Monique Lapins - VIOLIN
Monique Lapins was most recently Second violinist of the New Zealand String Quartet and Lecturer at New Zealand School of Music - Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington. She is the violinist of the Ghost Piano Trio who will tour with CMNZ in 2025, and performs regularly with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra Wellington. She has been a finalist twice in the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and has performed in festivals throughout France, the Czech Republic, Holland, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and at the Open Chamber Music Seminars in Prussia Cove directed by world-renowned cellist, Steven Isserlis. Monique has toured extensively in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Monique has performed with artists including Seiji Ozawa (conductor) in Japan, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor) in France, Jerusalem String Quartet in New Zealand (Adam Chamber Music Festival - ACMF), Dénes Várjon (pianist) in New Zealand (ACMF) and as a soloist with French violinist, Oliver Charlier in Japan.
Monique Lapins is a recording artist with Naxos and Rattle Labels. In 2022, she celebrated with pianist Jian Liu, the release of Béla Bartók’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano for Rattle Records. In 2024, her recording as a member of the New Zealand String Quartet won Best Classical Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards for the album Notes From a Journey II with Atoll Records.
Monique performs on a 1883 Gand violin kindly on loan from the Rin Collection in Singapore.
Monique Lapins was most recently Second violinist of the New Zealand String Quartet and Lecturer at New Zealand School of Music - Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington. She is the violinist of the Ghost Piano Trio who will tour with CMNZ in 2025, and performs regularly with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra Wellington. She has been a finalist twice in the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and has performed in festivals throughout France, the Czech Republic, Holland, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and at the Open Chamber Music Seminars in Prussia Cove directed by world-renowned cellist, Steven Isserlis. Monique has toured extensively in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Monique has performed with artists including Seiji Ozawa (conductor) in Japan, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor) in France, Jerusalem String Quartet in New Zealand (Adam Chamber Music Festival - ACMF), Dénes Várjon (pianist) in New Zealand (ACMF) and as a soloist with French violinist, Oliver Charlier in Japan.
Monique Lapins is a recording artist with Naxos and Rattle Labels. In 2022, she celebrated with pianist Jian Liu, the release of Béla Bartók’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano for Rattle Records. In 2024, her recording as a member of the New Zealand String Quartet won Best Classical Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards for the album Notes From a Journey II with Atoll Records.
Monique performs on a 1883 Gand violin kindly on loan from the Rin Collection in Singapore.
Celia Craig - OBOE
Creative Arts Fellow 2024 at National Library of Australia, Excellence in Classical Award winner at Australian Women in Music Awards 2023, Celia promotes the wider public awareness of neurodivergent experience through classical music with a special emphasis on South Australia’s creative women, landscape and history. Her goal is to create musical experiences of colourful harmony for audiences of all ages and demographics, promoting the relevance of classical music in achieving a flow state.
Arts South Australia Biennial Artist 2024-2026, Celia was formerly Chairman of BBC Symphony Orchestra and Principal Oboe, Adelaide Symphony 2011-2018. Elected an Associate of Royal Academy of Music in 1997, now resident in Australia’s only UNESCO City of Music Adelaide, she regularly returns to London to teach.
Trained by world-leading musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Bela de Csillery (pupil of Kodaly), Vladimir Ashkenazy; Scholar at the specialist music school which trained Jacob Collier, Patron King Charles; Celia was destined for a career in music.
Growing up with a developmental or innate synesthesia, known as chromesthesia; Celia has seen colour in harmony since age three.
Synesthesia is a “perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory/cognitive pathway… People with developmental synesthesia are “neurodivergent.” (Cleveland Clinic).
Following an elite orchestral career touring to five continents, recording at Abbey Road, dedicatee of Master of the Kings Music Judith Weir’s Oboe Concerto; since the pandemic Celia has toured Australia improvising with electric guitarist Caspar Hawksley as Colours of Home for Musica Viva in Schools, building wider awareness of neurodiversity among primary school children.
As her first Biennial Artist project, she and Caspar have each invited an acclaimed musician to extend their musical collaboration, by including trumpeter Harrison Smith and cellist Thomas Marlin, to form Arc en Ciel (literally, Rainbow).
