AYO Summer Music Festival

Violinist Monica Curro has been Assistant Principal 2nd Violin of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 1998, and was previously a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has played with the Australian World Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and Guest Concertmaster of West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Chamber Orchestra. In 2009, Monica was invited as the only Australian to play in the World Orchestra for Peace, and has since joined them regularly for concerts around the world. Monica has appeared as soloist with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and in 2012 gave the world premiere of Stefan Cassomenos’ Double Violin Concerto, with her sister Sarah. Monica was a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Youth Orchestra for 9 years. She has tutored regularly for AYO, and has taught at various tertiary institutions. In 2016, Monica was the Director of the AYO’s Smalley Chamber Orchestra. Also in that year, she directed MSO’s outreach program in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Monica is currently joint Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, together with pianist and composer Stefan Cassomenos. Monica was Artistic Director of Melbourne’s Women in Music Festival 2019-20, and since 2022 has curated the “Music at McClelland” series at McClelland Sculpture Park & Gallery. Monica is sought after as a public speaker, giving regular pre-concert talks and conversations for major concert presenters, as well as keynote addresses at universities and educational organizations. Monica is a founding member of acclaimed ensemble PLEXUS, which since launching in 2014 has commissioned and premiered more than 110 new works.

Andrea studied post graduate conducting with Colin Metters, John Carewe and George Hurst at The Royal Academy of Music from 1986 until 1989, winning the Ernest Read and Ricordi conducting prizes.

In 1993, she won The Royal Ballet Companies’ ‘Conduct for Dance’, propelling her into a career of conducting for ballet. From 1998 until 2001 she was Music Director for The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, and 2001 – 2006 held the same position for the Balanchine company New York City Ballet. From 2006, having made the family decision to return to the UK, Andrea has continued to guest conduct at ballet companies around the world.

Andrea also has had much experience working with youth orchestras. She was MD of the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and has worked with the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra, orchestras at Jacobs Sch. of Music (Indiana U.S.), Rutgers University, The Royal College of Music and The Guildhall School of Music.

Alan Buribayev is Chief Conductor of the Astana Opera House in Kazakhstan. He completed his tenure as Chief Conductor of the RTE Orchestra in 2016, and previous roles include Chief Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2011, Chief Conductor of the Brabants Orchestra in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2012 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Japan Century Symphony Orchestra in Osaka from 2014 to 2018.

Highly acclaimed for his intensity, spontaneity, precision and musicianship, Alan’s success brings him regular invitations to guest conduct at the highest level. Highlights of his 23/24 season included engagements with Finnish National Opera, Hungarian State Opera, Slovenian National Opera, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Auckland Philharmonia.

Alan has also conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Gallen Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra and Deutsche Symphony Orchester in Berlin, the Oslo Philharmonic, NDR Hamburg, Tonkünstler Orchestra, BBC Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Düsseldorf, City of Birmingham and Gothenburg Symphony orchestras, London and Dresden Philharmonic orchestras, as well as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He also maintains a strong name in Japan having conducted most of the country’s major orchestras, including NHK Symphony and Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra.

Alan began his career as Chief Conductor of Astana Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Meiningen Theatre, where he gained extensive operatic experience, with productions including Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, Mozart’s Idomeneo and Le Nozze di Figaro, Janacek’s Jenůfa, Weber’s Der Freischütz and Strauss’s Salome. Other early opera debuts included a production of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades at the Opéra National de Lyon.

Alan Buribayev was born in 1979 to a family of musicians; his father is a cellist and conductor, and his mother is a pianist. He graduated with honours from the Kazakh State Conservatory as both a violinist and conductor, before continuing his conducting studies at the University of Music in Vienna with Professor Uros Lajovic. His victory at the Lovro von Matačić Conducting Competition in Zagreb brought him to international attention and this success led to invitations from several European orchestras. In 2001, he reached the final of the Malko Conducting Competition in Copenhagen in which, where no first prize was awarded, he was awarded a Special Prize, which recognized his “outstanding talent and promise”. Alan Buribayev went on to win First Prize in the Antonio Pedrotti Competition in 2001.

