Ensemble Trivium

Monika Koerner –  Flute

Anne Horton – Violin

Yoko Okayasu – Viola

Alison Smith O’Connell – Cello

Lucy Reeves – Harp

Monika Koerner – flute/Artistic director Ensemble Trivium
Critically acclaimed by The Age as ‘a player of insight, proficiency and personality’, Monika performs regularly as principal flute with Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra. Monika has also been guest artist with Ensemble Q, Southern Cross Soloists and QSO Chamber Players as well as guest principal and section flute with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Deeply passionate about chamber music Monika is founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble Trivium, a chamber music collective of Brisbane’s leading musicians. Monika was born in Salzburg/Austria and holds a MA from the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna having studied with Prof. Wolfgang Schulz (former principal flute, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and in masterclasses with Auréle Nicolet, Peter-Lukas Graf, Robert Dick and Emily Beynon. In Vienna she has performed with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra amongst others and in Australia with the Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, QSO, Australian Session Orchestra, The Metropolitan Orchestra and Southern Cross Symphony. She has toured all over Europe, Taiwan and nationally in Australia and has performed at many festivals such as Wien modern, Carinthischer Sommer, Brisbane Baroque, Brisbane Festival, Brisbane Music Festival and Orange Chamber Music Festival.

Anne Horton – violin/core member
established an outstanding reputation both nationally and internationally as a member of the Tankstream Quartet, which won several prestigious awards including First prize in the Cremona and Osaka International String Quartet Competitions. Anne has performed in Hamburg, Berlin, London, Paris, Copenhagen, Cologne, Zagreb, Budapest, Belgrade, Frankfurt, throughout Italy and in New York. As a member of Tankstream which later became the Australian String Quartet (ASQ), Anne has broadcast extensively in Australia on ABC Classic FM and featured on Radio France, North German Radio, BBC and televised in Austria, Denmark and Japan. During her time with ASQ she released several albums for ABC Classic FM including works of Debussy, Ravel and Schubert, and recently recorded an album with ‘Artaria’. Born in Perth, Anne holds a Bachelor and Master of Music Performance from The Australian Institute of Music in Sydney, where she studied under the tutelage of Alice Waten. She undertook further studies in the chamber music class directed by the Alban Berg Quartet at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik. Anne is an Artistic Associate of Camerata – QLD’s Chamber Orchestra and a core member of Ensemble Trivium and Ensemble Q. She also performs regularly with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. She is also a dedicated sessional teacher at Griffith University.

Yoko Okayasu – viola/core member
Born in Tokyo, Yoko Okayasu began her professional training on violin under Yuri Vladimir Ovcharek at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (Russia), and continued with Camilla Wicks at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (USA). She earned her Masters in Chamber Music under the direction of Mark Sokol and Ian Swenson, and studied viola with Jodi Levitz. She has served as Principal Violist of the Filharmonica Arturo Toscanini (Parma, Italy), the Danish Radio Sinfonietta (Copenhagen, Denmark) and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Sydney) and has also worked as a member of the San Diego Symphony (California, USA). She was Principal Violist of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2017 and currently holds the Associate Principal position with them. She has also appeared as Guest Principal with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Camerata – Queensland’s chamber orchestra. As a devoted chamber musician, she would appear in various ensembles and concerts. She plays a viola made in 2023 by the Brisbane maker, Trevor Liversidge. Yoko is a core member of Ensemble Trivium.

Alison Smith-O’Connell – cello/guest artist
Alison Smith O’Connell completed a Bachelor of Music at the Queensland Conservatorium in 2001, before continuing her cello studies at the Australian National Academy of Music, finishing the year with a performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Orchestra Victoria. She then moved to Germany to study with Alexander Baillie at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. In 2004 Alison joined the cello section of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Eight years later she returned home to Brisbane, where she now performs regularly as a core member of Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, and as a casual member of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Alison enjoys playing chamber music, especially with friends. She has worked on a wide variety of interesting performance projects, such as featuring in the short film “Sex, Drugs and String Quartets” (2002), and performing and recording with Muses Trio on their album “The Road Not Taken” (2023), celebrating music written by women, performed by women. Alison loves yoga, spending time with her three daughters, and transforming her suburban backyard into an edible jungle.

Lucy Reeves – harp/guest artist
Lucy enjoys the variety of a successful freelance career, with performances ranging from intimate Chamber recitals to stadium Rock concerts, Musical, Opera and Ballet seasons to Orchestral concerts on the stages of every major performing venue in Australia and New Zealand. Cherished career highlights have included several tours with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, national tours with NZSO, “Ashkenazy conducts” with the TSO, Andrea Bocelli concerts with QSO, The OA/QSO Wagner “Ring Cycle” season and the fun and camaraderie of playing a season of “South Pacific” with Opera Australia. As guest principal and section harpist, Lucy has performed with all the professional Australian Orchestras: SSO, QSO, TSO, OA, MSO, ASO, WASO, NZSO, CSO and also plays for Camerata – QLD’s chamber orchestra. Lucy has also played with many International touring companies including the Hamburg Philharmonic, The Bolshoi Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The English National Ballet and the Hungarian Opera Company. As a soloist and chamber musician, highlights include performing Ginastera “Harp Concerto” with the QSO as category finalist in the 2007 ABC Young Performers Awards,presenting newly commissioned works at the 2014 World Harp Congress with the “Aether Instrumental Quintet”, and performing a series of violin and harp recitals with former QSO concertmaster Warwick Adeney. More recently, Lucy has performed very enjoyable concerts with Ensemble Trivium. Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music and UKHA prize winner, Lucy has been based in Brisbane since 2000, is a great lover of nature and also teaches the Alexander Technique.

This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund – a partnership between Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland, and Sunshine Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.