A Winston Churchill Fellow, concert pianist, artistic director and music educator Grace Kim believes that quality live music should be accessible to everyone with a desire to hear it.

Her Sensory Concerts and Mountain Concerts series ensure that it does. As a concerto soloist, Grace has performed with major symphony orchestras of Australasia, Belgium, Turkey, Russia and the Ukraine. She remains one of the most respected musicians in Australia, able to attract internationally-recognised peers to perform at her Mountain Concerts and Sensory Concerts series.

A mother of two young children, she is an advocate for music education. She founded Sensory Concerts to provide quality classical music concerts for families with sensory/special needs. Grace was recently selected as a national finalist in 2018 AusMumpreneur Award in 2 categories: Making a Difference, and Big Idea Award.

In 2018, Grace also made her debut as an author, with "Noah's Story" written together with her son, about life with Asperger's Syndrome. Noah's Story is available on Australian and international online bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Wordery, Book Depository.

Among her numerous international and national prizes, the former child prodigy was the National Keyboard Winner of the 2000 Symphony Australia Young Performers Award, also receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Trust. After graduating from Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she gained her Master of Music at Melbourne University and Rotterdam Conservatorium (Cum Laude) and was the 2002 Inaugural Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music.

Grace has performed to numerous international dignitaries in some of the most illustrious concert venues in the world such as Het Concertgebouw, De Doelen, La Salle Philharmonique de Liège, as well as the Sydney Opera House. Many of her performances have been broadcast on radio and television. In 2006 she performed before Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and Australian Governor General Major General Michael Jeffery at 400th anniversary celebrations of Dutch-Australian contact. In 2012, Grace performed before 200 international diplomats and ambassadors in Canberra hosted by the Korean Embassy, as well as in Parliament House for University of Melbourne 150-year celebration. She has also performed several times at the NSW Government House including at the Winston Churchill Fellowship’s 50th Anniversary National Convention before dignitaries.

Passionate about chamber music, Grace regularly works with distinguished artists from around the world and, during 2007-08, was artistic director of the Summer Concert Series in the celebrated Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Returning after living and working in the Netherlands for eight years, she is now based in Sydney, and the Blue Mountains, Australia. Since returning, her engagements include performing as a concerto soloist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (New Zealand), recitals on ABC Classics Sunday Live (Sydney), ScotchArts series (Melbourne), as well as adjudicating in national eisteddfods.

In 2013-14, Grace was artistic director of the Rivendell Recital Series and Opera Night at Rivendell.

Grace Kim currently teaches in the Rising Stars Program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is founding artistic director of Mountain Concerts and President of Your Music Inc.

For more information on Grace, see website www.gracekim.com.au

Marina Marsden has been the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Second Violin since 2006 having joined the SSO in 1995 as Assistant Concertmaster. She is also a member of the Australian World Orchestra.

Marina studied violin at the Sydney Conservatorium with Alice Waten and from 1985, assisted by several scholarships, studied for a Performer’s Diploma in Vienna with Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet). In 1990 Marina became a Concertmaster of the Bruckner Orchestra in Austria and Melbourne Symphony’s Associate Concertmaster from 1992 until 1994. As soloist, she has performed with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Canberra Symphony and Adelaide Chamber Orchestra. In 1997, Marina travelled to Austria and the USA on a Churchill Fellowship.

Marina is an active soloist and chamber musician, appearing frequently in Sydney Symphony Chamber Players series. Marina has recorded for Tall Poppies, Move Records, Wirripang Publications, ABC Classics labels and the AMEB, and was the 1999 recipient of an Australian Music Centre National Award.

She travelled to Europe in 2013 for advanced study in violin playing and mentoring, assisted by a Sydney Symphony Michael and Mary Whelan Trust Scholarship. In 2015 she appeared as soloist with the SSO and performed in the AWO Southern Highlands Chamber Music Festival.

For more information on Marina, see website www.sydneysymphony.com/musicians/marina-marsden

Justine has been a member of the Sydney Symphony since 1990. Before taking up this position, she pursued post-graduate studies in Berlin for four years with Wolfram Christ, assisted by several scholarships. During her Berlin years, Justine played as a casual member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the Berlin Ensemble Oriol. She performed as soloist with the Baden-Badener Orchestra and as Principal Guest Violist of the Berliner Kammeroper Orchestra. On her return to Australia in 1989, Justine joined the Australian Chamber Orchestra, on occasion acting as Principal Viola and played as both member and soloist with the Brandenburg Orchestra. In 2004, Justine was awarded a Sydney Symphony Friends and a Michael and Mary Whelan Trust Scholarship to further her viola studies with Wolfram Christ in Germany and to research issues relating to musicians' health at the Kurt Singer Institute in Berlin.

Over the past two decades, Justine has been an active chamber musician, a former member of the Novalis Quartet and guest artist with the Ku-ring-gai Virtuosi and the Grevillea Ensemble. She is presently a member of the Linden String Trio. Justine has recorded a CD of works by Margaret Sutherland with her violinist sister, Marina Marsden (Sydney Symphony Principal Second Violin) and has recently recorded for Wirripang.

In 2013 Justine traveled to London and North Germany for further study and research on musicians' health and performance-related matters.

For more information on Justine, see website www.sydneysymphony.com/musicians/justine-marsden

Kristy Conrau studied cello with Nelson Cooke and graduated with Honours from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1998. In 2000, she completed the Advanced Performance Program at the Australian National Academy of Music. She has also studied with the Australian cellists Julian Smiles and Howard Penny.

In 2004 Kristy was a fellow with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and became a member in 2006. Kristy has also performed with Orchestra Victoria and has been the principal cello of both the Geminiani Orchestra and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

A keen chamber musician, Kristy Conrau was a member of the Florizel Piano Trio, a finalist in the 2001 Melbourne National Chamber Music Competition. As a member of the Young Piano Trio of Melbourne, she took part in tours to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, London and Frankfurt and performed at the 2001 International Chamber Music Week in Graz, Austria.

She currently enjoys performing in chamber groups with her Sydney Symphony colleagues.

For more information on Kristy, see website www.sydneysymphony.com/musicians/kristy-conrau