Recently appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Glenn Christensen is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician and guest principal musician in Australia and internationally. From 2020 until 2025 he held the position of Deputy Concertmaster and Principal 2^nd Violin with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, was a full-time member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 2014 to 2020, and Principal First Violin in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra from 2012 to 2014. He has regularly appeared as Concertmaster and/or director with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, as well as Principal 2nd Violin with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

Born and raised in the regional Queensland town of Mackay, Glenn received his early music education through the Suzuki Method with local teacher Diane Powell. He studied with Associate Professor Michele Walsh at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University,  graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Music, First Class Honours. He was also the first person ever to be awarded the three highest prizes – the Conservatorium Medal, the Music Medal and the University Medal. During his studies, Glenn was the Concertmaster of the Australian Youth Orchestra in 2012 and 2013 and an Australian Chamber Orchestra Emerging Artist in 2012.

As a soloist, Glenn has performed with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions. He has had performance broadcast live on ABC Classic FM, was a finalist in the 2014 ABC Young Performer Awards, and in 2009 won every category in the prestigious Kendall National Violin Competition. Glenn is also the violinist in the Lyrebird Trio, which won both the audience choice prize and the Piano Trio prize in the 2013 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition.

Glenn has appeared at festivals and masterclasses around Australia and internationally, such as the Musica Viva Festival, Coriole Music Festival, Music by the Springs, Bangalow Festival, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Tyalgum Festival and the International Musician’s Seminar, Prussia Cove. In 2018, Glenn started a successful annual festival in his hometown – the Mackay Chamber Music Festival.

Thomas Green has a reputation in Brisbane (Australia) as a versatile composer whose focus is finding a musical home between many and varied streams, often seamlessly melding classical and contemporary idioms. He is the recipient of various government grants, commissions and is a prize-winner in national composition competitions. He completed his PhD in 2016, and his music has been premiered around Australia and internationally, with performances in Italy, France, Spain, the US, the UK, Croatia, Singapore and China in recent years. In 2021 he has been commissioned for the renowned ANAM Set and has been selected by the ABC’s Fresh Start Fund to compose a suite of music for Camille Barry. He has composed and arranged music for The Sydney Symphony (with Josh Pyke on his ARIA-winning album, Josh Pyke Live at the Sydney Opera House), The Australian String Quartet, Katie Noonan, Opera Queensland, La Boite Theatre, Mindy Meng Wang, Plexus (Melbourne), the ANAM Brass Quintet, and the Brisbane-based individuals and groups such as Elements (members of QSO), Collusion Music, Trichotomy, Trivium Ensemble, Tim Munroe, Karin Schaupp, Emma de Marco, The Black Square Quartet and Argo. In 2024 his piece, Cybernylon, performed by Karin Schaupp, won a Queensland Music Award for the “contemporary classical and stage” category, and in 2025 a movement from his work, The Sounds of Chow Gar, is a finalist in the same category. In 2017 he was commissioned by The Queensland Music Festival to write a concerto for Manu Delago and QYO. In 2018 his original dance music for Turbine, a show by Collusion, was toured in Brisbane and Shanghai, and in 2019 his music was featured on Katie Noonan’s AIR and ARIA nominated album, The Glad Tomorrow, and in 2021-26 he is collaborating with Katie Noonan again, writing music for AVÉ and arranging for her solo projects. He is a founding member of the experimental music duo Shugorei. He is a researcher, and lectures in music studies at the Queensland Conservatorium.

Andrew Aronowicz is a composer and educator with a passion for communicating about classical music to audiences of all ages.

A former program producer with ABC Classic, Andrew worked on some of the network’s major campaigns and programs, including various Classic 100 countdowns, Beethoven 250, and Classic Instruments. He has extensive experience producing various forms of classical music radio, including short and long-form features, interviews, podcasts, and promos, and he has coached and mentored several emerging presenters in radio craft.

