How Claire feels about joining Camerata as a Core Musician.

I’m so excited to be joining Camerata as a Core Musician! It feels like a natural progression for me after being an Upbeat and playing with Camerata for the last couple of years. I really love the people, the variety of music-making and Camerata’s ethos, so I’m feeling very at home coming into 2026 as a Core Musician.

The reason Claire chose music as a career, and Violin as an instrument.

The first time I heard the violin was at a demonstration of all the string instruments ahead of my primary school’s year 3 string program – I absolutely fell in love the minute I heard it. I was already learning piano at the time, and I went home that day and begged my parents to let me learn violin as well! Luckily for me, and with a lot of thanks to Queensland’s school music programs, they obliged. I often think back to this moment and how I’d love to know who the violinist at this demonstration was; without knowing it, they really did change the course of my life.

Maybe this is a bit whimsical, but I don’t think I ever consciously chose a music career; perhaps it chose me. Music has always been a big part of my life and the way I connect with myself and others, and it’s something I wouldn’t be able to put down even if I tried. I guess it’s something that I just kept doing, and I’m still surprised every day that I get to make beautiful sounds professionally!

Claire’s favourite music pieces.

There are so many! My favourite violin pieces are definitely Amy Beach’s Romance and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1 – they both make me cry every time! Some of my most special musical memories are of Caroline Shaw’s string quartets and Terry Riley’s In C, which will both forever be connected to my time at Bang On a Can Summer Festival in the US. Closer to home, I was lucky enough to perform Australian composer Anne Cawrse’s A Room of Her Own last year, and I think this is a piece everybody needs to hear once. Outside of instrumental music, if you see me with my headphones on, I’m probably listening to Mitski, ML Buch or Chappell Roan (in fact, HOT TO GO! was my hype up song as I was preparing for my Core Musician audition!)

Claire’s experience of joining Camerata and her thoughts on unconducted orchestra.

I first joined Camerata in 2024, like many others before me, as part of the Upbeat program. Classical music spaces can at times be quite intimidating and high-pressure, even if you’ve been in them for a long time, and I remember very quickly feeling at ease and supported by everybody here. Being in a supportive environment as a young professional musician is really important, and I think this culture in particular is why I wanted to keep working with Camerata. I love that Camerata is unconducted as well; removing the hierarchy of a conductor is both a highly challenging and highly rewarding task. As a player, I love that it gives me more autonomy over my playing and how I can contribute to both Camerata’s music-making and its culture. It also means that we can focus on what we all love – playing chamber music!

Claire’s most memorable concerts at Camerata last year.

Ah, there are so many! It was lovely to accompany Brendan playing Schumann’s cello concerto (on the violin no less), work alongside Paul Grabowsky and play the wonderful Ravel String Quartet with everybody. One of my biggest highlights was playing in Australasian Dance Collective, Iain Grandage and Camerata’s collaborative work, When Time Stops, for its reprisal at ADC’s 40th anniversary triple bill. In this show, we performed on stage with the dancers, playing from memory, and it was such a unique and cool experience. I also played for Reuben Kaye’s Engorged cabaret/comedy show, and while I definitely can’t repeat any of the jokes here, I can say it was the most I’ve ever laughed while performing in a show.