Originally from Wollongong, Sophie Cole began playing the violin at the age of three. She studied at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music and made her solo debut with Tommy Tycho's International Orchestra, before completing her Bachelor of Music degree at the Canberra School of Music, where she studied with Miwako Abe. In the final year of her studies she was appointed to a position in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which she held for three years. While in Melbourne Sophie Cole appeared as soloist with several orchestras and performed the Australian premiere of Roger Smalley's Konzertstück for violin and orchestra. She subsequently established a successful freelance career in London, performing with most of the city's major orchestras, and has toured extensively though Europe and the United States.

Sophie Cole moved to Sydney in 2001, dividing her time between performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra in addition to freelance performances. With the ACO she has toured Australia several times, as well as Europe and Japan.

While in London she became involved with contemporary music groups such as Sinfonia 21 and the Bennelong Ensemble, and is also active in the Sydney contemporary music scene, performing regularly with Ensemble Offspring, Halcyon, and Sonic Art Ensemble.

Emma Hayes began playing the violin at the age of three with Hiroko Primrose. She received her AMusA in 1988, and commenced her Bachelor's degree at the Canberra School of Music the following year. She studied with Miwako Abe and graduated with Distinction in 1992.

In 1991, Emma Hayes was a finalist in the Adelaide Violin Competition, and in 1992, was the ACT finalist in the Wendkart Competition. In the same year, she was awarded a Big Brother Scholarship, which she used to further her studies in London and Manchester.

Emma Hayes was a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra between 1989 and 1992, and led the second violin section on numerous occasions, including tours to North and South America, and Indonesia. She joined the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra in 1993, and was appointed to a position in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra the following year.

Emma Hayes received a Sydney Symphony Friends Scholarship in 1997, and travelled to London, where she studied with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music.

She has also worked with numerous orchestras throughout Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Emma Hayes has played with a number of chamber music groups including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's Music for Spring Series, and the Sydney Soloists. She has also acted in the position of Assistant Principal Second violin.

Sandro Costantino was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to Italian parents. He began his musical studies on the violin and joined the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional when he was 17.

In 1980, he moved to Portland, Maine, to study with the Portland String Quartet. It was during his studies with Julia Adams and the Portland Symphony Orchestra that he turned his attention to the viola.

Sandro Costantino moved to Italy in 1982 and studied with Armando Burattin at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Following his studies he worked with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, the RAI Orchestra of Milan, and at the Teatro alla Scala.

In 1987, he moved back to the USA to undertake postgraduate studies with Walter Trampler and Louis Krasner at the New England Conservatory in Boston. While in Boston, he auditioned for the New Zealand String Quartet, and subsequently moved to Wellington. He spent the next few years performing with the NZSQ before returning to Italy where he worked with the Angelicum Orchestra of Milan and later with I Solisti Veneti in Padua.

In 1991, he returned to Wellington and joined the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He moved to Sydney in 1995 and joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra the same year.

Sandro Costantino plays an Arturo Fracassi viola made in Cesena in 1933.

Bob Magid OAM & Ruth Magid Chair

Elizabeth was born and lived in England until 2001. It was here that her love of orchestral performing began, in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the European Union Youth Orchestra, where she was appointed Principal Cello.

Having already received a Performing Diploma from the Royal College of Music, London, at seventeen, Elizabeth went on to graduate from the University of Nottingham with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Music. During her degree she studied with Tim Hugh and received regular chamber music coaching from the Allegri String Quartet. With the help of various scholarships, including the Countess of Munster Trust, she was able to continue her studies with David Strange at the Royal Academy of Music in London, receiving the highest performing diploma after one year. She performed on the radio for the BBC many times, and had masterclasses with well-known musicians, such as Lynn Harrell, Christopher Bunting and Steven Isserlis.

Elizabeth has worked with many of Britain's top orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Hallé Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She held a permanent position with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for six years, where she was given the opportunity to perform with the World Orchestra of Peace under Valery Gergiev.

Elizabeth Neville moved to Australia in 2001 after participating in a job swap with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. During this time she was a member of the Apollo Piano Trio, Vuillaume Piano Trio and a cello and piano duo, recording CDs and performing in an ABC Live recital. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra Friends’ scholarship enabled her to travel to the Netherlands and the UK, to study with Pieter Wispelwey and Tim Hugh.

In recent years Elizabeth has become more passionate about education. She has been a teacher at the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium, tutored at the inaugural cello retreat of Eudlo, Queensland and schools around the Bellingen area, which culminated in performing and directing the ‘Bello Cellos’ concert of 2023.

