Amalia is one of Aotearoa's finest violinists and is kept incredibly busy performing with NZTrio and leading orchestras all around the world. She's joining us for the weekend fresh off performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto with the NZSO, so we're incredibly lucky and excited that she's able to share her expertise with our young musicians.

One of Aotearoa's most versatile violinists, Arna Morton is a deeply passionate performer, music educator, and composer, comfortable on practically any stage as a soloist, chamber & orchestral musician, improviser, and commercial event entertainer. Following the completion of both Bachelor and Master of Musical Arts degrees at the New Zealand School of Music, Arna completed her PhD in Violin Performance at the University of Melbourne before winning the position of Principal 2nd Violin with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2021. Arna is also a founding member of Morton Trio alongside her horn-playing husband Alex Morton and NZ pianist Liam Wooding. In August last year, the trio released their self-titled debut album featuring Arna's latest composition, 'Summer' for violin, horn, and piano alongside two works by Brahms: his original Eb Major Horn Trio op. 40 and Arna's transcription of the B Major Piano Trio op. 8. Arna currently performs on a 1900 Joseph Hel violin, generously on loan from the CSO Foundation, and while she works predominantly in the classical music industry, she also feels equally at home in commercial settings, performing at weddings, corporate events, and cabaret stage shows.

Cellist Callum Hall embraces a diverse range of music, with his performances bridging the worlds of classical and contemporary, chamber music and symphonic repertoire, as well as inspiring young musicians as a sought after pedagogue. Callum has played as Guest Principal Cello with major orchestras in New Zealand including Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra and Opus Chamber Orchestra, alongside being a frequent performer with the Auckland Philharmonia. A passionate chamber musician, Callum has recorded for Atoll Records, toured with the International Chamber Soloists and toured nationwide for Chamber Music New Zealand. He has also performed as a guest cellist with the Jade String Quartet, and his performances have been broadcast on Radio New Zealand Concert. Festival appearances include the Upsurge Festival, the Asian Composers League Festival, the Auckland String Quartet Summer School, and the Waiheke Chamber Music Festival. Upcoming engagements in 2025 include performing as a guest cellist with leading New Zealand chamber groups NZTrio and the New Zealand String Quartet, in Aotearoa and Australia. Callum received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from Michigan State University, where he was a teaching assistant to Suren Bagratuni. Prior to his studies in the USA he completed his Masters degree at the University of Waikato, studying with James Tennant. Callum has a vibrant teaching studio and is deeply committed to building the next generation of musicians, especially as a tutor at festivals such as the Auckland String Quartet Summer School and Rimufest.

Anna grew up in Paeroa and pursued violin studies in Wellington and Detmold, Germany. She is now a first violinist for New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. As a student, Anna was the Wellington Youth Orchestra Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. After five years in Germany, she returned to New Zealand and co-founded the Tasman String Quartet. The quartet ventured to Boulder, Colorado, for two years to study under the renowned Takacs Quartet. Along the way, they picked up prizes in chamber music competitions in Florida, Missouri and Melbourne and performed on tours for Chamber Music New Zealand. They also participated in numerous festivals and masterclasses from Banff to Hamburg. Throughout her travels, Anna has worked with musicians such as Eberhard Feltz, Sylvia Rosenberg, Andras Schiff, Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Nobuko Imai, and members of the New Zealand, Pacifica, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, Emerson, Michelangelo, Juilliard, Schoenberg, and Cleveland String Quartets. Before joining the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Anna played with the North German Radio Orchestra and the Århus Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. She has been awarded several prizes and scholarships, including a DAAD scholarship from the German Government and performed concertos by Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Sibelius, Bach and Mozart. Alongside her work with the NZSO, Anna collaborates with her husband, violist Christiaan van der Zee, to run Karori Classics - a series of monthly chamber music concerts supporting local charities within their community.

