SUE JOHNSON is a composer, musical director, educator and musician. Her passion for producing high quality Australian music is evident in her exciting 25 year career. Sue completed a Diploma of Arts (Music) at the Victorian College of the Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Education at the Hawthorn Institute of Education. Her extensive composing and performance experience includes numerous commissions from television's 'Playhouse Disney'. Sue was nominated at the 2003 APRA Music Awards for her song 'All The Wild Wonders' (lyrics by author Elizabeth Honey.) In 2008 Sue collaborated on 'I'm Still Awake Still' a children's book/CD with author Elizabeth Honey published by Allen and Unwin. This book was adapted in 2009 into an innovative, multi-form theatre work for young audiences directed by Jessica Wilson, with support from the Sydney Opera House Trust, premiering at the Victorian Arts centre in 2011. Trained initially as a pianist, Sue has toured internationally and throughout Australia performing at the major vocal festivals and jazz festivals. Sue lectured for over a decade in improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts and has led many vocal workshops and directed massed choirs, creating and directing instant pieces with audiences of over 3000 at the Sydney Town Hall and Hamer Hall. Many of her songs have been performed and recorded by choirs in USA, Canada and Australia. Sue is in high demand as a choir director.

Photo: Jodie Hutchinson

LISA YOUNG is well known to world music and jazz listeners as a creative vocal stylist and improviser, incorporating Indian and African elements in her work. Her jazz quartet's album 'Grace' won the prestigious 'Bell' award for 'Best Australian
Vocal Album 2007'. The quartet explores a diverse musical expression, layering Indian sounds with rhythms and textures. In 2011 they present a new song cycle 'The Eternal Pulse'. Lisa specializes in 'konnakol' - South Indian vocal percussion. A student of mridangam maestro Karaikudi Mani in Chennai, she has studied South Indian music for sixteen years both in Australia and three trips to India. In 2008 she received an Australia Council Project Fellowship and she is the 2010 recipient of the Monash-Pratt Post Graduate Award for her PhD Music Performance candidature at Monash University. With Coco's Lunch her composition 'Thulele Mama Ya' won 'Best Folk/World Song' in the CARA awards in the USA.Renown as a passionate and engaging workshop leader, her works have been performed by choirs throughout Australia and the USA.  She composed children's songs for the television show 'Playhouse Disney', and has been vocal teacher at the Victorian College of the Arts.

'Remarkable grace in amazing voice.' Jessica Nicholas, The Age
'Words seem inadequate to describe the uniqueness of this extraordinary singer. A stunning vocal talent.' Billy Pinnell, The Mag
'A highly individual singer.her voice is rich and supple, ….the music is often at once earthy and delicate, melodic and abstract.' Doug Spencer, 24 Hours

www.lisayoung.com.au

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JACQUELINE GAWLER is an Honours graduate of the University of Melbourne, where she received Melbourne University Language Scholarships to study in Japan and Italy. Chapters of her thesis were published in Italian literary journals in 2002. Jacqueline trained classically on piano and voice before beginning her career with the Angels of Soul, who recorded for ABC FM's Jazztrack. Jacqueline studied at the 1998 Berklee Jazz Clinics in Italy and has since become one of the country's most original and adventurous indie/jazz singer/songwriters. In 2010 her Arts Victoria funded debut album Ambrosia with the Jacqueline Gawler Band was launched to a packed house and excellent reviews.As a freelance jazz & Brazilian singer she tours to Brazil and Asia, and performs and records with many ensembles including Stoneflower, Avatar, Fran Swinn Trio, Bossa Negra & Picturebox Orchestra. Her piece On My Skin was performed by The Australian Voices and was awarded the 2005 Montsalvat Trust Encouragement Award for Original Composition. She was also a composer for the Canadian/Australian children's TV series The Saddle Club. Jacqueline also trained in West Africa as a percussionist under Master Drummer Alagie Malo Sonko and now performs on 'duns' with Drummergirl and Afö. In 2009 she travelled to Rio to record with some of Brazil's top musicians including pop-star Jorge Vercilo, and in 2010 returned for another 6-month musical stint.

