Summer Ornamentation Academy

Born in 1965 in Kaboul, Khaled Arman is one of the most famous players of Afghan lute, the rubab. He introduced the instrument to the Persian, Indian, and European sophisticated music (ancient, classical and contemporary music) when it had previously been strictly associated with the folk repertoire. Luc Breton, lute maker in Morges, Switzerland, designed a bespoke instrument for him with enlarged capacities. Khaled Arman has recorded several CDs as a soloist and with his own group, The Kaboul Ensemble.

Invited to participate in numerous festivals across the world, Khaled Arman has collaborated with viola da gamba players such as Jordi Savall and Vittorio Gielmi. He has performed with the Grand Eustache Orchestra in Lausanne, the Quatuor Barbaroque in France, and also with singers including Alain Bashing and Rodolphe Burger. He created contemporary pieces of music written for his instrument by composers Eric Gaudibert and Fabien Tehericsen.

Khaled Arman graduated at Prague’s Higher Musical School in classical guitar and won the First Prize at the International Competition of Radio France. Many students benefit from his double musical culture in several European schools. He wrote a rubab tutor and fights for the survival of this instrument in his country.

Khaled Arman writes new compositions and orchestrations for the Kaboul Ensemble, works inspired by the Afghan tradition and his musical experience while living in France.

Khaled Arman currently lives in Geneva.

Melbourne-born violinist Julia Fredersdorff studied baroque violin with Lucinda Moon at the Victorian College of the Arts, before travelling to The Netherlands to study with Enrico Gatti at The Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. Based in Paris for almost ten years, Julia freelanced with some of the finest European ensembles, such as Les Talens Lyriques, Les Folies Françoises, Le Concert d’Astrée, Le Parlement de Musique, Ensemble Matheus, Les Paladins, Il Complesso Barocco, New Dutch Academy, Ensemble Aurora and Bach Concentus.

Now resident again in Australia, Julia performs regularly as concertmaster for the Orchestra of the Antipodes and is the Artistic Director of the Tasmanian baroque ensemble, Van Diemen’s Band. She is a founding member of period string quartet Ironwood, and the twice ARIA-nominated baroque trio Latitude 37, and a core-member of Ludovico’s Band.

Julia has participated in CD recordings for Virgin Classics, Deutsche Grammaphon, Accent, Accord, Naïve, Erato, Passacaille, Ambronay, ABC Classics, Vexations840 and Tall Poppies. She teaches baroque violin at the Conservatoriums of Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne.

Branching away from his classical piano and violin training in 1997, Luke Plumb began teaching himself the mandolin and swiftly became one of Australia’s most sought after session musicians. His albums Isfahan and Senan’s Haggart were comprised of bold music from right across Europe and demonstrated his keen awareness of both tradition and the possibilities for experimentation within it.

This quality was recognised by acid croft pioneers Shooglenifty after a chance meeting during a tour of Australia and in 2002 Luke Plumb was recruited to join the band in Scotland. For eleven years Luke’s compositions drove the band’s music into new territory which can be heard across three studio albums where his music dominates the repertoire.

During this time he also recorded and toured three albums with his own band the Funky String Band, spearheaded a Scottish Arts funded project examining the music collected by the Scottish National poet Robert Burns, released his innovative and critically acclaimed solo album A Splendid Notion, and travelled to southern Greece to record a suite of his own compositions, Ten Titles, for the pan European, Eumelia Ensemble.

In 2011, he returned home to Australia and began honing his skills as a record producer. His productions include the National Film and Sound Archive award winning Housewarming for the Mae Trio and the Timber and Steel album of the year Declaration for Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton.

Other albums of note include the much lauded posthumous album Hearth for Michael Kennedy and most recently Precious Heroes, his duo album with traditional Irish folk legend Andy Irvine.

His skills as a teacher and scholar have also not gone unnoticed. He has been flown to New Mexico annually to teach Bouzouki and Mandolin at Zoukfest, to Victoria, Australia to teach fiddle and mandolin at Music Under the Southern Cross, to New Zealand to teach at Ceol Aneas and has led numerous workshops and tutor weekends around Scotland and Australia.

Back in Australia, he has also broadened his musical experience with a national tour of the theatre show Cafe Rebetika, and performances with the Australian Ballet’s recent production of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, their Bella Figura featuring the Vivaldi double mandolin Concerto, and performances of Verdi’s Otello.

Released in early 2018 was his first major piece of work since returning to Australia, Turn & ReTurn with his new band The Circuit. In typical fashion from Plumb, it is a bold and new musical statement. He described the music as traditional form melodies arranged in the context of groove based songs with a rhythm section that is grounded in the drive of Cretan music and the fluidity of Terry Riley organ improvisations. Turn & ReTurn was produced by Luke Plumb and his long-time collaborator and engineering maestro, the legendary Calum Malcolm.

In 2019 Luke and Kate Burke released their self-titled duo album.

Tasmanian musician, composer and musicologist Rachel Meyers’ career spans world, folk, and experimental music genres. As an instrumentalist, Rachel has recorded several albums and toured nationally, performing at festivals around the country including A Festival Called Panama, Dark MOFO, MONA FOMA, National Folk Festival, Cygnet Folk Festival, Maldon Folk Festival, and more.  She has collaborated on original music for her various ensembles over the past two decades, most recently for Meyers & McNamara, an experimental chamber-folk duo, and Van Diemen’s Fiddles.

Rachel has worked on several competitively-funded projects, including for the Australian Research Council and Arts Tasmania, and has received private commissions for her original soundscape compositions. She has worked in schools as a Teaching Artist with The Songroom and taught instrumental music for over fifteen years. Rachel is currently studying for a PhD in environmental sound art and musicology, and in receipt of a prestigious Research Training Program Scholarship. She is deeply passionate about working with ecological and musicological stories of place and identity, and using art as a tool for real, tangible community change.