New Zealand-born cellist Matthias Balzat (1999) has gained recognition as an international soloist and chamber musician. He has won prestigious competitions, including the Accordi Musicali International Cello Competition, 69th ROSL Annual Music Competition, Sieghardt-Rometsch Concerto Competition, and New Zealand National Concerto Competition (2014, 2017), among many others. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the NZSO, CSO, Sinfonietta Köln, and Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and collaborated with many conductors including Guy Noble, Benjamin Northey, Hamish McKeich and Rüdiger Bohn. Balzat has appeared at major festivals like Aspen Music Festival, Classiche Forme, and Edinburgh Fringe. He has worked with renowned musicians, including Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, and Wolfgang Schmidt. He has recently completed the prestigious Konzertexamen at Robert Schumann Hochschule under Pieter Wispelwey, where he also holds a Master’s degree. He completed his Bachelor degree with Honours at Waikato University, which he began at the age of 14 under James Tennant.

Andrew is Section Principal Cello for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Before joining the NZSO in September 2010, Andrew spent five years freelancing in London. Andrew regularly worked with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras, touring and performing in some of the world's most renowned concert halls. He also played as Guest Principal with Northern Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A dedicated chamber musician, Andrew co-founded the Puertas Quartet. They have performed in the UK and New Zealand to great acclaim and released two CDs on Atoll Records. He also performs regularly in a trio alongside pianist Diedre Irons and NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppanen. Born in Norwich, England, Andrew began his musical studies in London at the Purcell School of Music, under the guidance of Amanda Truelove and Michal Kaznowski. He furthered his education at the Royal College of Music with Alexander Boyarsky and the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Troels Svane, thanks to a coveted DAAD Scholarship. He has performed in masterclasses with the late Bernard Greenhouse, Alexander Baillie, David Geringas, Alexander Rudin, Natalia Gutman, Karine Georgian, Leonid Gorokhov, the Takacs Quartet and the Kopelman Quartet. Violinist and Artistic Director of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Gordan Nikolitch, has played a vital role in his artistic development and continues to be a source of inspiration. Andrew plays a beautiful old English cello by Thomas Dodd, circa 1800, generously loaned by Old and New Strings Ltd.

Robert Ibell was born in Dannevirke and brought up in Palmerston North. While training there as a school teacher he learned cello from Judith Hyatt in Wellington. Between 1986 and 1992 Robert lived in London, studying cello with Tanya Prochazka, Derek Simpson and Christopher Bunting. He played at music schools and in masterclasses (where his teachers included Alexander Baillie, Steve Doane, Anner Bylsma and Steven Isserlis), taught, gave recitals and played in professional and amateur orchestras. From 1993 to 2019 Robert was a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He is now a cello and double bass teacher, chamber music coach, adjudicator and freelance performer. Robert is a member of the Aroha String Quartet, the Thomson/Ibell piano/cello duo, the Papaioea Piano Trio, flute/cello/harp trio Aurum, square piano/cello duo Hammers & Horsehair, and indie/folk/rock band Milkthistle.

Monique Lapins was the former Second violinist of the New Zealand String Quartet and Lecturer at New Zealand School of Music - Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington. She is a member of the Ghost Piano Trio who will tour with CMNZ this year, and performs regularly with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra Wellington. She has been a finalist twice in the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition and has performed in festivals throughout France, the Czech Republic, Holland, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and at the Open Chamber Music Seminars in Prussia Cove directed by world-renowned cellist, Steven Isserlis. Monique has toured extensively in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Monique has performed with artists including Seiji Ozawa (conductor) in Japan, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor) in France, Jerusalem String Quartet in New Zealand (Adam Chamber Music Festival - ACMF), Dénes Várjon (pianist) in New Zealand (ACMF) and as a soloist with French violinist, Oliver Charlier in Japan. Monique Lapins is a recording artist with Naxos and Rattle Labels. In 2022, she celebrated with pianist Jian Liu, the release of Béla Bartók’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano for Rattle Records. In 2024, her recording as a member of the New Zealand String Quartet won Best Classical Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards for the album Notes From a Journey II with Atoll Records. Monique performs on a 1883 Gand violin kindly on loan from the Rin Collection in Singapore

