QPC 2023 ADJUDICATORS
Introducing our esteemed adjudicators, bringing their expertise and wealth of knowledge to our
30th Queensland Piano Competition
Antoni Bonetti
Sections: Concerto
M.Mus (UQ), D.S.C.M. (Sydney Con), ARCM (Lond), AMusA Antoni Bonetti AM is the founding conductor of Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and Noosa Orchestra. He also lectured at both the University of Queensland-School of Music (2004-2014) where he completed a Master of Music degree, and the Queensland Conservatorium of Music (1982-1992). He is Senior String teacher at both St Aidans Anglican Girls School, Brisbane and Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Noosaville. Antoni has composed and arranged many works for String ensemble and Orchestra.
Antoni has adjudicated Eisteddfodau in New Zealand (PACANZ), Rockhampton, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Longreach, Charleville, Armidale, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Cairns, Gladstone, Dalby, Bundaberg, Lismore and South-East Queensland (Redlands and Aria & Concerto Competition). He has also performed, conducted, and given masterclasses across Australia, USA, Europe and New Zealand.
Antoni completed his secondary schooling at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School, studied violin with Robert Pikler and on completion of his degree spent 7 years playing and teaching in Europe.
In 1981, Antoni accepted the position of concertmaster of the Queensland Theatre Orchestra. He and his clarinettist wife, Ruth, form the nucleus of Quartetto Bonetti.
During twenty-four years at St Peters Lutheran College as Head of Orchestral Studies, Antoni built the programme to encompass many diverse ensembles. The Youth Orchestra of St Peters made six national tours, two New Zealand tours and a European tour in 1995.
Antoni has commissioned and written a number of compositions and arrangements for school and community orchestras, and has released a number of CDs with his various orchestras. Antoni speaks German, Swedish, French and some Italian, and his other interests include cycling, golfing, selling Paesold Bows and wine tasting, not necessarily in that order. He has held Memberships of various organizations including The Conductor’s Guild(USA), The Orchestras Of Australia Network and the Australian String Teacher’s Association (AUSTA).
He teaches violin and viola, coaches chamber groups and directs music camps.
Dr Roger Cui
Sections: 15-16, 17-18 years, Diploma and Concerto
An international concert artist, piano lecturer, juror, researcher, Yamaha Music European Artist, and Kayserburg Global Artist, Dr. Roger Cui’s artistry was described by BNN in Germany as “a pianist with not only impressive virtuosity, but poeticism in depth”.
2nd prize winner of the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition at the age of 18, Roger has been awarded major prizes from piano competitions both in Australia and overseas. Most notably, the Cleveland International Piano Competition (U.S.A.), Kerikeri International Piano Competition (NZ), and the much-celebrated J.S. Bach International Music Competition (Berlin, Germany).
Educated in China, Australia, and Germany, Roger holds a Master of Music from the University of Music Karlsruhe in Germany (HfM Karlsruhe) where he achieved the highest score in the history of the institute. In 2022, Roger was awarded a doctorate in piano performance from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
A keen chamber musician and accompanist, Roger has professionally collaborated with the Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Gießen and Opernloft. Collaborations with distinguished artists include Markus Stocker (Cellist, Switzerland), Alan Smith (Violinst, Australia), Shawn Mlynek (Countertenor, U.S.A.), Jeffrey Black (Baritone, U.K.), and Daragó Zoltan (Countertenor, Hungary). In Australia, Roger has performed as featured soloist with Queensland Ballet, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, The Southern Cross Soloists, the Trivium Ensemble, and The Camerata.
