Johnson
Gilmartin
O'Donovan
Eveleigh
Gawler
www.lisayoung.com.au
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. She lectured in Music Improvisation at the VCA for 11 years and also tutored in the Bachelor of Education course at Melbourne University. Sue has made a significant contribution over the past 20 years as a composer, vocalist, improvising pianist and educator and has co-written songs with several Australian authors. ‘All The Wild Wonders’, written with author Elizabeth Honey, was nominated for Most Performed Jazz Work in the 2003 APRA Music Awards. She is currently co-writing a book of bed-time songs for children with Elizabeth Honey, to be published by Allen & Unwin. Sue has composed film and dance scores and also pieces for the children’s TV program Playhouse Disney screened on channel 7 from 2002-05. She has directed and composed massed choir works for the Choral Sea in Sydney’s Town Hall, the Millennium Chorus at Hamer Hall, the opening of the Fremantle Festival and closing ceremony for the City of Whittlesea Festival with the Snuff Puppets. In 1992 Sue was awarded the Yalumba Jazz Medal at the Montsalvat Jazz Festival. With Lisa Young, Sue established the publishing company Song Circle.
"Now and then, one hears a voice which instantly suggests uncommon beauty and musicality. Add to this a sensitivity to lyrics, impeccable sense of pitch, a rare control of vibrato, and you have wonderful artistry. This is what I hear in the singing of Emma Gilmartin. It all comes from her approach to both her art and her fellow human beings." (Dr Tony Gould – pianist/composer)
Born in Melbourne, 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). Since the release of her first CD Emma has been busy performing around Melbourne and abroad. Emma’s second CD Songe was released in 2005 through Move records. This CD features Will Poskitt, Ben Robertson, Rajiv Jayaweera and Eugene Ball and is a collection of jazz standards and Emma’s original compositions. In 2005, Emma was selected as one of ten finalists in the National Jazz Awards. The finals were held 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.
Jacqueline is an Arts Honours graduate of the University of Melbourne, where she received scholarships to study languages in Japan and Italy. Chapters of her thesis on Italian playwrights were published in Italian literary journals in 2002. Jacqueline trained classically on piano and voice from an early age and began her career with Jackie Gaudion’s Angels of Soul, who recorded for ABC FM’s Jazztrack. In 1998 Jacqueline studied at the Berklee Jazz Clinics in Italy and since then has performed with many of her own ensembles including Madam, Brassiere 66, Stoneflower and the Jacqueline Gawler Quartet. Her original electro-acoustic project ‘Ido’ premiered at the Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival in 2004 and she currently composes and performs with the Jacqueline Gawler Band. Jacqueline was also a composer for the hit Canadian/Australian children’s television series The Saddle Club and in 2005 was awarded the Montsalvat Trust Encouragement Award for Original Composition for her work On My Skin. In 2007 Jacqueline travelled to Senegal and The Gambia where she studied West African percussion with Master Drummer Alagie Malo Sonko. She currently performs with the West African ensemble Afö.