Richard Rourke (clarinet)
Diane Berger (flute)
Sumiko Yamamura (pianoforte)
Umbra (2014) for clarinet and piano - Alan Holley
Sonata (1942) for clarinet and piano - Leonard Bernstein
An Ear to Hear (2011) for flute and electroacoustic soundscape - Robert Burrell
Where The Rivers Meet (2023) for clarinet and piano - Johanna Selleck
Techno Parade (2010) for flute, clarinet and piano - Guillame Connesson
Richard Rourke graduated with merit from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1988 having studied clarinet with Gabor Reeves and John St George. He spent two years freelancing in London, studying under Margaret Archibald and John McCaw. Since 1992 he has been a permanent member of the Opera Australia Orchestra, performing at the Sydney Opera House with Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet. He has worked under many international conductors such as Richard Bonynge, Simone Young and Richard Hickox, and with singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and Bryn Terfel.
Richard has recorded and performed widely as a soloist and chamber musician, and is a member of the contemporary ensemble The Gallery Players under the directorship of Sydney composer Alan Holley, with whom he has had a close association for twenty years. He has also worked with the Sydney Symphony and the Australia Ensemble. In 2010 he played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on their trans-Atlantic tour, performing at Tanglewood Festival in the US and major European summer festivals. In October 2014 Richard received grants from the George and Nerissa Johnson Memorial Scholarship Bequest and the PPCA Performers' Trust Foundation in order to undertake professional development in New York with past and present clarinettists of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Richard is an artist of Yamaha Music Australia.
Diane Berger has held the position of Principal Piccolo/Flute with the Opera Australia Orchestra since 1990. Before this time, Diane studied under Rosamund Plummer at the NSW Conservatorium gaining her Bachelor of Music (with Merit) and at Indiana University with Peter Lloyd and Kate Lukas attaining her Graduate Diploma of Performance (with Distinction). This was achieved with the support of a Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship, and grants from the Music Students' Overseas Study Foundation and the Sydney Conservatorium Association.
Private teaching is also a great passion as well as performing in chamber music recitals.
Sumiko Yamamura is a freelance accompanist born in Japan. She completed her Bachelor of Music in performance with Elizabeth Powell, and a Graduate Diploma in piano accompaniment with David Miller at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is an active ensemble pianist working with instrumentalists and singers including recitals with Berlin Philharmonic Principal Trombone Jonathon Ramsay, former SSO Principal Bassoon John Cran (with ABC-FM), Orana Trio (ABC-FM), Kammer Trio, Sirius Ensemble and many others. Sumiko has been involved in the premiere performances of many works by Australian and European composers, often in conjunction with the clarinetist Richard Rourke.
These composers include Enis Mullaj, Eriona Rushiti, Johanna Selleck, Andrián Pertout, Paul Moulatlet and Alan Holley and many more.