Katie Yap, viola

Katie Yap is known for her deeply personal performances as modern and baroque violist; and a flair for thoughtful, narrative-driven programs as a curator. She was the 2022 Freedman Fellow, a 2023-4 Musica Viva Australia FutureMaker, a 2024-5 ANAM/Ian Potter Emerging Performer Fellow, a 2025-6 Van Diemen’s Band Curation Fellow, and was the founding Artistic Director of 3MBS’ festival ‘Music, She Wrote’.

Chamber music being closest to her heart, she is a founding member of the Gryphon Baryton Trio, baroque viola/synth duo Bronzewing, and is co-artistic director of crossover folk/baroque group Wattleseed Ensemble.

In larger ensembles, she performs regularly with Australia’s top period and modern groups including Van Diemen’s Band, the Orchestra of the Antipodes, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has played with most of the country’s state symphony orchestras, and toured domestically and internationally with the Australian World Orchestra.

Katie loves slipping sideways from the classical genre, in particular towards folk music. She is a member of mixed fiddle quartet Van Diemen’s Fiddles, chamber folk band Where Water Meets, and sanshin-wielding duo Honmono no Gaijin. She is particularly interested in Scandinavian folk music, and the practice of singing and playing.

From 2023, Katie joined the Van Diemen’s Band team as Artistic Coordinator, where she helps with administration, artist liaison, curation support, and social media.

In her spare time, she is apprenticed in the fine arts of Hainanese chicken rice and Dutch apple tart; and loves to watch turbo chooks chase each other down near the Newtown Rivulet.