With Coady away, we’re beyond delighted to welcome back previous resident mentors – pianists Julia Hastings and Leigh Harrold. Continue reading to learn more about Julia and Leigh.
Julia Hastings
Julia Hastings is a Melbourne-based pianist who defies stereotypes by being equally at home on stage as an actor. But the unique fusion of Julia, the musician and actor and Julia, the theatre creator, writer and dancer is what transports an audience to a place where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary.
Julia’s extensive piano studies, culminating with the Professional Performance Program at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), have equipped the synthesis of her multi-disciplinary talents in pushing the boundaries of classical music performance and enabling her goal of guiding audiences through a narrative, musical world where stories matter. Her first work, Fame, Fortune & Lies: The Life and Music of Eileen Joyce, combining live music performance and drama has been performed to critical acclaim nationally. Julia’s passion for telling a story has now led to her current research interest in the ability of live classical music performance to develop character and narrative in contemporary music theatre.
Known for expressive pianism and virtuosity, Julia is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, collaborative artist and educator. Julia’s solo performances have been praised as “breathtaking,” “delicious,” and “simply wonderful” by reviewers, while her collaborative work has been recognised for its empathy, intelligence and synchronistic partnering. Collaborative partners have included pianists, Lisa Moore, Kathryn Stott and Penelope Thwaites as well as singers, Sara Macliver and Christopher Watson. Orchestral stints have seen Julia performing with the UK-based Aurora Orchestra as well as under the baton of Australian conductors, such as Brett Dean and Simone Young.
As a musician of the 21st century, Julia combines her performance work with that of music educator in which she tutors in tertiary music subjects and directs an Instrumental Chamber Music Program at Trinity College, University of Melbourne as well as teaching piano. She is also a staff pianist at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne. Through her work as an educator, Julia inspires her students to embrace and energetically explore the narrative qualities of music which have informed herown musical practice.
Julia’s love of the theatre and dance is the product of years of participation in community and university theatre as an actor, dancer and director in tandem with an Actors Residency at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2016. Dance played an important part during Julia’s school years, studying the Cecchetti method of classical ballet for over eleven years while simultaneously dabbling in other styles such as jazz, tap, salsa and Latin. These skills and the multifarious methods of story-telling inherent in theatre and dance are now being harnessed by Julia as she challenges the traditional relationship between the pianist and the piano and delivers classical music as an integral component of a story.
Find out more: https://www.juliahastings.com.au/
Leigh Harrold
Leigh Harrold enjoys a reputation as a “musician of rare talent and intelligence”, and is one of Australia’s busiest and most sought-after pianists
Born in Whyalla, South Australia, Leigh completed undergraduate and post-graduate studies at The University of Adelaide with concert pianist Gil Sullivan. During this time he had many successes, including being a National Finalist in the Young Performer Awards and a recipient of the prestigious Beta Sigma Phi Classical Music Award – the conservatorium’s highest honour. He moved to Melbourne in 2003 to take up a full scholarship at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) under the mentorship of Geoffrey Tozer and in 2004 was made the Academy Fellow – the first person in the institution’s history to be chosen as such after just one year of study.
Leigh has performed extensively throughout Europe, North America, Africa and Australia as both soloist and chamber musician, including concerts at Australia House in London, the Royal Academy of Music, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Harare International Festival of Arts, and concerto engagements with many Australian orchestras. In 2007 he undertook an extensive tour of the United States and Canada where he gave lectures on and performed the solo piano music of the American composer Robert Muczynski. In 2015 he gave a lecture-tour of England, promoting and performing Australian piano music at Trinity College and the University of London.
His international reputation as an associate artist has led to collaborations with such luminaries as Thomas Reibl, lecturer in viola at the Salzburg Mozarteum; Michael Cox, principal flautist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Gaede, ex-concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; London flautist Wissam Boustany; New York violinist Charles Castleman; Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling; and British pianist Mark Gasser, to name just a few. He has twice been awarded the Geoffrey Parsons Award for Associate Artists, and in 2014 was the recipient of the pianist’s prize in the Mietta Song Competition.
Leigh is a founding member of the Helpmann Award-nominated Syzygy Ensemble. The ensemble released its debut CD, ‘Making Signs’ in 2015 and has gone on to become one of Australia’s most critically lauded and active contemporary music ensembles. Additionally, Leigh has recorded and released CDs for Sony, ABC Classic, and Move Records.
An enthusiastic and committed teacher, speaker, and writer, Leigh is regularly invited to tutor and lecture at many institutions, adjudicate competitions, and has given several masterclasses around Australia, Africa, the USA and the UK, as well as regular pre- and post-concert talks for the Melbourne Recital Centre. In April 2012 Leigh was awarded a PhD for his research into the music of Robert Muczynski for which he received a Dean’s Commendation for Thesis Excellence, and in 2015 he was published internationally in the Liszt Society of London Journal. He holds two University medals – one for Music and one for Applied Science.
In 2023, Leigh was appointed Head of Keyboard at Camberwell Grammar School. He also holds positions on the Faculties of ANAM and the University of Melbourne, and is pianist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. When not seated in front of a piano, he finds time to go on long walks, study Scandinavian languages, and drink lots of tea. He lives in Hawthorn with Craig, Jory and Finnegan.
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