Celia founded the globally distributed, chromesthesia-inspired record label Artaria in 2017. In 2024 Celia undertook executive coaching training through Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s ‘Ignite’ program. An Arts South Australia Fellow 2020, she also graduated as a Business SA Encore Entrepreneur in 2022. She is in demand as a coach, including National Music Camp 2025.
Her synesthesia-inspired Spotify playlist is linked here.
Creative Arts Fellow 2024 at National Library of Australia, Excellence in Classical Award winner at Australian Women in Music Awards 2023, Celia promotes the wider public awareness of neurodivergent experience through classical music with a special emphasis on South Australia’s creative women, landscape and history. Her goal is to create musical experiences of colourful harmony for audiences of all ages and demographics, promoting the relevance of classical music in achieving a flow state.
Arts South Australia Biennial Artist 2024-2026, Celia was formerly Chairman of BBC Symphony Orchestra and Principal Oboe, Adelaide Symphony 2011-2018. Elected an Associate of Royal Academy of Music in 1997, now resident in Australia’s only UNESCO City of Music Adelaide, she regularly returns to London to teach.
Trained by world-leading musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Bela de Csillery (pupil of Kodaly), Vladimir Ashkenazy; Scholar at the specialist music school which trained Jacob Collier, Patron King Charles; Celia was destined for a career in music.
Growing up with a developmental or innate synesthesia, known as chromesthesia; Celia has seen colour in harmony since age three.
Synesthesia is a “perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory/cognitive pathway… People with developmental synesthesia are “neurodivergent.” (Cleveland Clinic).
Following an elite orchestral career touring to five continents, recording at Abbey Road, dedicatee of Master of the Kings Music Judith Weir’s Oboe Concerto; since the pandemic Celia has toured Australia improvising with electric guitarist Caspar Hawksley as Colours of Home for Musica Viva in Schools, building wider awareness of neurodiversity among primary school children.
As her first Biennial Artist project, she and Caspar have each invited an acclaimed musician to extend their musical collaboration, by including trumpeter Harrison Smith and cellist Thomas Marlin, to form Arc en Ciel (literally, Rainbow).
Celia founded the globally distributed, chromesthesia-inspired record label Artaria in 2017. In 2024 Celia undertook executive coaching training through Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s ‘Ignite’ program. An Arts South Australia Fellow 2020, she also graduated as a Business SA Encore Entrepreneur in 2022. She is in demand as a coach, including National Music Camp 2025.
Her synesthesia-inspired Spotify playlist is linked here.
Robert Nairn - BASS
Rob Nairn holds the position of ‘Master Musician in Residence” at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, having previously been Head of Early Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium, a Distinguished Professor of Music at Penn State’s School of Music and on the Faculty of The Juilliard School in New York. He has lived and worked in Germany, England, Australia and the United States performing with such groups as the London and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestras; the Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras; the English, Scottish and Australian Chamber Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, the London Sinfonietta, the Halle Orchestra, and the London Mozart Players. Rob has played in all seasons of the Australian World Orchestra and featured as one of the AWO’s 8 double bass soloists in the 2016 premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s commissioned concerto “The Witching Hour”.
Rob is a specialist in historical performance, he has been principal bassist with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra since 1997 and a member of both Ironwood and Adelaide Baroque. He was principal bass of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society since 2003, and also principal bass of the Boston Early Music Festival and Juilliard Baroque. He has performed with the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Concerto Caledonia, Washington Bach Consort, Rebel, Florilegium, The Smithsonian Chamber Players, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Muffat Collective, Bach Akademie Australia, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
He has commissioned and premiered more than forty new works for solo double bass and chamber groups including concerti by Barry Conyngham and Doug Balliett, and he has given solo recitals in Europe, Scandinavia, China, the United States, and Australia.
He can be heard on over 60 commercial CDs and has recorded for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, EMI, Virgin, ABC Classics, and Channel Classics. His fist solo CD will be released later this year on the U.S. Ablaze label.
