Masterclasses with Alison Mitchell and Peter Luff, Ensemble Q | Perth

ALISON MITCHELL, flute 

Hailing from Melbourne, Alison Mitchell is delighted to have returned to Australia as the recently appointed Section Principal Flute with Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Alison leads a vibrant career throughout Australia and Europe as orchestral musician, chamber player, soloist and teacher. She studied in Basel with renowned Swiss flautist Peter-Lukas Graf before moving to the UK where she was appointed to the position of Principal Flute with the Orchestra of Scottish Oper, with whom she performed for five years before embarking on a freelance career dedicated to solo and chamber music performances. From there an opportunity arose for her to return to Australia to take up the position of Associate Principal Flute of Sydney Symphony Orchestra. During this period, she also performed regularly as Guest Principal with orchestras around Australia.

Alison returned to Scotland in 2003 to join the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as Principal Flute. She performed and recorded regularly with SCO chamber ensembles and as a concerto soloist. She has performed all the major flute concertos including concertos by Mozart, Bach, CPE Bach, Nielsen, Ibert, Poulenc, Osborne, Boulez, Cimarosa and Honegger and her recording of Mozart’s Flute Concerto with the SCO (Linn) received glowing reviews. Mitchell also premiered a wonderful new flute concerto written especially for her and the SCO by the Australian composer, Gordon Kerry.

Whilst living abroad, Alison was continually sought after to perform in Australia. In 2017, she was invited to perform the Australian premiere of the Kerry concerto with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. She is honoured to be a founder member of the Australian World Orchestra having performed with them under Zubin Mehta and Sir Simon Rattle and she has also recorded and performed regularly with the, highly regarded, Australian Chamber Orchestra both internationally and throughout Australia. The ACO recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.5 and the Triple Concerto for flute, violin and piano where Alison joined Angela Hewitt and Richard Tognetti was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

Alison is very involved in Queensland Symphony Orchestra's education programme and is sought-after to give masterclasses and specialist woodwind coaching. Until her return to Australia she was Lecturer in Flute at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

PETER LUFF, horn 

Associate Professor Peter Luff is an Associate Professor at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU). Formerly Associate Principal horn with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, he is co-Artistic Director of the Tyalgum Festival and holds the position of Vice President of the International Horn Society.

In 1987, after completing his Bachelor of Music in Performance at Adelaide University’s Elder Conservatorium, Peter moved to Brisbane to join the Horn section of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He has since completed a Master of Music degree in conducting at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

As a professional horn player he has performed with many Orchestras and ensembles, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Australian World Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Queensland Wind Soloists. He was also a founding member and solo horn of the internationally acclaimed chamber ensemble the Southern Cross Soloists who have performed in America, Canada, Japan, China, Korea and New Zealand. He has broadcast and recorded extensively with ABC classic FM and 4MBS FM.

Peter has conducted many ensembles and orchestras, including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s Brass Ensemble, Bangalow Festival Orchestra, Macgregor Summer School Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra and Brass Ensemble.
Peter is in great demand as a Horn teacher. Many of his Horn graduates have secured permanent playing positions in national and international professional symphony orchestras.

He has tutored for the Australian Youth Orchestra, Queensland Youth Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music, University of Arkansas (USA), Korean National University and Shandong University (China). In 2010 Peter was the host of the 42nd International Horn Symposium, held for the first time in Australia. It was at this Symposium that the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society (IHS) presented him with the prestigious “Punto Award” to recognise his major contribution at a national level to the art of horn playing.
Peter currently lectures in Horn and brass studies at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and continues to pursue a busy career performing, teaching and conducting.