BIANCA PORCHEDDU

Guest Concertmaster

 

Bianca Porcheddu began playing the violin at about the age of six. As a child, she recalls being mesmerised by a period instrument recording on a tape of Mozart symphonies. Her dream was to learn how to create that beautiful raw and transparent sound produced from gut strings she heard as a child from that recording.

 

Growing up in Wollongong and commuting every weekend to Sydney to study the violin, music theory and orchestral playing at the Sydney Conservatorium, Bianca then completed a first-class Honours degree in 1998, studying with Tor Frømhyr at the Canberra School of Music. She was presented with the Erica Haas Prize for the Leading ANU Instrumentalist. Soon after her studies in Canberra, Bianca travelled to Holland to complete a Masters at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Den Haag specialising in Historical Performance Practice in 2000-2002. She studied the Baroque violin with Ryo Terakado and Enrico Gatti. A Queens Trust Scholarship for Young Australians and a Nuffic Dutch Government scholarship were awarded to be able to undertake this postgraduate study.

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Whilst in Europe, Bianca held leading orchestral positions with some of the world’s most acclaimed period orchestras such as the New Dutch Academy Orchestra, European Union Baroque Orchestra, Academia Montis Regalis, Acadèemie Baroque Europèenne d’Ambronay, il Complesso Barocco, Les Perrugues d’Amsterdam and Collegium Musicum. Since 1999, Bianca has been a regular member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Her highlights with the ABO include being soloist on a national tour (2010), a European Tour, performing at the BBC Proms in London with Andreas Scholl (2000), and winning five Classical Aria Awards for the ABO’s discography collection. Bianca has shared the stage with internationally distinguished musicians including Philippe Jaroussky, Andrew Manze, Roy Goodman, Alfredo Bernardini, Dimitri Sinkovski, ensemble ‘Arpeggiata’, Marc Destrube, Hidemi Suzuki, Stefano Montanari and Elizabeth Wallfisch. Other recordings and performances with Australian baroque and modern ensembles include the Bach Akademie Australia, Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Salut! Baroque, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Sydney’s Ensemble Offspring. Established in 2015, Bianca has been Concert Master of Canberra’s Handel In The Theatre Orchestra under the Artistic Direction of Tobias Cole and Conductor Brett Weymark. In 2017, Bianca directed and coached a local group of Canberra musicians known as Musica da Camera in an Italian Baroque program.
In 2004, Bianca received the Italo-Australian Woman of the Year Award “for her dedication, commitment and excellence in the pursuit of a musical career that honours the Australian and the Italian Communities in Australia”. Other accolades received in Bianca’s earlier career as an emerging young musician include winning the Canberra School of Music Orchestral Competition and being awarded the St. George Youth Endeavor Award for the Performing Arts.

Whilst continuing a busy performing schedule, Bianca enjoys teaching fulltime in secondary schools teaching languages and Humanities. Her work and dedication as a teacher and advocate for music and foreign language studies in Australian schools have gained recognition by the A.C.T Board of Senior Studies, the Australian National University School of Literature and Linguistics, SBS Radio Italia and through journal publications such as Education Today...

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http://www.educationtoday.com.au/article/Positive-partnerships-1087

Bianca enjoys a balanced, rich and diverse life by volunteering her time as a registered Adult Scout-Scout Leader and enjoying the outdoors with her incredibly supportive husband and son.