Dr. Mark Griffiths
PhD (QCGU), BMus(Hons), GradDipMus, LMusA
Sections: Novice and Intermediate
Dr. Mark Griffiths has established a distinguished portfolio career in teaching, examining, adjudication and music research. He is a graduate of Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, where he has been a tertiary and pre-tertiary lecturer for twenty-five years. His professional activities are informed by ongoing reflective practice with cohorts from early childhood to postgraduate level. His current focus areas are one-to-one piano pedagogy and group teaching. Mark’s doctoral research, completed in 2017, investigated pedagogical strategies used to foster expressive performance skills within pre-tertiary pianists. Dr. Griffiths has led piano masterclasses in Queensland and Victoria and enjoys sharing his ideas and experiences with students and their teachers, speaking at pedagogy symposia, and adjudicating competitions and eisteddfodau across Australia
Jenni Flemming
Sections: Duets, 15-16, 17-18 years
Performer, teacher, adjudicator and Federal AMEB Examiner, Jenni Flemming has taught piano and pedagogy at the Queensland Conservatorium for over 20 years, performing regularly in the Keyboard concert series. As Artist in Residence at the University of Queensland, Jenni was pianist with Perihelion, playing and broadcasting a subscription series and recording several CD’s of contemporary music. Her teachers include well-known Australian pedagogues Max Olding and Pamela Page, and Hungarian-born Bela Siki. Jenni has performed as soloist with the Queensland, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, Queensland University Symphony Orchestra, Hobart Chamber Orchestra and the Barrier Reef Orchestra. She has given concerts in Scandinavia, South East Asia, USA and the United Kingdom.
Her passion for collaborative music-making has been a major focus of her career, performing with husband-cellist, Gwyn Roberts, piano duo partner Brachi Tilles, the Queensland Piano Trio, The Mayne Piano Quartet, and Ensemble I.
Founding Artistic Director of the Australian Piano Duo Festival, Jenni’s passion is to promote the cross-generational and collaborative performance experience of the piano Duo and Duet genre. Other passions include Improvisation and Art, recently publishing her child-hood compositions along with accompanying paintings. Together with husband Gwyn, they have recently established a Chamber Music and Jazz festival in Cygnet, Tasmania. Jenni has recently begun singing and performing at the Brisbane Jazz Club.
Gareth Jones
Sections: 11, 12, 13 years
After growing up in Dubbo, Gareth Jones completed both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music Studies at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. During this time, he studied piano with Stephen Savage and Dianne Selmon, and was awarded his AMEB Associate Diploma in Piano (AMusA) with distinction, and his Licentiate Diploma (LMusA).
After completing his tertiary studies in 2003, Gareth continued to pursue his passion for performing, composing and teaching. He has been a finalist in the Queensland Piano Competition and recorded four albums of piano music, including one original album. More recently, Gareth has been a regular adjudicator for the Sunshine Coast Junior Eisteddfod and adjudicated the Sommerville House Piano Eisteddfod in 2022.
Gareth is an avid music educator and enjoys motivating students to achieve mastery and enjoyment in their own piano studies. Gareth is currently teaching piano and composition at Sheldon College where he appreciates the opportunity to foster the love of music in beginner students, while also mentoring advanced performers and composers. Gareth continues to pursue his own creative and learning projects, and is working on his second original album while also enjoying the challenges of amateur cello playing.
Gillian Smith
AMusA, BMus (hons), Studio Music Teaching (QUT), Dip Ed (UQ).
Sections: 7 and under, 8, 10 years
Gillian Smith is a registered professional educator with over 30 years’ experience teaching instrumental music (pianoforte, clarinet and saxophone), classroom Music and English. Over this period, she has worked with a vast array of instrumental students, directed wind ensembles, concert bands, accompanied choral ensembles and regularly adjudicates eisteddfods, keyboard, wind and concerto competitions. Performing regularly as a soloist and accompanist, since the age of 8, she studied with Joyce Skelton before she completed a Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the University of Queensland studying with Pamela Page. She then went on to complete both a Diploma of Education (UQ) and Studio Music Teaching qualification (QUT) with the late Max Olding. She has taught at a number of private schools in Brisbane including St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, All Hallows’ School and St John’s Anglican College. For the past 12 years she has worked as an instrumental teacher at St Peter’s Lutheran College (Indooroopilly) where she specializes in ensuring young musicians receive the best possible start to their music journey, focusing on building correct technique, helping establish home practice routines and building a lifelong love of music. Gillian has also dedicated herself to equipping her students with practical tools to assist them in their practice and performance routines in order to optimize their recital opportunities and outcomes. Her passions include assisting students to overcome aspects of performance anxiety so that they achieve a performance standard that reflects their true abilities.
