FutureMakers Alumni

As Musica Viva Australia's 2020 - 2022 Futuremaker artists, the award-winning Partridge String Quartet are fast becoming a force in the Australian classical music scene. Brilliant and dynamic chamber musicians, the quartet strives to connect and surprise audiences through their bold performances and creative collaborations which have been featured on ABC Classic, Violin Channel, CutCommon and Limelight Magazines.

Formed at the Australian National Academy of Music, the quartet received national recognition as first prize winners of the inaugural Queensland International Chamber Music Competition (2019) and ANAM Chamber Music Competition (2018). In 2018, the quartet were recipients of the Husky Energy Artist Award after they were selected for an international string quartet program residency at the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity in Canada where they were mentored by the JACK Quartet, Eybler Quartet, Parker Quartet and prolific American composer Paul Wiancko. Throughout their studies, the quartet received tutelage and mentoring from the music faculty of ANAM, Australian String Quartet, Borodin String Quartet, Trio Dali and Alban Berg Quartet. The quartet performed at the Melbourne Recital Centre as part of Musica Viva’s 2022 National Concert Season and are recipients of the AYO Ernest Llewellyn Memorial Trust Fund Travel Award.

Passionate advocates of Australian composers, Partridge performed a complete five string quartet cycle by Richard Mills AM, were recipients of the Musica Viva Chamber Music Prize for their performance of Paul Stanhope’s Second Quartet and recently gave the premiere performance of Briony Marks’ work, “Australia Fair?”. They have presented collections of Australian works at the MPavilion, National Gallery of Victoria, Ian Potter Centre, National Film and Sound Archive Theatre in Canberra and are engaged in exciting projects and music festivals around Australia.

2022 proved to be an exciting year for the quartet in their final Futuremakers year, being featured artists at Musica Viva’s season’ opening concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre, and broadcast on ABC Classic FM. In June they were selected to participate at the Curtis Institute of Music for a string quartet course with the Dover Quartet, generously supported by the Curtis Institute of Music, the Ernest Llewllyn Memorial Trust and Musica Viva Australia. They are excited to share what is in the works for 2023 soon.

Violinist Harry Ward has performed as soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician throughout Australia, America, Mexico, Asia and Europe. Solo appearances include with the Xiamen Philharmonic, Hangzhou Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Harry has performed alongside members of the Emerson, Michelangelo, Belcea, Ehnes and Australian string quartets and in concert with the late Joseph Silverstein.

In 2017, Harry was invited to perform at the Rome Chamber Music Festival which included performances with Edgar Meyer, playing Meyer’s String Quintet and performances with members of the Venice Baroque Orchestra.

Aura Go enjoys an active and multifaceted musical life, performing as a soloist, chamber musician, lied pianist and conductor. She has performed concertos from Bach to Rautavaara with many of Australia’s professional orchestras and been a guest artist at numerous international music festivals including the Melbourne International Arts Festival and Edinburgh Festival.

Matthias Schack-Arnott is a Melbourne based percussive artist working in performance, composition and collaborative contexts.

Described by The Guardian as 'sonically and visually exquisite’, Matthias’ solo work explores unique approaches to percussive performance, often involving the development of new instrumental set-ups built in collaboration with architects, engineers and technicians.

Arcadia Windswere the inaugural Musica Viva FutureMakers 2015-17 artists. Their involvement in the initiative saw the group have a significant national and international performing impact, as well as giving them a strong understanding of their artistic identity and opening them up to wider range of performance and collaboration possibilities, and create and implement a long-term strategic plan and brand.

Through their involvement in FutureMakers, the group worked with 120 mentors, presenters and collaborators, including acclaimed international musicians Lambert Orkis and Ilan Volkov, composers Eyvind Kang and Catherine Milliken and award-winning Australian ensembles Speak Percussion and the Australian String Quartet.