With Tamara away, we’re delighted to welcome 2023 season mentor – Coady Green and newcomer – Leon de Bruin as guest mentors for Episode 7. Continue reading to learn more about Coady and Leon.

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Coady Green

One of Australia’s busiest concert pianists, Coady Green is acknowledged as a major talent on the international concert circuit, described as “a virtuoso pianist with sensitivity, intelligence and charm”, “accurate and exhilarating” (Musical Opinion, London), and with “a strong and versatile technique capable of the most delicate coloring and tonal brilliance, rising to the challenges of extreme virtuoso demands with relish” (The Advertiser, South Australia). 

In 2005, Coady relocated from Melbourne to London after winning almost all the most prestigious awards that his native Australia had to offer, including first prize in the City of Sydney National Piano Competition, a Winston Churchill Fellowship Award, a British Council Award, the Trevor Prescott Memorial Award from the Masonic Foundation, a Sir Ian Potter Cultural Prize, two awards from the Australian Council for the Arts and the South Australian Arts Council, and the Ormond Exhibition from the University of Melbourne. During his eleven years based in London, he was twice the recipient of a Geoffrey Parsons International Prize (2008, 2012), a prizewinner at the International Two Piano Grieg Competition in Norway, and a recipient of awards from Tait Memorial Trust and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia. He has performed in over 25 countries in the leading concert halls including Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, St Martin in the Fields, Cadogan Hall, St James’s Piccadilly, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, Shanghai and Beijing Concert Halls, Salzburg Mozarteum etc. He is active as a chamber musician, having performed extensively with pianists Leslie Howard and Christopher Smith, the BBC Singers, the Allegri, Odeion and Amici Quartets (UK and Africa), and numerous leading singers internationally. 

In Australia, his ensemble with saxophonist Justin Kenealy – Duo Eclettico – is the most active performing classical saxophone and piano duo in the country. Green was the founder and director of the International Liszt Society Piano Prize (London, UK), now in its 7th successful year, and an Artistic Director of the International Open Piano Competition in its iterations within the UK and Italy. 

He regularly adjudicates for local and national music awards and competitions within Australia. He was the Artistic Director of the UK Liszt Society and a director of the UK Alkan Society. Green is committed to the promotion of new Australian music, commissioning several new works from Australian composers each year, and working frequently with emerging and established Australian and international composers. He has received awards from the Australia Council from the Arts in both 2020 and 2021 for new commissions from Australian composers Jane Hammond and Linda Kouvaras. Green was a lecturer in classical performance and staff piano teacher at Goldsmiths College, The University of London, and a piano teacher at the Royal College of Music, London. He now teaches piano and lectures through being on the performance staff at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne. He frequently gives masterclasses within Europe and the USA. Coady is the current Staff Chair of the University of Melbourne’s Pride in Action Network committee, the main voice for the University on issues relating to the LGBTIQ+ community. He is on the board for iconic Melbourne theatre fortyfivedownstairs, and is the President on the board for the award-winning Divisi Chamber Singers.

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Leon de Bruin

Dr Leon de Bruin is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Melbourne, Conservatorium of Music, and coordinator of the Master of Music Performance Teaching degree (MMPT). As ASME National Past President he is a staunch advocate for quality music education in Australia, and music teacher education world-wide, as an executive of ISME Instrumental and Vocal Teaching Commission. His research spans pedagogy, music psychology, and teacher training. He has published over 80 articles, chapters, and edited books, including Musical Ecologies: Instrumental Music Ensembles around the World (Routledge);  Revolutions in Music Education (Lexington) and Guerrilla Music ( Lexington).

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