Originally from Wellington, Malavika completed her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Auckland with Mary O’Brien. In 2005, Malavika was awarded the prestigious Patricia Pratt Scholarship, which enabled her to study at the New England Conservatory in Boston with renowned instructors Miriam Fried and Masuko Ushioda. During her studies, she was loaned a beautiful French Vuillaume violin for a year. She was a founding member of the Excelsa Quartet, and they were invited to Europe to study with the world-renowned Alban Berg Quartet. In 2012, after several successes with the quartet in competitions throughout Europe, Malavika left the group and joined the famed Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, Germany. As a result of her numerous national and international competition successes, Malavika has appeared as a soloist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, University Orchestra, Wellington Youth Orchestra, and New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra. She has also participated in various festivals, such as Sangat, Prussia Cove, and Schleswig Holstein, and has had the great privilege of collaborating with some of the world's leading conductors, soloists, and teachers. She now holds the position of First Violin with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Winner of the TVNZ Young Musicians Competition and the National Concerto Competition of New Zealand, James has performed as soloist with almost all of New Zealands leading orchestras. During his time in living in Berlin he performed regularly with many of Europe’s leading baroque orchestras including Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln and as principal cello of Al Ayre Español. James has also collaborated over many years with renowned dance company Sasha Waltz and Guests, performing from the Bach cello suites in 50 performances worldwide of the work Gezeiten. He has performed on recordings that have been released by SONY, Harmonia Mundi, Winter & Winter and Challenge Classics. Since returning to New Zealand, James has performed on numerous occasions with the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, the Australian Haydn Ensemble and regularly as a guest with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Māori/ Japanese violinist, Mana Waiariki (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) completed her Bachelor of Music at Te Kōki New Zealand School of Music with Helene Pohl at the end of 2023. Mana was generously supported by the Deane Endowment Trust throughout her undergraduate studies and they will continue to support her as she pursues her postgraduate studies specialising in Chamber Music with Peter Clark in 2025. She has also been awarded the Wellington Totoweka Scholarship (2021), Barbara Finlayson Scholarship (2021), and the VUW Ensemble Music Performance Award (2023). In 2024, Mana worked as a freelance musician as well as working full time at the NZSQ Trust office as a Toi Māori Aotearoa, Māori Arts Intern. She was involved in delivering national and international tours of the NZSQ and organising a new concert series called The Racket Lounge. She was on trial for a core first violin position with Orchestra Wellington and was a guest soloist and concertmaster for the Marlborough Civic Orchestra. Over the years, Mana has played with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, Hawke's Bay Orchestra, Nelson Symphony Orchestra, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. A versatile chamber musician, Mana has played in performing art festivals across Aotearoa such as the Adam Summer School, Fringe Festival, Classical on Cuba, and Cuba Dupa. In 2021, Mana and fellow AQ musician, Tal Amoore, self presented concerts in Auckland and Wellington with Steinway Artist, Jason Bae, and the Eden Quartet. Mana has also had the opportunity to play with the New Zealand String Quartet in 2025. Mana teaches violin at Arohanui Strings, a Sistema- inspired music programme that provides free music lessons to children. She has also done many community engagement concerts across Aotearoa through the Martinborough Music Festival and the NZSO. In 2023, Mana was chosen to collaborate with Wellington based composer, Michael Norris, to play on a fixed electric backing track for his piece 'Waipounamu' which was commissioned by the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Mana has received masterclasses from internationally acclaimed musicians including: Hilary Hahn, Sergey Malov, Benjamin Baker, Sophie Rowell, Wilma Smith, and Vesa-Matti Leppänen. Mana plays a violin on loan to her through the Hill Family Foundation’s Instrument Bank by Karla Mitchell.