Rob is a Past President of the International Society of Bassists from whom he received a Recognition Award for Historical Performance in 2009. He is a Howard Foundation Fellowship recipient from Brown University and DAAD German Government Scholarship recipient.
Rob Nairn holds the position of ‘Master Musician in Residence” at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, having previously been Head of Early Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium, a Distinguished Professor of Music at Penn State’s School of Music and on the Faculty of The Juilliard School in New York. He has lived and worked in Germany, England, Australia and the United States performing with such groups as the London and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestras; the Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras; the English, Scottish and Australian Chamber Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, the London Sinfonietta, the Halle Orchestra, and the London Mozart Players. Rob has played in all seasons of the Australian World Orchestra and featured as one of the AWO’s 8 double bass soloists in the 2016 premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s commissioned concerto “The Witching Hour”.
Rob is a specialist in historical performance, he has been principal bassist with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra since 1997 and a member of both Ironwood and Adelaide Baroque. He was principal bass of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society since 2003, and also principal bass of the Boston Early Music Festival and Juilliard Baroque. He has performed with the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Concerto Caledonia, Washington Bach Consort, Rebel, Florilegium, The Smithsonian Chamber Players, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Muffat Collective, Bach Akademie Australia, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
He has commissioned and premiered more than forty new works for solo double bass and chamber groups including concerti by Barry Conyngham and Doug Balliett, and he has given solo recitals in Europe, Scandinavia, China, the United States, and Australia.
He can be heard on over 60 commercial CDs and has recorded for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, EMI, Virgin, ABC Classics, and Channel Classics. His fist solo CD will be released later this year on the U.S. Ablaze label.
Rob is a Past President of the International Society of Bassists from whom he received a Recognition Award for Historical Performance in 2009. He is a Howard Foundation Fellowship recipient from Brown University and DAAD German Government Scholarship recipient.
Nicholas Braithwaite - CONDUCTOR
Nicholas Braithwaite’s career has spanned 5 continents and 15 countries. As well as all the orchestras in the UK, he has appeared with the Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de France, the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, Aarhus Symphony, Aalborg Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Queensland Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony, Collegium Musicum Copenhagen, and others.
Mr. Braithwaite studied at the Royal Academy of Music, at the Festival Masterclasses in Bayreuth, and in Vienna. He started his career as Associate Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, then served as Associate Principal Conductor of English National Opera where his performances of Wagner’s Ring cycle received widespread critical acclaim, followed by Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. At this time he was also Principal Conductor of the Manchester Camerata.
He has held positions as Principal Conductor from Norway to New Zealand, including with the Tasmanian and Adelaide symphony orchestras in Australia and has recorded more than 30 CDs with the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony, Ulster, New Zealand Chamber, and other, orchestras.
Nicholas Braithwaite has had a lifelong involvement with opera, during which he has
conducted more than 70 operas with different companies around the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Welsh National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and in Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Australia.
In 2021 Nicholas Braithwaite was appointed Conductor Laureate of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, cementing a relationship of more than four decades, and in 2024 was recognised with the Adelaide Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nicholas Braithwaite’s career has spanned 5 continents and 15 countries. As well as all the orchestras in the UK, he has appeared with the Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de France, the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, Aarhus Symphony, Aalborg Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Queensland Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony, Collegium Musicum Copenhagen, and others.
Mr. Braithwaite studied at the Royal Academy of Music, at the Festival Masterclasses in Bayreuth, and in Vienna. He started his career as Associate Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, then served as Associate Principal Conductor of English National Opera where his performances of Wagner’s Ring cycle received widespread critical acclaim, followed by Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. At this time he was also Principal Conductor of the Manchester Camerata.
He has held positions as Principal Conductor from Norway to New Zealand, including with the Tasmanian and Adelaide symphony orchestras in Australia and has recorded more than 30 CDs with the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony, Ulster, New Zealand Chamber, and other, orchestras.
Nicholas Braithwaite has had a lifelong involvement with opera, during which he has
conducted more than 70 operas with different companies around the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Welsh National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and in Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Australia.
In 2021 Nicholas Braithwaite was appointed Conductor Laureate of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, cementing a relationship of more than four decades, and in 2024 was recognised with the Adelaide Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award.