Core Players

Wayne Brennan studied baroque violin in Vienna with Eduard Melkus after graduating from the University of Queensland. He was Assistant Concert Master of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra before joining the QSO, where he was ap­pointed Principal Second Violin.

Margaret Connolly studied violin with Jan Sedivka before continuing studies in Vienna with Günther Pichler. After playing with the Wiener Volksoper and other ensembles throughout Europe and Japan, she returned to Australia to join the New England String Quartet and later the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Margaret welcomes the opportunity to play early music on original instruments , primarily as a member of the Badinerie Players. She has been a regular performer at the Bangalow Chamber Music Festival and in recent years with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. As a member of The Merlin Ensemble, she is a regular tutor at the Mt Buller Chamber Music Summer School.

Nicky Tomkin studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and then studied in Vienna at the Hochschule fur Musik with Thomas Kakuska of the Alban Berg Quartet. He worked with the Austrian Radio Orchestra, Vienna Volksoper Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic and participated in the Pacific Music Festival, Japan.He is a member of the Queensland Symphony orchestra since 1997.

Chen Yang is well known as a versatile musician and music educator. As well as his work as a baroque violinist and viola player, he is much in demand as a free-lance orchestra leader and as a conductor for youth music activities. He is currently Head of Strings at St. Hilda’s School and conductor of the Queensland Youth Orchestra’s Junior Strings.

Michael OLoghlin is a viola da gamba player, musicologist, teacher and performer of baroque music, and a member of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He received his B.A. from the University of Sydney and his Ph.D at the University of Queensland. He also studied viola da gamba, double bass and historical performance practice in Vienna and Salzburg, with Jos Vzquez, Hannes Auersperg and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and attended masterclasses with Wieland Kuijken. He has performed and recorded widely in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and has given modern premieres of several works from his specialty area, the German late Baroque period. He now lectures regularly in music history and performance practice at the University of Queensland School of Music. His book,Frederick the Great and His Musicians: the Viola da Gamba Music of the Berlin School;was published by Ashgate in 2008.