Elizabeth plays on an old English cello made by Thomas Kennedy cello, from 1840.

Benjamin is a musician and composer based in Sydney, Australia. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Sydney Symphony double bass section. A career highlight was his collaboration with Jasmin Sheppard; a piece after the poems of celebrated Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha writer/poet Ali Cobby Eckermann.

Recently, Benjamin has performed a solo recital, including his own compositions, at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery; played a solo set of double bass works at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival; and volunteered at the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land for the Yothu Yindi Foundation.

Lily Bryant is a flautist and writer, balancing a passion for arts communication alongside a demanding career as a freelance orchestral flautist. She was awarded the Queensland Conservatorium Medal at the completion of her Bachelors degree, before going on to study at the Australian National Academy of Music. In 2023 Lily was the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Flute Fellow, and she has since appeared as Principal Flute with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, having held the role of Acting Principal Flute with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra since the end of 2024. An avid speaker and writer about music, her work has been published in Limelight, CutCommon and Kill Your Darlings, and in her free time she appears as a presenter for 2MBS Fine Music Sydney. 

Christopher Tingay studied with Alan Vivian at the Canberra School of Music, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Music degree with Distinction. He was Principal Clarinet with the Australian Youth Orchestra from 1989 until 1991, touring with them to the USA and South America in 1991. After studying in Paris and London, Christopher was appointed as Second Clarinet in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1993; a position he has now held for more than 32 years. Since joining the Sydney Symphony he has toured with them multiple times to Europe, the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Korea, China and Malaysia. Christopher has played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, Opera Australia Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra Australia Ensemble. With the Sydney Symphony and Australian Chamber Orchestra, Christopher has made many recordings on the Channel Classics, Octavia, ABC Classics and Sydney Symphony Live labels.

Christopher is passionate about music education. He tutors wind sections for both the Sydney and Australian Youth Orchestras and is regularly on their audition panels. He has been the clarinet tutor at six National Music Camps and lectures in clarinet part-time at the Sydney Conservatorium. He is actively involved with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Education Programs, particularly Playerlink, a regional program bringing together high school students to play in a symphony orchestra, often for the first time.

Nelson Meers Foundation Chair

New Zealander Todd Gibson-Cornish was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2016.

An in-demand Guest Principal, Todd has performed with many of Europe’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Oslo Philharmonic, Sinfonia of London, the Hallé, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (London), BBC Symphony and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

He has performed at the BBC Proms and on tour throughout Europe, Asia and the United States under conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Klaus Mäkelä and Daniele Gatti. In Australia, he has also toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Concerto appearances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra include the Australasian premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Bassoon Concerto, Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto, and Vanhal’s Concerto for two bassoons (with Matthew Wilkie). He has also performed Jolivet’s Bassoon Concerto with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra.

Committed to education, Todd has given masterclasses at leading institutions including the Royal College of Music (London), Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester) and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

A passionate chamber musician, Todd has performed at festivals and venues including the Martinborough Music Festival (NZ), UKARIA Cultural Centre (Adelaide), Ensemble 360 (UK) and Les Concerts du Zeppelin (France) and at the House of Lords with the ASMF wind quartet. He is Co-Artistic Director of the Cambridge Chamber Music Festival in New Zealand.

Todd graduated in 2016 with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music, where he studied under Joost Bosdijk, Andrea de Flammineis and Julie Price. He was a Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholar, supported by a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award, and was awarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal for his outstanding contribution to the RCM – presented to him by HRH King Charles III.

Anne Arcus Chair

David Elton joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trumpet in 2012, having previously held principal trumpet positions with the West Australian and Adelaide symphony orchestras. He has performed and toured as a guest principal with orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He has also performed on several occasions with the Australian World Orchestra.

As a soloist, he has performed concertos with the ACO and the Sydney, Adelaide, West Australian and Canberra symphony orchestras, including, with the WASO, the premiere of James Ledger’s Trumpet Concerto, which was written for him. As a chamber musician, he is a member of the Australian Brass Quintet and has participated in many chamber music festivals including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville. He has also toured in Germany with World Brass and Mahler Chamber Brass.

Raised in Sydney, David Elton began studying trumpet at the age of nine, and became a student of Paul Goodchild on reaching high school. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Queensland Conservatorium (where he studied with Yoram Levy), and a Master’s degree from Northwestern University in Illinois (studying with Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler).

David Elton is on the Brass faculty at the Australian National Academy of Music. He was formerly Head of Brass at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and a guest faculty member at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore.