Elizabeth began her time with Camerata, Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra in 2009 on violin, while completing her studies with Camerata’s founder, Elizabeth Morgan AM. After some gentle nudging, she picked up a viola and promptly fell in love with the instrument and it’s role in ensembles.
One of the things Elizabeth values the most about Camerata, is the commitment to bringing music and performances to a wide range of audiences, including in regional areas, to young children and the elderly. Having grown up in a small country town, the opportunity to share music outside of city centres is close to Elizabeth’s heart.
When not playing her instrument, Elizabeth’s life is full of other roles including small-scale farming, veggie growing, and being mum to two young children. She is a passionate educator and enjoys encouraging young musicians along their journeys. She teaches in Toowoomba, and regularly guest tutors various youth ensembles.
Alice Buckingham made her first musical sounds on the violin when she was 7 years old, but discovered her true voice on the viola at age 15. Alice holds a Bachelor of Music (Music Performance) with Honours Class IA and a Master of Philosophy in Music Performance, both from the University of Queensland under the tutelage of Patricia Pollett. As an Artistic Associate on viola with Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Alice has relished the opportunity to explore multi-disciplinary performances with dancers, theatre practitioners, and artworks, and one of the highlights of her career so far was performing in the production of When Time Stops with Expressions Dance Company.
Alice is equally passionate about string pedagogy and performance, and is very thankful that she has the opportunity to do both. She has enjoyed developing material for Camerata’s education programs and teaching online lessons in the ROAD program. Alice was also a founding member of DeepBlue orchestra and spearheaded the development of their youth engagement program, YoungBlue, which continues to inspire young musicians through workshops and holiday programs. Alice is a strings teacher at All Hallows’ School, has conducted the Queensland Conservatorium’s State Honours Ensemble Program in the Brisbane metropolitan and Capricornia areas, and is a regular guest at the Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School Viola Day. She also enjoys historical performance and was selected to participate on baroque viola at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, Canada, in 2013.
Alice is mama to two gorgeous daughters and wife to a spectacular husband, and in her opinion, it is always time for a cup of tea. Outside of the “classical” realm, her most-streamed tunes include music from Dave Matthews Band, The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and the musicals Wicked and Rent.
