I was naturally immersed in music from a young age thanks to the influence of my pianist mother, who gave me piano lessons from when I was four. As a young child, every week at church I would sit by my mother’s side as she accompanied the church choir and I remember my attention being particularly drawn to the orchestra and their wide range of different instruments. In the year I turned five my mother suggested that I take up the cello, which I happily agreed to. That is how the somewhat coincidental but destined love for my instrument began and took me this far along the journey as a cellist.
In 2005, my family and I moved to Brisbane, Australia where I met Mrs Mei-Lee Stocker at the Young Queensland Conservatorium. Under her tutelage I performed and was awarded at state and interstate stages such as the Australian Concerto Competition. As I had always known that I wanted to study music at a conservatoire, towards the end of my grade 11 at Redeemer Lutheran College, I made a major decision to skip my final year of high school and advance into the Queensland Conservatorium. For three years I thoroughly enjoyed my studies with Markus Stocker, David Lale and Meta Weiss, but I began to feel the urge to put myself out into a bigger world. Therefore I was thrilled when I was offered a place with scholarship to commence Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of Music with Professor Jo Cole, which I graduated from with distinction and dipRAM in 2018.
The first two years of my life in London was one of the most inspiring and exciting milestones in my life as studied and performed with world-renowned teachers and conductors at venues such as the Wigmore Hall. Therefore I extended my initial plan of two years and decided to stay on for a further year at the Academy and complete the Professional Diploma, focusing on orchestral studies and audition preparations. Furthermore this September I decided to allow myself one last year of studies and commenced the Artist Diploma to further advance my musicality with Professor Alexander Chaushian.
Royal College of Music
London, UK
Royal Academy of Music
London, UK
Queensland Conservatorium
Brisbane, Australia
What is your favourite piece of music and why do you love it?
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 3rd movement. It somehow always reminds me of a scene in a black-and-white movie and makes me nostalgic, almost bringing tears to my eyes.
Where’s your favourite place to listen to music and why?
In my room where the lights are slightly dimmed and I am at my most relaxed with a pair of nice headphones on.
What do you do with your time when you’re not playing music?
I would usually put on a Disney movie, or one of the Harry Potter series.
Kelly is a member of the 2020-2021 fellowship.