'...Gawler is not averse to taking risks as she shows the versatility of her strong, sultry and highly adaptable voice.' MCV
**** (4 stars) Ambrosia review, Cherrie Magazine
'Effortlessly fluid vocals...' The Age

www.jacquelinegawler.com

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GABRIELLE MACGREGOR is a first-class honours graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (Bachelor of Music Performance) where she specialised in Improvisation. Her journey as a vocalist, percussionist and composer began with solo works and performances with a cappella ensemble Sweet Release. Her performances with the Seven Legged Horse saw her featured as a soloist at the Arts Centre's Twilight Jazz at the Bowl, where the group performed her original work Nature's Vanishing Points. She has performed with shakuhachi master Andrew MacGregor,including appearances at the Byron Bay Festival, the Tony Gray Quintet, and trip hop outfit Osh10. Her most recent project is Creatures Of A Daydream. As a recording artist, Gabrielle has been guest soloist on several albums, including works by Osh10 and Yilila's Manila Manila. Recordings for children and educational resources include Hal Leonard's Music Time! Let's Begin!, by Ros McMillan, and Choral Time, as well as I'm Still Awake, Still!, by Elizabeth Honey & Sue Johnson, published by Allen & Unwin.

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NICOLA EVELEIGH is an Honours graduate in Improvisation from the Victorian College of the Arts, where she was awarded the Ivan Oliver Scholarship. An outstanding flautist, Nicola performed with Judy Jacques at the Edinburgh Festival in 1997 and is featured on her album Making Wings, which won Best Australian Jazz Vocal Recording at the Bell Awards 2003. Nicola is featured on numerous albums, including Ren Walters' Start, Nuzrat Ramble's Bursting Moon, the self-titled album Orange Red Orange, Andrea and Valanga Khoza's Vuswa, and has performed with groups such as the Brian Brown Ensemble and Alex Pertout's Jingo. Nicola was nominated for Most Performed Jazz Work in the 1996 APRA awards. She has also toured New Zealand with Zauberflöte, a twenty-piece flute ensemble and Dome, a contemporary Indonesian Gamelan Orchestra. In 2009 Nicola wrote and recorded a film score for Less Adolescent. The feature length film was accepted into the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and was screened in Melbourne at ACMI, Fed Square and the Sun Theatre. She also acted and sang in the film. Nicola has taught privately and/or run jazz ensemble workshops at the Victorian College of the Arts, Victoria University, the Council of Adult Education, and the Yarra Valley Summer School.

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guest artists

Photo: Gerard Anderson

EMMA GILMARTIN is fast gaining a reputation as one of Australia's most talented jazz vocalists. Her voice is undeniably beautiful with "a crystalline purity of vibrato-less tone and flawless pitch that is so perfect it is almost unsettling" (Leon Gettler, The Age Green Guide. In 2001 Emma completed a Bachelor of Music Performance (Improvisation) at the Victorian College of the Arts. It was here that she met Tony Gould, with whom she recorded her debut CD, "Tomorrow, Just You Wait and See"(Move records). Emma's second CD Songe was released in 2005 through Move records. In 2005, Emma was selected as one of ten finalists in the National Jazz Awards at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival. In addition to performing, Emma also teaches voice at Monash University, The Victorian College of the Arts, Sienna College and St Catherine's School.

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MIRIAM CRELLIN completed a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance) from the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide in 2005, studying under Jo Lawry, Charmaine Jones, and Michelle Nicolle. Alongside well-known musicians from Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, Miriam has appeared at venues around Melbourne including Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, and the BMW Edge Theatre. In 2010 Miriam was a finalist and place-winner at the Voicingers International Jazz Vocal Competition held in Zory, Poland. Miriam sings a blend of jazz and contemporary improvised music, as well as her own original music.

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LIBBY O'DONOVAN has performed for over ten years across Australia and around the world. Her achievements include performances in Tokyo, New York City and Canada with various jazz and Cabaret acts including The Meredith Crocksley Project and her co-creations, Flat on your Bacharach and Women with Standards, for which she won a Green room award for her work as Musical Director. Libby has starred as a cabaret and jazz performer in several major festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Spring Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, the International Jazz Educators Convention, Adelaide Cabaret Festival (including working with New York's Jason Robert-Brown and Andrew Lippa), Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, and the Wangaratta Jazz Festival.

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