Flutes

Janet Webb: Principal Flute

Janet Webb received her Arts/Music degree from the Canberra School of Music and later studied in France with András Adorján. In 1980 at the age of 21, she won a position as Principal Flute with the Singapore Symphony, and was subsequently appointed to the same position in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1985.

She has performed numerous concertos with the Singapore Symphony, SSO and other orchestras, playing repertoire ranging from CPE Bach to Honegger and including a performance of JS Bach’s Fourth Brandenburg concerto with James Galway.

Janet Webb has appeared as a guest principal with most of Australia’s major orchestras and throughout her distinguished career she has worked with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Mariss Jansons, David Robertson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Paavo Järvi, Jaap van Zweden, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. She is regularly heard on radio in solo performances and with the SSO. She has released a solo CD titled Tango and All That Jazz, which features works composed for her and her accompanist Jocelyn Edey-Fazzone by Australian composer Andy Firth. In 2001, she received the Whelan Trust scholarship which allowed her to travel to the US to collaborate with composers there.

Janet Webb performs chamber music and gives solo recitals and masterclasses across Australia, and has taught at several institutions including the Singapore, Sydney and New South Wales universities, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. As a tutor at the annual Australian International Summer Orchestra Institute she has played an important role in shaping the course. She was also invited to be on the jury for the Nicolet Flute Competition held in Beijing in 2010. Janet Webb is a Powell Flute Master. 

Emma Sholl: Associate Principal Flute

Emma Sholl was born in Sydney in 1980 and began playing the flute at the age of seven. She began working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra when she was 19 and was appointed to the position of 2nd Flute the following year, making her one of the youngest musicians ever awarded a position with the SSO. She graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with First Class Honours in 2001 and was placed on the Dean’s List of Merits. Her teachers in Australia have included Louise Dellit, Margaret Crawford, Geoff Collins and Alison Mitchell.

Emma Sholl was the 2MBS Young Performer of the Year in 1997 and won the 1999 National Orchestral Flute Competition, the 2001 Symphony Australia Young Performers Award Other Instruments category, and the 2002 National Solo Flute Competition. Between 2002 and 2003 she received several scholarships which allowed her to study in Geneva with Jacques Zoon. During this time she was invited to perform in St Petersburg and Moscow as part of the World Orchestra for Peace, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

In 2003, she returned to Australia and was appointed Associate Principal Flute with the SSO. She has also performed as guest principal flute with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Queensland Orchestra, and the Adelaide, Tasmanian and West Australian symphony orchestras. In 2006, she recorded Bach’s Fourth Brandenburg Concerto in an arrangement for keyboard and two flutes with pianist Angela Hewitt, flautist Alison Mitchell and the ACO.

Emma Sholl has performed as a soloist with the Adelaide, Tasmanian and Sydney symphony orchestras, and is a member of the Sydney Soloists and Sydney Omega Ensemble. She has given recitals as part of Musica Viva’s Ménage series and performed at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville in 2010. She teaches at Australian Youth Orchestra programs and the Australian National Academy of Music.

Carolyn Harris: 2nd Flute

Carolyn Harris began playing the flute at the age of eight, studying with Margaret Brooke in country Victoria. While in high school, she was chosen to perform as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on their regional tour to Shepparton. She was the first country flute student to win the junior section of the Leslie Barklamb Scholarship at the age of 11, and went on to be the winner of the Senior Scholarship in 1992. She received her Bachelor’s degree with Honours from the Canberra School of Music, where she studied with Vernon Hill and Virginia Taylor.

Other awards include the NSW Flute Society’s John Lehner Flute Scholarship and the Geelong Advertiser Music Scholarship. She was also the recipient of a special award from the Australian Musical Foundation in London.

She has performed recitals in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Benalla, Victoria, and toured Europe with the Australian Youth Orchestra in 1994, after which she attended the Pablo Casals Festival in France. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded for ABC Classic FM as a soloist and collaborative performer.

In 1998 Carolyn was appointed Second Flute with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, a position she held for seven years before joining the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Second Flute in 2005.