Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Conductor in Residence of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2025 he was appointed Professor of Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Director of the Australian Conducting Academy. He has previously held the posts of Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2010-2019), Resident Guest Conductor of the Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (2002-2006) and Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (2007-2010).

Northey studied conducting at Finland's Sibelius Academy with Professors Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila after being accepted as the highest placed applicant in 2002. He completed his studies at the Stockholm Royal College of Music with Jorma Panula in 2006.

He previously studied conducting with John Hopkins OBE at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music from 2000-2002.

Northey appears regularly as a guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (La bohème, Turandot, L'elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd), Victorian Opera (Candide, Into the Woods) and the State Opera South Australia (La sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les contes d’Hoffmann).

His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Northey has collaborated with a broad range of leading artists including Lang Lang, Pinchas Zukerman, Wynton Marsalis, Maxim Vengerov, Anne-Sofie von Otter, Julian Rachlin, Karen Gomyo, Piers Lane, Alban Gerhardt, Johannes Moser, William Barton, Lu Siquing, Amy Dickson, Slava Grigoryan, Marc-André Hamelin, James Morrison, Kurt Elling, Archie Roach, Ben Folds, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Paul Grabowsky, Tim Minchin, kd Lang, Patti Austin, Kate Miller-Heidke, Megan Washington, Barry Humphries, Meow Meow and Tori Amos.

Northey is highly active in the performance and recording of new Australian orchestral music, having premiered dozens of major new works by Australian composers. He has previously been a board member of the Australian Music Centre.

An Aria Awards, Air Music Awards, and Art Music Awards winner, he was voted Limelight Magazine's Australian Artist of the Year in 2018. Northey's many recordings can be found on ABC Classics. In 2025, he conducts the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Tasmanian and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

‘Possessed of a superb talent’ (The Australian), violinist Emily Sun is in demand internationally for her compelling and captivating interpretations which have won her international renown.

Her genuine connection with audiences and engaging presence have thrilled her growing audiences, as she performs as a concerto soloist with leading orchestras, and as a chamber musician and recitalist in major concert halls around the globe.

In recent seasons, Emily made her debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players and returns to Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and West Australian Symphony Orchestra. She was Artist-in-Association with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra across two seasons, including the critically acclaimed world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s Violin Concerto.

Emily has worked with conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Andrew Litton, Mark Wigglesworth, Jaime Martin, Benjamin Northey, Ascher Fisch and Johannes Fritzsch. She made her China debut with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tan Dun, and has performed with the South Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Arlington Symphony Orchestra, Garland Symphony Orchestra (USA), and across Europe with the European Union Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Royal Wallonie and Orchestre de Chamber Namur.

Emily’s debut album, Nocturnes, (ABC Classic/Universal) reached No. 1 on the ARIA Classical Charts, and her recent release Film Fantasia featuring the concertos of Korngold and Kats-Chernin recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra was Editor’s Choice in Limelight Magazine and received critical acclaim: ‘Sun’s tone is luxurious.. with style’ (BBC Music Magazine); ‘poetic and colourful’ (CD Choice); ‘Sun is in charge, a master of the aural canvas (Musicweb International).

Since her Wigmore Hall debut in 2016, Emily has performed in venues worldwide including the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, Tchaikovsky Great Hall and Seoul Arts Center. She was invited to perform for King Charles III alongside Maxim Venverov in Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in Buckingham Palace, and also performed for the King and Queen of Belgium in the Royal Palace of Brussels. Chamber collaborations have included with Gary Hoffman, Pekka Kuusisto, Marc Copper, Danny Driver and Miguel da Silva.

Awards and prizes have included the Tagore Gold Medal from the Royal College of Music, the 2018 ABC Young Performers Award (Australia), the 2016 Royal Overseas League Music Competition (UK), and the Brahms (Austria), Yampolsky (Russia) and Lipizer (Italy) international violin competitions. She was a Young Concert Artist for the Tillett Trust, The Worshipful Company of Musicians, City Music Foundation and Youth Music Foundation.

Emily studied with Dr Robin Wilson (Sydney Conservatorium of Music), Itzhak Rashkovsky (Royal College of Music, London), Augustin Dumay (Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Belgium), and received further mentoring from Pinchas Zukerman, Maxim Vengerov and Ivry Gitlis.

Emily is currently Violin Professor at the Royal College of Music, London, and she performs on a 1753 GB Guadagnini ‘The Adelaide’ violin, kindly loaned to her by the UKARIA Cultural Trust. She is a Larsen Strings Artist.