'Birth & Rebirth' Music for harp, viola and cello — Sarah Zhu, James Monro and Paul Nicolaou - image Steven Forest

World-class and bound to delight, three of Australia's outstanding young performers bring their most recent program to Canberra. In December, they presented 'Birth and Rebirth' as part of the Emerging Artist Concerts Series to packed auditoriums at St Jude's Bowral and Wollongong Art Gallery. A highlight was the premiere of Nicolaou's 'Of Light, Divided' and Monro's 'Saturated Reflection.' With close ties to Canberra, they are passionate about sharing this program with Canberra audiences.

Nicolaou, Monro, and Zhu hold leading positions in the Australian Youth Orchestra. Nicolaou also performs with the Tasmanian Symphony, is a Casual Harpist with the Queensland Symphony, and has performed with the Auckland Philharmonia. Monro is a Canberra Symphony and ANU Orchestra member and has performed twice as a soloist with the National Capital Orchestra. Monro and Zhu have also been Wesley Centre Scholars (read more about the performers below).

Program

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, who are the traditional custodians of the Canberra area and pay respect to the elders, past and present, of all Australia's Indigenous peoples.

Austin Wintory, Nascence, Viola, Cello & Harp

Elena Kats-Chernin, Blue Silence, Viola, Cello & Harp

Charles Tessier, Quand le flambeau du monde (When the torch of the world), Viola, Cello & Harp

James Monro, Saturated Reflection, Viola, Cello & Harp (8’) (World Premiere Wollongong, 2023)

Maurice Ravel, Kaddisch' from Deux mélodies hébraïques, Viola & Harp

Paul Hindemith, Lied: "Ihr Freunde, hänget“ - Sehr langsam from Sonate für Harfe, Solo Harp

Astor Piazzola, Oblivion, Cello & Harp

Paul Nicolaou, Of Light, Divided, Viola, Cello & Harp (World Premiere Wollongong, 2023)

More About the Performers

James Monro is in his third year at the Australian National University, studying mathematics, physics, and music. He loves to explore the cross-contamination between the three, believing that each area enriches the understanding and appreciation of the others.

James holds the Friends of the ANU School of Music Performance Scholarship and the Ruth Pfanner Undergraduate Scholarship. He is a member of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Youth Orchestra and is the principal cellist in the ANU Orchestra. In January 2023, James was the principal cello of the National Music Camp Chamber Orchestra.

James is a solo and chamber musician as much as he is an orchestral musician, performing the Dvorak and Shostakovich cello concertos with orchestras in 2022, described by reviewers as a "dynamo on the cello", and "outstanding… every note clear, expressive and emotionally warm". He also composed and performed one of his solo cello compositions for Musica Viva at Government House.

He is part of the Ellery string quartet, which delivers "youthful enthusiasm, unbridled passionate, confident playing and fine music". The quartet won the First Prize and the People's Choice award in the 2022 ANU School of Music chamber music awards.

In 2021, James was awarded a bronze medal in the International Physics Olympiad and competed in the International Linguistics Olympiad. In 2020, he won the rank of recitalist in the National Youth Concerto Competition, and his piano trio received the Druce Family prize in Musica Viva's Strike a Chord competition. In 2019, he received his LMusA. James is a student of Rachel Johnston and plays an English cello made by George Withers in 1910.

Sarah Zhu comes from a background in piano and now thrives as a violist. Originally from Canberra, she is based in Sydney, studying under Roger Benedict at Sydney Conservatorium. Notable musical experiences include playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, APEX Ensemble and Australian Youth Orchestra and performing with her quartet in the 2022 Australian Chamber Music Festival as part of their Winterschool program. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys exploring a variety of other genres of music on viola, including folk, pop, and screen music.

Paul Nicolaou has quickly gained international recognition as a creative and virtuosic young harpist and composer, receiving numerous accolades including the 2021 Monash University Emerging Composer Prize, Most Outstanding Performer Award at the 2022 Sydney Harp Eisteddfod, First Prize in the 2023 National Youth Music Arranging Competition, the 2024 ABC Classic Composer Commissioning Fund, Highly Commended Award in Willoughby Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 Young Composer Competition, and was a winner of the 2022 Artology ‘Fanfare’ Competition.

Currently a student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Paul studies under the tutelage of internationally celebrated harpist Alice Giles AM. His artistry has been widely acknowledged, Mark Walton expressing, “[Paul] plays with a profound musicality… This skill usually takes years to develop, and he understands it already. Every single note he played fitted into this glorious soundscape…”. Paul was a 2024 Orange Chamber Music Festival featured artist and is a Dots+Loops Performance Fellow for 2024.

Additionally, Paul was one of four composers to be selected for the Australian Youth Orchestra’s 2022 Composition Program, and one of three for the 2023 Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra Composer Workshop. Paul’s work has been widely acclaimed by the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash University, noting it “stood out as an exceptional example of both compositional craft and musicality”. Paul also has experience composing for the screen, with his original score for the short film ‘Yannis’ receiving a nomination for Best Original Score (Made in the West Film Festival).

Sydney Youth Orchestras, the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, Caesura Ensemble, and musicians of the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras have performed Paul’s works.

It is no surprise that Paul has been privileged to perform at prestigious venues as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician, including the Sydney Opera House, St Peter’s Basilica (Vatican City), Hamer Hall Melbourne, the Sydney Town Hall, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). He has given world premieres of works by internationally recognised composers such as Nigel Westlake, Elena Kats-Chernin, Andrew Ford, and Alice Chance.

Paul is also an experienced pianist and violinist and is an accredited music arranger with the Music Arrangers' Guild of Australia.