Ian Munro has emerged over recent years as one of Australia's most distinguished and awarded musicians, with a career that has taken him to thirty countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia. His award in 2003 of Premier Grand Prix at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition for composers (Belgium) is a unique achievement for an Australian and follows on from multiple prizes in international piano competitions in Spain (Maria Canals), Italy (Busoni), Portugal (Vianna da Motta) and the UK, where his second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1987 established his international profile.

Ian Munro completed his early training in Melbourne under the guidance of Marta Rostas and Roy Shepherd, and furthered his studies in Vienna, London and Italy. In the UK alone he has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and broadcast widely for the BBC. Elsewhere, he has performed with orchestras in Poland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, the USA, China, New Zealand and all the major orchestras in Australia in over sixty piano concerti.


In chamber music he has joined artists such as Ruggiero Ricci, Erich Gruenberg, Oleh Krysa, Krszysztof Smietana, Leslie Howard, Karina Georgian, Jane Manning, Gerald English, Yvonne Kenny and the Medici and Belcea String Quartets, as well as the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Ian joined the acclaimed Australia Ensemble in Sydney in 2000.

After having headed the piano department at the Tasmanian Conservatorium for five years between 1995 and 1999, at present he is a member of staff at UNSW and at the Australian Institute of Music.

Paul Stanhope (b. 1969) is recognised as a leading composer of his generation not only in Australia but also internationally, with performances of his works in the UK, Europe, Japan, and the United States. In May 2004 this reputation was confirmed when he was awarded first place in the prestigious Toru Takemitsu Composition Prize. Further international exposure ensued when his music featured in the Boy on the Bay segment of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games opening ceremony held in March 2006, and broadcast to a worldwide audience of over a billion people.

Stanhope studied with Andrew Schultz and Peter Sculthorpe in Australia before being awarded the Charles Mackerras Scholarship which enabled him to study for a time at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Paul writes: My music presents the listener with an optimistic, personal geography . . . whether this is a reaction to the elemental aspects of the universe (both the celestial and terrestrial) or the throbbing energy of the inner-city (24 Hours, May 1998).

In addition to the Takemitsu prize-winning work Fantasia on a Theme by Vaughan Williams which was included in the Sydney Symphony's Masters Series in 2005, Stanhope's other recent works include his Piano Trio Dolcissimo Uscignolo (2007) premiered by the Kungsbacka Trio, Cloudforms (2007) written for the Tasmanian Symphony, and Machinations commissioned and premiered by the Melbourne Symphony in 2006. His works have recently been performed internationally by such groups as the Malaysian Symphony Chamber Players, the Koehne String Quartet and the Chicago-based new music ensemble, Eighth Blackbird.