ARTISTS BIOS

ARTIST BIOS & PROGRAM DETAILS

Emily Granger

American-born, Australian-based, Emily Granger effortlessly straddles the worlds of classical, popular, and art music – including glittering appearances with Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Blasko, and Renée Fleming. Emily’s considerable talent finds her equally at home in intimate chamber recitals and thrilling performances of daring new works. Emily has performed recitals from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center and has appeared with the Chicago, Sydney, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. Her debut solo album, In Transit (AVIE Records), was Featured Album on ABC Classic and 2MBS Fine Music Sydney.

2022 appearances include concerts with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, Music in the Regions and Musica Viva tours, recitals at Melbourne Recital Centre and Sydney Opera House Utzon Room, collaborations with the Nexas Quartet and Sydney Art Quartet, and concerto appearances with the Brisbane Philharmonic and Orange Symphony Orchestra.

Program: In Transit

Laura Zaerr
Right River Rumba
Sally Greenaway
Liena
Libby Larson
Theme & Deviations
Sally Whitwell
Undiminished
Elena Kats-Chernin
Blue Silence
Ross Edwards
The Harp & the Moon
Deborah Henson-Conant
The Nightingale
Tristan Coelho
In transit

Eleonora Spina & Michele Benignetti

Program:
F. Schubert - Eight Variations D813 in A flat Major
F. Schubert - Fantasia in F minor D940
———-
C. Franck - Prelude, Fugue and Variation op. 18
M. Ravel - Valses Nobles et Sentimentales
M. Ravel - “La Valse”

ELEONORA SPINA and MICHELE BENIGNETTI'S The spirit of music courses through the veins of Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti. Coming from a strong musical lineage with backgrounds as soloist and chamber musicians, the duo has appeared as soloists with orchestras across Italy, France, and the Netherlands. Eleonora and Michele’s partnership as a piano duo took off in 2013 and was met with positive critical acclaim.

In June 2014, they were unanimously awarded the prestigious ‘Diplôme Supérieur d’Exécution’ at the Ecole Normale De Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris, under the supervision of Chantal De Buchy. Lifelong learners, they received master’s degrees with honours in 2019 at the Maastricht Conservatorium of Music in the Netherlands under professors Igor Roma, Henk Guittart, and Enrico Pace. They also studied at the Universität für Musik in Graz with Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg.

Their acclaimed 2015 recording of Brahms’s complete works for two pianos for Brilliant Classics Records has been praised by audiences and critics alike. Many high-profile music magazines in Italy and France (Amadeus, Musica, Suonare News, Pianiste) regard the recording as among of their most notable work to date, awarding it the highest possible score in 2015. The Italian critic Luca Segalla commented that ‘Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti, with utmost care and attention to sound, precisely execute the contrapuntal game of variation no. 4, carving out a finale which makes one feel as if one is listening to an orchestra’. (Musica, September 2015).

The duo performs regularly throughout Europe. Recent highlights include a recital for the live shows ‘Génération Jeunes Interprètes’ and ‘Génération France Musique- le Live’ at the Auditorium of the Maison de la Radio in Paris, broadcasts for the famed France Musique National Radio, a recital for the ‘Jeunes Talents’ concert series in Paris, a debut recital at the Osaka Izumi Hall in Japan, a concert tour in South Africa, and a performance at the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival.

The Spina-Benignetti Piano Duo is an Official Yamaha Artist and has been proudly sponsored by them since December 2017

Paul Grabowsky

PAUL GRABOWKSY is one Australia’s most distinguished artists.
Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea in 1958, Paul was raised in Melbourne where he attended Wesley College. During the late 70's he became prominent in the music scene in Melbourne, working in various jazz, theater and cabaret projects.

He lived and worked in Europe and the US from 1980-85, during which time he performed with many jazz luminaries including Chet Baker, Art Farmer and Johnny Griffin. He returned to Australia in 1986 and established a reputation as one of Australia's leading jazz musicians with such bands as his own trio and sextet, the Wizards of Oz and as musical director for singer Vince Jones.

He was musical director of Tonight Live with Steve Vizard (a nationally televised variety show) from 1990-1992.
He was Commissioning Editor (Arts and Entertainment) for ABC Television 1995-98.

He has written the scores for over twenty feature film scores in Australia, the UK and US including 'Innocence' (Paul Cox), 'Last Orders', ‘The Eye of the Storm’, ‘Words and Pictures’(Fred Schepisi) and 'Shiner' (John Irvin). His television credits include the series 'Phoenix' and 'Janus' and the Emmy-winning 'Empire Falls'. His works for the theater include four operas and various multimedia works. His most recent opera, created for soprano Emma Matthews, ‘The Space Between’, with libretto by Steve Vizard, premiered at Arts Centre Melbourne in September 2018.
He is the Founding Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra, which he led from 1994-2013.

He has won eight ARIA awards (most recently in 2020 for his recording Please Leave Your Light On’ with singer Paul Kelly), two Helpmann awards, several APRA and Bell Awards and a Deadly award. He was the Sydney Myer Performing Artist of the Year in 2000, and received the Melbourne Prize for Music in 2007. He was the 2010 Australian National University H.C.Coombs Fellow.
He was Artistic Director of the Queensland Music Festival from 2005-2007 and was Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival of Arts for 2010 and 2012. A Professor at Monash University since 2012, he is currently director of the Monash University Performing Arts Centres and the Monash Art Ensemble. He oversaw the development of the Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, which opened in May 2019, and launched MLIVE, a year-round series of curated performances.

In 2014 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to music and arts administration.