About Stefan Cassomenos
Internationally praised for his clarity, depth of expression, virtuosity and versatility, Melbourne-born Stefan Cassomenos is regarded as a leading Australian concert pianist, composer, and conductor. His concerto repertoire now exceeds forty works and has led to regular performances with major Australian symphony orchestras, as well as orchestras overseas. Second prize-winner at the International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn 2013, he has performed at concert halls throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

Cassomenos is a founding member of acclaimed ensemble PLEXUS, which since launching in 2014 has commissioned and premiered over 110 new works. His own compositions include commissions for Victorian Opera and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. Cassomenos is currently co-Artistic Director, together with Monica Curro, of Port Fairy Spring Music Festival. He is generously supported by Kawai Australia.

About Heesoo Kim
Heesoo is a cellist from the Gold Coast, currently in her third year at ANAM, studying with Howard Penny. She began her musical training in Paris at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Regional Conservatorium of Paris, where she earned an Artist Diploma with High Distinctions under Geneviève Teulières-Sommer and Hélène Dautry. Heesoo then completed her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney in 2023, studying with Julian Smiles and Georg Pedersen. Heesoo has performed as soloist with several orchestras. Recent highlights include Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2024, Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C with the Brescia Orchestra at the Talent Music Summer Festival in Italy in 2019 and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the age of fourteen, following her Young Instrumentalist Prize award.

She is the recipient of the Sydney Eisteddfod Doctors’ Orchestra Instrumental Award, has appeared on the Dean’s List for Excellence in Academic Performance, and in 2023 was invited to give a solo recital at Salle Cortot in Paris. Chamber music is central to Heesoo’s artistic life. She received the Henderson’s Traveller’s Quartet Scholarship in 2022 and 2023, which supported a European tour and studies with leading chamber musicians including Gregor Sigl and Oliver Wille. She is particularly passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and hopes to continue contributing to projects that bring music into dialogue with other art form.

About Kristian Winther
Kristian Winther is widely recognised for his ability to perform as a virtuosic violin soloist and as an energetic and brilliant chamber musician, seeking musical challenges performing classic, contemporary and rare works. As violin soloist, Kristian has appeared with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Christchurch and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Auckland Philharmonic, Gruppo Montebello and Orchestra Romantique. He has performed under the batons of conductors including Jessica Cottis, Olli Mustonen, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcus Stenz, Oleg Caetani, David Robertson and Fabian Russell.

In the role of leader / director Kristian has performed as Guest Concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras, and as leader/director of ACO Collective. A devoted chamber musician, Kristian was formerly violinist in the TinAlley String Quartet, winning first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, which was followed by tours of the USA, Canada and Europe. He has also performed chamber music with Anthony Romaniuk, Daniel de Borah, Anne Sophie von Otter, Angela Hewitt, Steven Osborne, Anna Goldsworthy, Richard Tognetti, Brett and Paul Dean, Konstantin Shamray, Hue Blanes and Joe Chindamo.

As an original musician of the Play On series since 2016, Kristian has performed music from the 16th to the 21st centuries at diverse venues including an underground car park in Collingwood and a nightclub in Berlin. Other recent solo / chamber music highlights include performing all of JS Bach’s unaccompanied sonatas and partitas at the Canberra Festival in a single day, the complete Schumann String Quartets in one concert on raw gut strings, and Reger’s monumental violin concerto at the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands.

Committed to performing new repertoire, Kristian has performed the world premiere of Olli Mustonen’s Sonata for Violin and Orchestra (with the composer conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), as well as the Australian premieres of works by Louis Andriessen, Knussen, Kurtag, Salonen, Rihm, Widmann, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and numerous Australian composers. Kristian also gave the Australian premiere of John Adam’s concertante work for string quartet and orchestra “Absolute Jest” with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian and New Zealand premieres of Brett Dean’s violin concerto “The Lost Art of Letter Writing”.