Rafael Karlen
is an award-winning composer, saxophonist, and arranger. He has continued to build a reputation as one of the more creative, exciting and surprising musicians on the Australian music scene. Rafael’s music has been performed by small jazz groups, rock and pop ensembles, big bands through to chamber orchestras and string quartets. He has performed throughout Australia and New Zealand, and in Canada, Cambodia, England, Scotland and Sweden.

Awards and recognition include an ARIA Nomination, a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship, Composer-in-Residence in the Peggy Glanville-Hicks House, an ABC Jazz Commission, finalist in the Australian Jazz Bell Awards, nominations for the Freedman Fellowship from the Music Council of Australia, and an Australian Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz with the Berardi/Foran/Karlen Trio.

Rafael graduated from Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2004, with a Bachelor in Contemporary Music Performance in Saxophone. He completed his Masters of Arts in Music at the University of York in England after receiving the Lord Mayor's Fellowship for Young and Emerging Artists, and is currently undertaking a PhD at Griffith University.

The Australian Voices
was established in 1993 by Stephen Leek and Graeme Morton, the founding fathers of Australian choral music. These two pioneers saw an opportunity to introduce a rich, iconic sound that was previously unaccounted for within the global music industry. Seeking inspiration from the unique landscape, culture, and history of their homeland, The Australian Voices debuted with Great Southern Spirits in 1994 under the artistic direction of Morton. This album featured pieces inspired by the Glasshouse Mountains, Uluru, and Torres Strait Islands, and included Leek’s popular arrangement of ‘Monkey and Turtle’, now performed by choirs and vocal ensembles throughout the world. Stephen Leek became the Artistic Director in 1997, expanding the global reach of the ensemble through international tours to Hungary, Germany, Guatemala, Taiwan, Thailand, China, and the United States, as well as a further three record releases.

In 2010, Leek passed the baton to Gordon Hamilton, a former vocalist in the ensemble and a flourishing composer and instrumentalist. Hamilton focused on providing Australians with opportunities to access music inspired by the land they lived on, touring over eighty locations within Australia in 2012 alone. The Australian Voices embarked on a new journey providing choral and theatrical experiences, including their acclaimed performances of Hamilton’s Moon and Boombox, as well as reinventions of classic choral music by Bach, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. During this time, the ensemble returned to China, the United States, and Germany, while also expanding their tour circuit to further regions of Europe, including performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012.

In 2016, The Australian Voices and Topology released The Singing Politician, featuring iconic political speeches and texts throughout the previous century which Davidson arranged in fourteen spectacular tracks. Julia Gillard’s “Misogyny Speech” was transformed into ‘Not Now, Not Ever!’ which became a viral sensation on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram while receiving over 350k views on YouTube alone.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Australian Voices commenced the Far and Near project, commissioning works by 22 composers including Lisa Young, Katie Noonan, Nico Muhly, and Melody Eötvös. These works were performed locally in two parts throughout the pandemic, and are to be released as an album in 2024.

In 2021, the artistic direction of The Australian Voices was passed on to instrumentalist, bass vocalist, composer and conductor, John Rotar. Rotar discovered The Australian Voices during their regional tour to Bundaberg and has been an active performer and composer in residence for the ensemble since moving to Brisbane to formalise his musical training through the University of Queensland. Since then, The Australian Voices has collaborated with a variety of renowned and professional artists including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Tasmania Symphony Orchestra, Camerata, Queensland Wind Orchestra, and Hobart Chamber Orchestra. The Australian Voices also collaborated with One Equal Music to perform ‘Passio’, Rotar’s setting of the Passion of Saint John, boasting a five-star review in Limelight Magazine who wrote that the work “surely will stand the test of centuries in the repertoires of the greatest choral ensembles on earth,” (Limelight Magazine, 2023).

To date, The Australian Voices has toured over ten countries, released thirteen albums, and commissioned hundreds of works. Now celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, the ensemble’s celebrations include a national tour of seven towns and cities, as well as alumni events and new commissions.

Camerata - Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra
was founded in 1987 by acclaimed string educator Elizabeth Morgan AM, as an idealistic ensemble of emerging Artists which she then formed into a professional chamber orchestra in 2005.

Performing without a conductor, the Artistic Associates and their guest artists proudly take full ownership of the music to form a thriving, refreshing and acclaimed voice within the Australian arts landscape.

The constantly evolving group undertakes a major concert season annually in both Brisbane and Toowoomba. In addition, the orchestra perform regularly in festivals, collaborations, regional tours, live-to-air national broadcasts, recording, and fundraising activities.

As a Queensland ensemble, Camerata provides career and performance opportunities for string players who wish to build a professional, international career from Brisbane, and as a point of attraction for those returning from overseas.

Camerata’s primary aim is to empower artists, inspire audiences, and enrich communities through music. Camerata performs a variety of styles of music in traditional and non-traditional spaces throughout the state and delivers workshops, school talks and concerts to support the education of young string players.

Camerata has a reputation for innovation and interesting and adventurous programming. The ensemble is extremely flexible in its repertoire and in the way it combines works in programs, playing the core “classics” as well as new and recent music, and Australian music. Camerata regularly works with performers outside the ‘classical’ sector.

Camerata has established itself as a chamber orchestra of national significance with an outstanding track record of artistic achievement.