Tamara Kohler - co-artistic director/Flutes
Australian flautist Tamara Kohler is a soloist, chamber musician, and inter-disciplinary artist. She is a founding member of Melbourne-based contemporary ensemble Rubiks, whose performances have been described as “…incredibly personal, strangely spiritual and ultimately deeply touching.”- Limelight.
Tamara has been described as a “fearless musician” (CutCommon). Festival credits include the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Metropolis New Music Festival, the inaugural Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab (USA), Bang on a Can Summer Festival (USA), Darmstadt International Festival for New Music (DE), Port Fairy Spring Music Festival and the 2015 Australian Flute Festival, performing as a soloist in the Australian premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Il Cerchio dei Suoni. Tamara performs regularly with Victorian Opera and has appeared with other notable ensembles such as Speak Percussion, Kupka’s Piano and the Omega Ensemble. She has held multiple artistic residencies at the Banff Centre (CAN) and was a finalist in the 2017 Freedman Classical Fellowship.
Tamara is alumna of the Australian National Academy of Music and holds a Bachelor of Music with Honours from the University of Melbourne. She has studied internationally throughout Italy, Canada, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden as a recipient of the Skills and Development Grant from the Australian Council for the Arts. Tamara is also the host and producer of music podcast MythirdEar.
kaylie melville - co-artistic director/percussion
Melbourne-based percussionist Kaylie Melville is a soloist and chamber musician dedicated to new music performance. Noted for her “extraordinary ability to impart a sense of musicality to even the smallest gestures” (Partial Durations), Kaylie is the founding Co-Director of Rubiks Collective, Assistant Artistic Director of Speak Percussion, and frequently works with leading Australian ensembles and orchestras. In addition to performing, Kaylie's practice incorporates improvising, directing, producing, curating and teaching.
As a passionate advocate of new music Kaylie has performed in the world premieres of award winning Australian works, including Kate Neal's 'Semaphore' (Performance of the Year, 2016 Art Music Awards) and Liza Lim’s ‘Atlas of the Sky’ (Performance of the Year, 2019 Art Music Awards). Her festival appearances include the Melbourne Festival, Sydney Festival, Salihara Festival (Indonesia), Australia Fest (India), George Town Festival (Malaysia), and the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention (US).
Kaylie has also participated in a number of prestigious new music courses including the inaugural Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab (USA, 2017), Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music (Germany, 2016), Bang on a Can Summer Festival (USA, 2015) and So Percussion’s Summer Institute at Princeton University (USA, 2013).
JACOB ABELA - Founding member/KEYBOARDS
Australian keyboardist and composer Jacob Abela is a soloist and chamber musician specialising in the new music field. Jacob is also Australia's leading voice for the Ondes Martenot, a French electronic keyboard instrument which predates the synthesiser. In 2017, Jacob was the solo ondist with the Australian World Orchestra for their performance of Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie, conducted by Simone Young.
Jacob is a founding member of contemporary art music outfit Rubiks, who have enjoyed critical acclaim for their contribution to Melbourne's contemporary music scene. Rubiks have collaborated with various artists including Swedish composer Marcus Fjellström, resulting in the premiere recording of Imaginarium for ensemble, electronic music, and animation.
Jacob performs regularly with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared with renowned ensembles such as Speak Percussion, Ensemble Offspring, Argonaut Ensemble (BIFEM), and Synergy Percussion. Festival credits include the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival (USA), Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, Metropolis New Music Festival, ISCM World New Music Days, Sydney Festival, and Mathemusical Conversations (Singapore).
gemma kneale - founding member/cello
Gemma Kneale is a passionate chamber and orchestral musician, dedicated to presenting repertoire of all styles and genres. In addition to her work as a co-founding member of Rubiks Collective, Gemma enjoys regular performances with Orchestra Victoria, and has performed in various festivals such as Metropolis New Music Festival, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, Darmstadt International Festival of New Music, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar, Stanford.
Expanding her skills in conducting, Gemma is a passionate educator at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s “The Pizzicato Effect” as Lead Teaching Artist of the Chamber Ensemble, alongside other teaching engagements at various schools in Melbourne.
In 2017, Gemma continued her studies at the Australian National Academy of Music as a Fellow, presenting her concert series ‘She Speaks’. This series culminated in a live broadcast on ABC Classic FM celebrating International Women’s Day, and a concert of all Australian female composition at the Ian Potter Gallery – NGV.
