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.

Australian pianist Vatche Jambazian is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he completed his Master of Music following studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Australia, North America, Europe and Asia, appearing at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, UKARIA and City Recital Hall Angel Place. His performances have been featured on WQXR Radio New York and ABC Classic.

Jambazian has collaborated with artists, ensembles and orchestras including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Omega Ensemble, Australian Youth Orchestra, Nexas Quartet, Flinders Quartet and Orava Quartet, as well as Umberto Clerici, Andrew Haveron, David Greco, Lauren Fagan, Hyung Suk Bae, Emma McGrath, David Elton and Mayaan Licht. His repertoire spans the piano and chamber music canon, alongside a strong commitment to contemporary music.

He has premiered works by composers including Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, Kaija Saariaho, Ross Edwards, Elena Kats-Chernin, Lachlan Skipworth, Andrew Howes, Alex Turley and Holly Harrison.

Jambazian has been featured in festivals including the Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Bangalow Music Festival, Adelaide Hills Summer Festival, Orange Festival and the Bowral Autumn Music Festival, where he has been Artistic Director since 2023. His other appointments include Principal Pianist of Omega Ensemble, and Lecturer in Piano at the Australian Institute of Music.

Winner of the Richard Bonynge Accompanists Award at the 2018 Sydney International Song Prize, Thomas Victor Johnson is a vocal coach and pianist living on the unceded lands of the Gadigal people. Thomas currently works as a repetiteur with Opera Australia, is a staff vocal coach at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a regular guest teacher at Te Pae Kōkako, The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio (TANZOS) at the University of Waikato.

Thomas has worked with and played for conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Simone Young AM, Daniel Harding, Philippe Auguin, Pietari Inkinen, Thomas Guggeis, Speranza Scappucci, Massimo Zanetti, Renato Palumbo, Carlo Montanaro, Guillaume Tourniaire, Patrick Lange, Andrea Battistoni, Anthony Legge, Tom Woods, Maxime Pascal, Stuart Stratford, Giuseppe Montesano, Brad Cohen, Jonathan Darlington, Antony Walker, Kristiina Poska, Pietro Rizzo, Benjamin Northey, Tahu Matheson and Christian Badea.

Thomas was a music staff member at Staatsoper Unter den Linden from the 2018/2019 to 2022/2023 seasons, where he also served as stellvertretender Chordirektor during the 2021/2022 season. Prior to his time in Berlin, he worked as a solo repetiteur with Opera Australia after serving as the of Head of Music at West Australian Opera for a two-year term. During this time at WAO, Thomas managed the music and language staff, guided the Young Artist Program, auditioned and prepared the chorus, coached principal artists, and designed and implemented new community engagement projects. His career in opera began with his appointment to the role of Assistant Chorus Master and Children’s Chorus Master at Opera Australia in 2012.

He has performed in recital with singers including Nicole Car, Étienne Dupuis, Anna Kissjudit, Noa Beinart, Margaret Plummer and Bruno de Sá, and has worked with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Northern Ireland Opera, Sydney Philharmonia, Australian Youth Orchestra, Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir, Sydney Children's Choir, The Choir of Christ Church St Laurence Sydney, Bel A Cappella and Sydney Chamber Choir, as well as a guest appearance with cabaret artist Meow Meow.

Thomas is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied piano performance and accompaniment with Natalia Sheludiakova. He studied in masterclasses with pianists Stephen Hough, Mikhail Voskressensky, Gerard Willems, Ruth Nye, Andrew Ball, Marco Rapetti, Cristina Ortiz, and Iain Burnside. In 2019, Thomas was the recipient of a study scholarship from the Wagner Society of NSW.

Together with his husband Paull-Anthony Keightley, Thomas established the artistic collective vioro.co and co-founded an artsong series at Lobe Block.