscar winning director Adam Elliot.  In April  2010  her fourth chamber opera   “The Rage of Life”,  co-commissioned by Flanders Opera Antwerp and State Opera Stuttgart to a libretto by a renowned Swiss playwright Igor Bauersima, was premiered in Antwerp, followed up by a season in Stuttgart in November 2010.

Her “Eliza Aria” (originally from “Wild Swans Concert Suite”) has become the theme for Late Night Live on Radio National since January 2011, it replaced “Russian Rag” that served as the theme music for 10 years.

Since 2011 EKC is a Composer-in-Residence with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Her next premiere is the music for the ballet interpretation (choreography Rosetta Cook) of an old children’s book “Little Green Road to the Fairyland” for the Queensland Music Festival, in Brisbane in July 2011.

Elena Kats-Chernin’s music is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes.

See Elena’s catalogue of recordings.

The young Italian conductor, Cristian Cimei, began studying the piano at the age of 5.

After receiving his Diploma in Performance with a high distinction, at the Conservatorium of Music in Terni, Cristian was invited to Germany to continue his piano studies with Maestro Elmar Slama.

In 2003 he was invited to perform at the Pantheon in Rome for the late Pope, John Paul II, celebrating his 25th anniversary as Pontiff.

Cristian continued his studies in composition in Rome with Robert Mann and conducting in Milan with Simone Fermani.

In 2004, he was then invited to work with Luciano Pavarotti as Assistant conductor and pianist for his production of “La Boheme” in Fano.

Cristian was also invited to assist M. Licata to the Sydney Opera House where they worked together on “La Boheme”  (2005) and “Madame Butterfly” (2006).

In 2007, Cristian was awarded a place at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying with Maestro Imre Pallo for his Master in Conducting. To recognise his talents, he was awarded the International Merit Scholarship and the ‘Goosens’ Fellowship for Conducting for 2007 and 2008.

In 2007 he was appointed as Musical Director for the Choralation Choir.

In 2008, he conducted “Ruddigore” by Gilbert and Sullivan for the Savoy Arts Opera Company.

In 2009 he was appointed as Musical Director to the Rockdale Opera Company, conducting “La Traviata” to great critical acclaim.

Furthering his professional development, in 2009, he was a finalist for the Hephzibah Tintner Foundation Conducting Fellowship.

In 2010 Cristian has been invited as guest conductor to conduct the Strathfield Symphony Orchestra and Woollahra Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has become the co-Musical Director for the Canada Bay Community Choir.

Internationally, Cristian is beginning to be recognised as a young conductor of
irrefutable talent, being invited to conduct the Macau Symphony Orchestra.