Monica Curro
Photo by Belinda Strodder.
Violinist Monica Curro has been Assistant Principal 2nd Violin of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 1998, and was previously a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1987 and completed a Masters Degree at Michigan State University in 1991, studying with Walter Verdehr. She has played with Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, as Principal 2nd Violin with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and as Guest Concertmaster of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and The Auckland Chamber Orchestra.
Monica was a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Youth Orchestra for 9 years, and is now the Creative Director of their annual National Music Camp since 2025. She continues to regularly tutor for their orchestral and chamber music programs. She has taught violin at The University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts, and has coached chamber music and taught violin and viola at the Australian National Academy of Music and its Young Academy.
In 2009 Monica was honoured to be invited as the only Australian to play in the World Orchestra for Peace conducted by Valery Gergiev for concerts in Poland and Sweden. She joined them in 2010 for concerts in London and Salzburg, in Abu Dhabi for 2011, in New York and Chicago for 2012, in London for 2014, and in London and Künzelsau in 2018. Monica has also been a member of the Australian World Orchestra since 2013.
Monica gave the world premiere, as co-soloist with her sister Sarah, of Stefan Cassomenos' Double Violin Concerto for acoustic, semi-acoustic and electric violins. In October 2013, she appeared as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and appears regularly as part of MSO's Chamber Series. In 2016, Monica was the Director of the Smalley Chamber Orchestra at AYO’s National Music Camp. Also in that year, she was Artistic Director of MSO’s outreach program in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She is currently Creative Director of Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp, since 2025.
Monica is sought after as a public speaker, giving regular pre-concert talks and conversations for Melbourne Recital Centre, Musica Viva and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She has also been asked to give talks and keynote speeches about pathways to success for various tertiary institutions and educational organisations, including Deakin University, Monash University, Australian Youth Orchestra, and Musica Viva.
Monica is joint Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, with pianist and composer Stefan Cassomenos, since 2019. She is Curator of the Music at McClelland series at McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery since 2022, and was Artistic Director of Melbourne’s Women in Music Festival 2018-2020.
Monica is a founding member and co-Artistic Director of acclaimed ensemble PLEXUS, which since launching in 2014 has commissioned and premiered more than 110 new works.
Philip Arkinstall
Photo by Belinda Strodder.
Philip has been the Associate Principal Clarinet of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2009, and was principal with the Malaysian Philharmonic for 11 years before that. After completing his Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium under Peter Jenkin, he went on to win the ABC Young Performers Award in 1997 playing the Françaix Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and was the 2MBS radio performer of the year in 1996. Philip has appeared both as soloist and guest principal with all the major Australian symphony orchestras, and was a frequent soloist with the Malaysian Philharmonic during his tenure there in repertoire ranging from Mozart to Henze, Copland, Weber, Strauss, Bruch, Stamitz, Bernstein and Stravinsky amongst others. His playing has been reviewed as “mellifluous, engaging and assured”.
Philip's first love however is chamber music, and he has collaborated with some of the world’s finest musicians and ensembles in that realm. These include the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Goldner Quartet, Eggner Trio, Auer Quartet, Wilma and Friends, and Australia Ensemble, as well as many contemporary ensembles including Arcko, Alpha Ensemble, and Australysis. He is a founding member of the aptly named Melbourne Ensemble which has appeared at the Melbourne Recital Centre and at Woodend Winter Arts Festival. Since 2012 he has appeared regularly with and toured South America and Europe with the sensational Camerata Bern of Switzerland under the leadership of Antje Weithaas.
Philip is particularly proud to be a founding member of PLEXUS, a trio with violinist Monica Curro and pianist Stefan Cassomenos, which has commissioned and given world premieres across Australia of over 110 new works largely by Australian composers.
Philip has given masterclasses across Asia under the MPO umbrella and in South America for Camerata Bern, and teaches clarinet through Melbourne University. He has tutored at Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp, the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Melbourne Youth Orchestra, and has conducted various small ensembles at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur and across Malaysia.
Stefan Cassomenos
Photo by Belinda Strodder.
Internationally praised for his clarity, depth of expression, virtuosity and versatility, Melbourne-born Stefan Cassomenos is regarded as one of Australia’s leading concert pianists. His concerto repertoire now exceeds forty works, and has led to performances with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Opera Australia Orchestra, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist at Tonhalle Zurich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, and at concert halls across Germany, Netherlands, England, Italy, Malta, Greece, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.
In 2013, Cassomenos was a grand finalist and recipient of both the Second Grand Prize and the Chamber Music Prize at the International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition Bonn. He studied on full scholarship at Melbourne University and the Australian National Academy of Music, mentored by Stephen McIntyre, Margarita Krupina, Ian Munro, and Michael Kieran Harvey.
Cassomenos is a founding member of acclaimed ensemble PLEXUS, which since launching in 2014 has commissioned and premiered over 110 new works.
Cassomenos began composing at an early age, giving the premiere of his own Piano Concerto No 1 with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at age 16. He has composed for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, for German pianist Susanne Kessel, and for the Festival Neue Musik Rockenhausen.
Cassomenos is currently co-Artistic Director, together with violinist Monica Curro, of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival.
Cassomenos is generously supported by Kawai Australia.