Catherine Guinevere Broadstock
Section: Diploma
Catherine Guinevere Broadstock is an ‘exciting and passionate’ pianist who has been in demand for some twenty years for her ability to perform and accompany with accuracy and insightful musicianship. She regularly performs for Opera Queensland, The Queensland Choir, Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chamber Concerts and for 4MBS Festival of Classics. She holds degrees from the University of Southern Queensland and the Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University) and has studied piano with Kevin Power, Wendy Lorenz, Natasha Vlassenko, Oleg Stepanov and masterclasses with Cedric Tiberghien and Roger Woodward.
She was a first prize winner of the Queensland Piano Competition and the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University’s Margaret Nickson Prize.
In 2005 Catherine was pianist with the Australian Youth Orchestra on their state tour and in 2006 was pianist with the Sydney Youth Orchestra on their tour of Spain and Portugal.
In March 2007, Catherine and fellow pianist, Adam Gordon Herd, made their debut with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra performing Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos. Catherine has also performed as a soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and in such halls as the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and the Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Centre in New York City. She has also toured Australia and New Zealand as a soloist and chamber pianist.
In 2012 she released a CD of Haydn Sonatas and has recorded the piano music of Australian composer, Graeme Wright Denniss for upcoming CD release.
Mimia Margiotta
Dip Pianoforte, M.Phil Musicology, Hon. Degree Musicology
Sections: 9, 14 years
Mimia has a very busy teaching schedule both at her private studio and at the Young Conservatorium, Griffith University. She received her Diploma di Pianoforte with full marks from the Music Conservatoire “Gesualdo da Venosa” in Potenza, Italy. While living in Europe she took part in several piano festivals, as well as national and international musical competitions, as soloist, in piano duos and in chamber music ensembles.
Along to piano, Mimia researched Musicology in the field of modern and contemporary music and was awarded an honours degree with distinction (summa cum laude) in Musicology from the University of Bologna, Italy. She was recipient of the ERASMUS scholarship, which allowed her to spend nine months in the Music Department of Lancaster University, UK. She also received a European Community scholarship to study for a 2-year Master of Philosophy in Musicology at City University, London, where she specialized in the piano music of the Anglo-Indian composer K S Sorabji. Her research culminated in a dissertation and critical edition of Sorabji’s Transcendental Study No 99 for piano. During her M.Phil. she was awarded the Louise Dyer Award, Musica Britannica, which helped her with her postgraduate studies.
Before moving to Australia, Mimia became an accredited Associate Teacher of the Tobin Music System (UK), a method that teaches the rudiments of music, harmonization and composition to children.
Mimia also researched the field of pedagogy, specifically the parental support in the musical development of young children, and this led to the publication of an academic paper in the Australian Journal of Music Education (2011).
Teaching piano is Mimia’s passion and since moving to Brisbane she has prepared many students for competitions, gaining a deep insight into the world of competitive playing. Most of her students are regular prizewinners at local competitions, with some successfully competing at national and international level.
Mimia is an examiner for the AMEB.
Steve Newcomb
Sections: Popular Style or Jazz
Steve Newcomb is an Australian pianist and composer equally in demand for his unique touch on the piano, detailed writing, and comprehensive style of arranging that explores the realm shared by jazz and new music. He maintains an active solo career and shares the stage with a multitude of artists, performing in various styles and making “music in a knotty zone where Thelonious Monk meets classical music” (Sydney Morning Herald).
Steve has written for a wide array of musical artists, from Ben Folds, Augie March, and The Panics in the pop world, to the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras in the classical world. He leads his own ensemble, the Steve Newcomb Orchestra, a large chamber jazz project realising original works for strings, winds, harp and voice with jazz trio, which can be heard on the debut album “Caterpillar Chronicles” on the Listen/Hear! label.
As an arranger, Steve has worked with countless artists and organisations and is sought after for his exploratory and “lavish” style (Sydney Morning Herald). Steve frequently collaborates with Australian vocalist Katie Noonan as arranger and composer, including the ARIA award-winning album First Seed Ripening (2011), the acclaimed circus cabaret LOVE SONG CIRCUS (2012), Transmutant (2015) and With Love and Fury with the Brodsky Quartet (2016).
Based in Brisbane, Steve is Senior Lecturer and Head of Jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. Steve completed both his Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees at the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Kenny Barron and Jim McNeely.