20th Century String Trios
Wednesday 23 July 2025, 7pm – Ian Hanger Recital Hall
Graeme Jennings violin
Yoko Okayasu viola
Gyórgy Derí cello
String Trio in G minor, Op.6 (1909) Leo Weiner
- Allegro con brio
- Vivace
- Andantino
- Allegro con fuoco
Hommage à J.S.B György Kurtág from Signs, Games and Messages (1989-)
String Trio Op.45 (1946) Arnold Schoenberg
- Part I
- Episode I
- Part II
- Episode II
- Coda
Australian violinist, violist, conductor, improviser, educator, GRAEME JENNINGS, is a former member of the legendary Arditti String Quartet (1994-2005). He has toured widely throughout the world, made more than 80 CDs, given over 300 premieres and received numerous accolades including the prestigious Siemens Prize (1999) and two Gramophone awards. Active as a soloist, chamber musician, ensemble leader and conductor, his repertoire ranges from Bach to Boulez and beyond. He has worked with and been complimented on his interpretations by many of the leading composers of our time. Graeme is a member of Australia’s internationally acclaimed new music ensemble ELISION and the Kurilpa String Quartet. He has performed as Guest Concertmaster of the Adelaide, Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras and Guest Associate Concertmaster with the Sydney Symphony. In 2011 he was a founding member of the Australian World Orchestra. He has also appeared as guest artist with the Australian String Quartet, the Kreutzer Quartet, the New Zealand String Quartet and the del Sol Quartet. Having previously served on the faculties of Mills College, UC Berkeley and Stanford University, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in violin and viola at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2009.
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.
She is a core member of Ensemble Trivium and has also performed with various other chamber music ensembles.
She plays a viola made by the Brisbane maker, Trevor Liversidge, in 2023.
GYÖRGY DERÍ was born in 1965 and began playing cello at the age of six. In 1983 he began studying at the famous Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He graduated with a diploma summa cum laude and, in 1991, began teaching at the Teachers’ Training Institute of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. In 2008 he became an associate professor and In 2012, he completed his doctoral studies. Over 40 years, György has given regular concerts, recorded CDs and performed on numerous radio programs. He has received many awards including the Franz Liszt Prize in 2004 and the Artisjus Award (five times) for contributions to Hungarian music. As a soloist he has played with many orchestras including the Symphonic Orchestra of the Hungarian Radio conducted by Zoltán Kocsis, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra conducted by János Rolla and the UMZE Chamber Orchestra conducted by Péter Eötvös. He was also a member of chamber groups, for example, The Keller Quartet, Trio Art Nouveau and The Pestalozzi Trio. György has been a member of contemporary ensembles such as UMZE, Intermoduláció and Componensemble. He has premiered and personally commissioned many new works. In 2009 he was appointed deputy head of the String department and head of Cello, Double Bass and Viola Departments at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Many of his students have won prestigious prizes and achieved success as soloists. In 2020 he was appointed senior lecturer at the prestigious Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. In 2021 he established a piano-cello duo with colleague, Roger Cui.