Advisory Committee

Bronwyn Powter, flute

Bronwyn Powter

Bronwyn resides in Queensland after settling there some 20 years ago. During her time in Queensland, Bronwyn has taught across numerous prestigious schools as both a flute teacher and band director. Bronwyn spent much time working with the Queensland Flute Guild, and also worked with stores such as Flute Fidelity, Top Wind and For Winds.

Prior to moving to Queensland, Bronwyn graduated from a Bachelor of Music - flute performance, followed by three years in Sydney before spending some time travelling through Europe and attending summers schools. Travel piqued an interest in the global flute community and a desire to teach her findings to young musicians. Bronwyn has conducted masterclasses across Queensland and spent time working with multi instrumentalists on the finer details of the flute.

Currently Bronwyn teaches in three schools, hosts a private flute studio, conducts five bands and one flute choir.

Julia Grenfell, piccolo

Julia Grenfell

Julia Grenfell has been Principal Piccolo of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra since 2001. Prior to that she completed a Master of Music studying with Walfrid Kujala at Northwestern University in Chicago, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance at Rice University in Houston, studying with Leone Buyse.

Julia has held positions with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, and participated in a number of Summer festivals including Verbier, Tanglewood, and Music Academy of the West.   She undertook a year’s job exchange in 2018-19 as Principal Piccolo with the Gothenburg Opera Orchestra in Sweden, and her year in Sweden included a tour to Japan, as well as an opportunity to play in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Julia has appeared as piccolo soloist with the ASO on a number of occasions, including for a co-commissioned Piccolo Concerto by Australian composer Paul Stanhope in 2013. She has been a guest artist at the biennial Australian Flute Festival several times and has been active as a teacher in Adelaide in more recent years. In August 2022, Julia performed her piccolo trio Piccolo Ridicolo (published by Presser) at the 50th Annual National Flute Association convention in Chicago.

James Kortum

James Kortum is Lecturer in Flute at the Sydney Conservatorium.  James studied flute at DePaul University, Chicago, with Donald Peck, Principal Flute Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and former Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra flutist, Philip Sieburg.  At the completion of his studies, James was offered the position of Principal Flute with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has subsequently been Principal Flute with the Opera AustraliaOrchestra and Second Flute with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He has also been guest flutist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra,Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, Hunter Sinfonia and Pacific Opera Orchestra. Prior to his current position, James was Lecturer in Flute at the University of Newcastle Conservatorium of Music.

Johanna Selleck

Johanna Selleck is a composer, musicologist, and flautist. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she is currently an honorary fellow. Her compositions have been performed by internationally renowned artists including in Australia, Europe, the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Malta, Israel, and the USA. As a flautist, she performs regularly as a soloist and in chamber music, particularly in collaboration with harpist Jacinta Dennett and at Melbourne Composers’ League concerts. Johanna’s research focuses on Australian music and broader cultural history and is published widely by Cambridge Scholars Press, Lexington Books, Palgrave Macmillan, and in scholarly journals such as Australasian Music Research. 

Publishers of her music include Allans Music, Lyrebird Press, and the Australian Music Centre. Her recordings appear on labels including Move Records, Tall Poppies, and Navona (USA). Johanna’s composition Spindrift for solo harp is recorded on the CD Quest by American harpist Elisabeth Remy Johnson (Albany Records), which was listed on the 2022 Grammy Awards (under Elaine Martone, ‘Producer of the Year, Classical’).  Johanna’s awards for composition include the Percy Grainger Prize (1990), the Albert Maggs Composition Award (2006), and the ANZVS Viola Composition Competition (2022). In 2023, she is undertaking a Grainger Museum Creative Residency at the University of Melbourne. 

Mary-Anne is the Associate Principal Flute with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has held that position since 1998. 

She is originally from Adelaide where she studied with Elizabeth Koch before moving to the Canberra School of Music where she studied with Vernon Hill. 

Mary-Anne then had the privilege of studying with William Bennett at the Royal Academy of Music in London for 2 years. 

She has performed with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and also played the musicals 'Les Miserable' and 'Phantom of the Opera' in Sydney and Adelaide. She performed with 'Les Mis' in a 6 month tour of South-East Asia in 1996. 

Mary-Anne enjoys playing chamber music but has mainly had an orchestral focus in her career. 

She teaches flute performance at the University of Western Australia. 

Photo credit: WASO by Daniel Grant

Mary-Anne Blades

Repertoire Consultant

Christine Draeger

Christine studied at the Tasmanian Conservatorium, and with Zdenek Bruderhans at Adelaide University. She was a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra 1981-86 and has worked with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. and Australian Opera Orchestra.

From 1982 until 2007 she was a member of The Seymour Group Ensemble premiering works by Australian composers. Christine is also herself a composer, and is represented at the Australian Music Centre.

Christine is a partner in Fluteworthy Publications.