Our People

Musical Director

Our Musical Director is Matthew Ives!

Matthew hails from a Tasmanian family of musicians rich in talent and tales from years of involvement in jazz scenes and music teaching. Matthew has a background in a cappella singing. He was the founding member of and musical director for the highly successful a cappella choir, 'Big on Bass', as well as the founding member of the jazz quartet 'Breathless'.

Matthew is an honours graduate of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music, and these days is highly sought after for his drumming prowess, regularly supporting performers around Hobart and Tasmania, including Billy Whitton and the Hepcats, the Moonlight Aviators, the Hobart Jazz Club, Di Richards and Friends, Allison Farrow and Friends, Nadira and Friends, Jazz for Cows, and his own big band! Not to forget the next generation of performers, Matthew teaches at St Virgil's College and MacKillop Catholic College, along with directing Guilford College's annual musical production.

The choir first met Matthew when he guest conducted in 2015. He then supported the choir as part of the jazz ensemble at the Rosny Barn for the Swing, Stage and Show concert. It would seem that we couldn't keep him away, as he joined us on stage for our second Rosny Barn concert in May 2016 to sing and was then guest conductor a few times. He took up the baton in October 2016 when he became our musical director.

Matthew has provided some wonderful original arrangements for us and has introduced us to singing occasionally accompanied by a small combo which adds another dimension to our performances. Matthew encourages a diverse range of genres and we now sing everything from madrigals to pop.

Matthew was recently honoured at The Errol Awards, sharing the award for best Musical Direction with Tamika Crosbie for Chicago.

Accompanist

Amanda Lee

Amanda is an aspiring concert pianist and accompanist currently based in the Hobart region. Four years after leaving her hometown in Malaysia to pursue music overseas, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music with Honours from UTAS in August 2016, studying Classical Piano Performance under award-winning pianist Shan Deng. As a passionate performer, she has been performing with numerous chamber ensembles and has also performed in the orchestras for several local theatre productions. Amanda also enjoys teaching and inspiring the next generation in music. She currently teaches at the International Academy of Music, Hobart and The Hutchins School. On top of all, Amanda is also involved in the local Festival of Voices as a choral program assistant.

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