As a speaker, Andrew has presented talks and conversations for the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He has also contributed to various online publications, including Musica Viva online, Limelight Magazine, Context Journal, and the Australian Music Centre’s Resonate blog. He has also written marketing copy for major arts organisations including the Australian National Academy of Music and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

A passionate educator and teacher, Andrew has also appeared as a teacher-presenter in the ABC’s recent digital revival of ‘Let’s Sing’, available to watch on ABC iView. He is excited to be composing a series of new orchestral and chamber works as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Cybec Young Composer in Residence for 2026.

Dermot Tutty is Director of Choral Studies and a voice teacher at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. He teaches voice at Melbourne Grammar School and at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Students from Dermot’s private voice studio have won national and international competitions, including the Herald Sun Aria Competition, the IFAC Australian Singing Competition, and the Meistersinger Vocal Competition in Austria. Dermot tutored at the National Boys Choir of Australia for eighteen years. He was Choral Director for the Tutti World Youth Music Festival 2013 in Beijing, and returned to teach there in 2015.

Dermot has composed music for television and short films. His songs have been performed and recorded by Siobhan Stagg, Merlyn Quaife, Brenton Spiteri, Max Riebl and Eidit Golder with the Melbourne Art Song Collective. Past commissions include chamber works for the Continuo Collective, a secular oratorio for VCASS, a setting of selections from “The Taming of the Shrew” for Southern Cross Soloists, a choral work for Plexus together with the VCASS Chamber Choir, and a short opera, The Legend of St Julian the Hospitalier, for Victorian Opera. He is currently recording an album of songs with vocalist Eva Sunny Reyne, at Plutonic Lab’s private studio. Dermot teaches regularly at ABCs and Rice, a school set up to help break the cycle of poverty in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Jakub Gaudasinski is a professional studio and live audio engineer, producer, and computational sound designer, working in commercial audio as well as electronic engineering. He frequently contributes to radio, film, and television sound, and to electronic audio hardware development.

He is a graduate of the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium in composition, and runs Synthetica Engineering, a business specialising in high-end live sound design for international touring artists as well as computational sound design for film.

His work encompasses a wide variety of projects, ranging from engineering and mixing ARIA-award nominated studio album recordings, audio synthesis programming for motion picture, and live sound design and operation for artists including, James Morrison, Kate Miller-Heidke, Slava and Leonard Grigoryan, Katie Noonan, Lior, Genevieve Lacey, Paul Kelly, Joseph Tawadros, Paul Grabowsky, Amy Dickson, Adam Page, and the Australian String Quartet.

With a background in live radio production, owing to several years working at ABC Classic as producer and post-production mixer, he is frequently involved in major festivals as a front-of-house operator and recording engineer, and as a consultant on electroacoustics as well as audio system design and integration.

Louisa graduated from Newcastle University with a BA (Hons) in Music in 2008 with a major in Oboe performance, before taking up a 5-month internship with London Sinfonietta which included working with Oliver Knussen and Harrison Birtwhistle as part of London Sinfonietta’s 40th birthday celebrations. She subsequently took up a post at the Royal College of Music in their performance department working across all of the major ensembles at the College and with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Jurowski and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

In 2011 Louisa joined the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) as Orchestra Manager working closely with Principal Conductors Robin Ticciati and Maxim Emelyanychev, as well as touring the orchestra across the length and breath of Scotland. In 2018 she was promoted to Concerts and Projects Manager with SCO, leading the orchestra on major international tours, at the BBC Proms and producing the Edinburgh International Festival Fireworks Concert, where the orchestra performed to an audience of 250,000. The highlight of her time at SCO was producing the Scottish Coronation of His Majesty, King Charles III in St Giles Cathedral.

She also worked on special projects for the Edinburgh International Festival, including their hosting of the 2016 Eurovision Young Musician of the Year. In 2024 she moved to Melbourne and took up the post of Director of Orchestra Management with Orchestra Victoria, working with Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet and Victorian Opera. In 2025, she returned to the UK, leading major international touring projects for UK-based and international ensembles as well as taking up the position of Manager of The Tallis Scholars.