A conductor, trombonist and violinist, Owen Clarke has a wealth of experience in professional, amateur and youth music. Hailing from New Zealand he moved to Australia in 2015 after a sixteen-year career as the Director of Music for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and Navy bands. Since settling in Queensland, Owen has been in demand as an adjudicator, conductor, clinician and teacher. He has taught at schools as diverse as Brisbane Girls Grammar School, the Aboriginal Academy in Coen, Cape York, and his current role as Director of Performing Arts at All Saints Anglican School on the Gold Coast. Owen is in demand as an adjudicator and he undertakes workshops and adjudicates at music festivals throughout New Zealand and in Australia including the KBB Festival, Eisteddfods and workshops, and the NZCT Chamber Music Contest.

Owen has a varied career: He has recorded and produced five CDs with the Royal New Zealand Air Force and Navy Bands, formed a Military Band in East Timor, travelled six times to Gallipoli to perform on ANZAC Day and has been an announcer on the classical music radio station 4MBS in Brisbane. He has conducted orchestras and bands ranging from the Auckland Philharmonia and Christchurch Symphony, the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Orchestra, the Queensland Youth Band and the Gold Coast Philharmonic. He is also resident conductor of the Rockhampton Symphony Orchestra.

David Squire was Music Director of the renowned New Zealand Youth Choir from 2011-2025, which last year won the ‘Choir of the World’ at the Llangollen Eisteddfod in Wales, as well as a Grand Prix of Nations title at the European Choir Games in Denmark. He also directs international award-winning ensembles Voicemale (Westlake Boys High School), Euphony (Kristin School), the Takapuna Grammar School Chorale, the Westlake Symphony Orchestra, and the Auckland Youth Choir. Current vice-chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, he is also a national conducting advisor and tutor, and served as a governance board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation for nine years. He is in demand around the world as a clinician, educator, guest conductor and adjudicator, and is the choral director for the International Schools Choral Music Society based in China.

Dr Lara Hall is the violinist of the New Zealand Chamber Soloists and has toured three continents with the group. She has also given master classes at leading institutions including the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, Interlochen Arts Academy in the US, Australian National Academy of Music and top Asian conservatories: Yong Siew Toh in Singapore and Shanghai.

Lara’s education included violin study in Dorothy Delay’s Studio, the Negri Violin School, and doctoral study at the University of Michigan with Paul Kantor. She was also the first person to graduate from the University of Auckland in Baroque Violin.

At the age of 25, Lara took on the roles of Concertmaster of Opus Orchestra and Lecturer in Violin and Viola at The University of Waikato, and has taught students at pre-university through to doctoral level. She has also led a range of other orchestras including the Auckland Sinfonietta, Auckland Chamber Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
Lara’s discography (on the Atoll and Naxos labels) represents her as a chamber musician, concerto soloist, solo violinist and baroque violinist.

Nick Tipping was born and raised in Wellington in a household full of classical music. Not only were his parents both classical musicians, but his grandfather Peter Godfrey was a well-known choral conductor. Nick grew up singing in choirs and playing in orchestras, and he is a former Barbershop national champion. Nick went on to turn his passion for music into a career – he played bass professionally across Aotearoa with everyone from the Rodger Fox Big Band to the NZSO and has performed on stages the length and breadth of NZ as a jazz musician. Nick played bass on the first five seasons of TV show Dancing with the Stars and he lived, studied and worked in Las Vegas for two years. He currently plays with composer Ross Harris’s klezmer band The Kugels. Nick has a PhD in Musicology, looking at the NZ jazz scene and his band The Jac won Best Jazz Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards in 2021.

Warwick Robinson has spent many years directing both student and adult ensembles on Auckland’s North Shore. He is Head of Music at Westlake Boys High School, where he also directs several other instrumental ensembles, as well as an associate conductor for the Devonport Chamber Orchestra.

Warwick studied sciences and music at Auckland University, before eventually graduating with a Master’s degree in Clarinet performance with First Class Honours. He spent time freelancing for Auckland’s professional orchestras before moving to Westlake Boys, where he teaches Music to Year 9 to Year 13 students as well as the advanced Scholarship Curriculum.

He divides his time between teaching, freelance conducting and arts administration within the Auckland area, where he is the Director of the KBB Music Festival, New Zealand’s largest Band and Orchestra competition.

Warwick is married to Miriam, and they have two children, both of whom are now heavily invested in Music. Outside of work, Warwick has an eclectic range of interests which include building, cooking, fishing and cake decorating.

It was love at first play when Lana Law first picked up the baritone sax at age 13. Following her passion, she went on to complete her Bachelor of Music (BMus) Degree in Jazz Performance at Massey University before touring the world as a professional musician.

Lana loves music education, teaching students individually and in groups, both privately and as an Itinerant Music Teacher and Band Director in schools.

Lana is the co-founder and Music Director of NZ’s first all female big band The All Girl Big Band, and the former Music Director of the Garden City Big Band, playing the lead alto saxophone chair in both these bands. Lana has been the Music Director of the Christchurch Youth Jazz Orchestra (CYJO) since 2021.

In 2024, Lana adjudicated the National Youth Jazz Competition with Rodger Fox, as part of the Tauranga Jazz Festival, and continues this role annually now as Head Judge. Lana plays in various musical groups and as a session musician, both locally in Christchurch and nationally.

Born in the United Kingdom and based in New Zealand, international award-winning classical guitarist, Jane Curry was an associate teacher at the University of Arizona for six years before returning to New Zealand to teach classical guitar (Senior Lecturer) at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington from 2011 – 2024.

She is actively involved in coordinating classical guitar activities in New Zealand, securing external funding to host visiting artists, organising the New Zealand International Classical Guitar Competition, and providing avenues for funded short concert opportunities through New Zealand classical guitar societies.

Jane has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the USA, UK, Poland, Malaysia, Thailand, China and throughout New Zealand and Australia. She has released seven recordings (Naxos, Skydeck, Ode and Rattle) and a series of education videos on YouTube.

She studied at the University of Southern California with Scott Tennant and Bill Kanengiser, and at the University of Arizona with Prof. Thomas Patterson. David Russell and Sergio Assad both hold artist residencies at the U of A. She holds a BA (University of Waikato) a BMus (Massey University), Honours (University of Auckland), a MMus and DMA (University of Arizona USA).

Owen completed his Masters at Massey University in 2003, before heading to the US where he studied at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) with James Smith and Los Angeles Guitar Quartet members Scott Tennant and Bill Kanengiser. He also studied with Brian Head, Martha Masters, and Pepe Romero and participated in master classes with guitar luminaries Odair and Sergio Assad and Grammy award winning guitarist David Russell.

As one of New Zealand’s most sort after chamber musicians, Owen is a touring artist with Arts on Tour and in 2015 completed his 8th tour with Chamber Music NZ. He has also given concerto performances with the National Capital Orchestra (Canberra), the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, the Nelson Symphony Orchestra, the Devonport Chamber Orchestra, The Massey University Orchestra, and the Livewires Guitar Orchestra. He has also performed and recorded with the NYO, and most recently with the NZSO and the NZSQ.