Biography
In my family, there was a deal: we would play a sport and an instrument. By the age of nine, I had started playing football and softball, and I had done many years of a programme called Kids Music Company, but I was yet to decide on a specific instrument. Cue a trial lesson on both the flute and oboe, and as they say, the rest is history. I was lucky to have an amazing oboe teacher, Alison Jepson, just a 15 minute walk away from home – Alison guided me through my first years of “Chocolate Fish” books through to my ATCL, from my first competition getting “Most Promising” in the NZ Woodwind Competition to being a national finalist in the NZCT Chamber Contest.
When it came time to apply for university, studying music wasn’t a given. I also submitted applications for engineering, computer science, sports and exercise science, applied maths, and all manner of conjoint combinations. It was Alison’s advice that if music was something I might want to ‘do’ as a career, then now would be the time to do it. So I went all in, doing a Bachelor of Music at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland with Robert Orr (principal oboist of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) and Martin Lee (principal cor anglais of the Auckland Philharmonia). Sometimes, I imagine what it would have been like to study abroad for my undergraduate degree, but I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunities I had in New Zealand.
I played for world-class oboists like Diana Doherty, Gordon Hunt, and Jacques Tys; I started playing in professional orchestras; and I had my first taste of solo playing after I won the Auckland Youth Orchestra Soloist Competition, which allowed me to give the world premiere of Anthony Ritchie’s “Cartoon: Fantasy for Oboe and Orchestra” in Auckland and then subsequently tour it to the Young Euro Classic in Berlin. These experiences undeniably fuelled my passion for becoming a professional musician.
Leaving home for the first time, I moved ‘across the ditch’ to Melbourne to attend the Australian National Academy of Music, joining a legacy of New Zealand oboists to be taught by Jeff Crellin (principal oboist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). I had one full year in person before a patchwork couple of years when the world shut down with COVID-19. I then headed along the coast to Sydney to be a part of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellowship working with Diana Doherty (principal oboist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra). Now, venturing a little further afield, I am excited to be in London to join Sinfonia Smith Square!