Old Scholars take their music to the world stage

It’s no secret that St Peters has a world-class Music Program. Many of the students involved in our choral and instrumental ensembles go on to forge successful musical careers both in Australia and overseas. Shannon King caught up with three Old Scholars who are making great strides in their chosen musical fields.

SHANNON KING Digital Marketing and Communications Officer Erna Lai (2018)

When I first met Erna Lai (pictured far right), I couldn’t help but notice the contrast between her diminutive figure and the huge case strapped to her back carrying the cello that she’d brought in for photos— the cello with an intriguing backstory. Last year, a student she was tutoring tripped over and broke Erna’s instrument, an incident she described as ‘quite traumatic’—for the cello, not the student. But in a lucky coincidence, a cello had recently been gifted to St Peters, which she was able to borrow while she searched for a new one. The cello was donated by Anthony (Tony) Carlton, a cellist in the Manchester Youth Orchestra in the mid-1900s, and friend of a current St Peters parent. Tony, who has held a life-long passion for the cello and classical music, found the instrument decades ago in a boutique instrument shop in the Adelaide Hills. Though its certificate of authenticity had been lost, the cello was believed to have been made in England between 150 and 200 years ago. The cello has sat unused in recent years and Tony desired that it be passed down from student to student at a school with an outstanding Music Program. The instrument has since been refurbished and, in Erna’s skilled hands, is once again producing a beautiful sound. “It has an extremely warm and sensitive sound, suitable for chamber music,” Erna said. “At the beginning it was a bit muffly, but as I spent more time with the cello it started to open up, and is now really resonant.” Erna, who is currently completing her Bachelor of Music (Honours) at The University of Queensland (UQ), excelled in the Strings Program during her time at St Peters. She was involved in the String Quartet, Chamber Soloists, and Cello Orchestra, and was Principal Cellist of the St Peters Soloists from 2015 – 2018, touring internationally with this orchestra to Japan and Europe. She was a finalist in the St Peters Performer of the Year – Concerto series each year during her time at the College, winning the highest honours in 2018. In her final year, Erna was awarded the Magdalene Radke Bursary for Cultural Excellence. Head of Strings, David Deacon, described Erna as a, “naturally gifted cellist who plays with sensitivity and poise”, and said her talent was obvious from the moment she joined the Strings Program. “She stood out from her peers as her playing was always at a higher level,” he recalled. “She has an innate sense of musicality, and her stage presence is captivating.” Erna’s talent has earned her Principal positions in both the Queensland and Australian Youth Orchestras. In addition to her study and performance commitments, she has also been involved in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) Fellowship program and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music outreach program, travelling to regional towns near Townsville to perform and conduct school workshops. Following a successful audition with the MSO this year, Erna has secured a reserve position, to be called upon to perform in the cello section when they require additional players. When asked about her proudest achievements to date, Erna reflects on her personal growth, as well as her musicianship. “I used to be quite socially awkward,” she admitted. “So, I think playing classical music has really helped me to communicate a lot better with people—not just through music, because I know some people hide behind their instrument—but in general. “And I’ve really stepped up and achieved a lot more in recent years. I’m quite proud of where I am standing right now as a musician.”

Benedict Braxton-Smith (2010)

It is important for our students to understand that no two paths to success are the same and that for some people, the path takes a more unexpected route. Benedict BraxtonSmith's career is an example of how sometimes, despite a few unplanned detours, things just work out. Teeing up a video chat with Benedict (pictured above left and centre) was surprisingly easy given he had just touched down in Austin, Texas—the next stop on the North American tour of Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which he is the Associate Music Director. Benedict is normally based in New York and when he’s not working in music direction, he is busy composing or orchestrating. His music has featured in projects for HBO, Disney+ and NBC Peacock, and he was the Orchestrator for Jessica Vosk’s My Golden Age at Carnegie Hall and for Kristin Chenoweth’s Christmas at the MET. He is also a multiinstrumentalist, though these days he mostly plays piano. So, how did Benedict get from St Peters to touring with a Broadway musical and orchestrating at the famed Carnegie Hall? “A bunch of happy accidents,” he said simply. “There have always been lofty goals at the end, but every decision I’ve made about what to do next has always been based on what brings joy in that moment and what feels like a good move,” he explained. Thanks to his mother, Leonie, Benedict started learning piano from a very young age, but his musical education really accelerated at St Peters in Year 4 or 5 when he started lessons with instrumental music teacher, Kent Farbach. Under his instruction Benedict started to really enjoy music and playing piano. On graduating St Peters in 2010, Benedict enrolled in a dual Law and Arts degree (with a Psychology major) at UQ, with a view to becoming, somewhat surprisingly, a politician. After 12 to 18 months, he realised it wasn’t the right fit and, dropping the law part, completed the BA (Psychology). From there he gained a Graduate Certificate in Music majoring in Composition at the Queensland Conservatorium which, provided a fast track to a Bachelor of Music (Honours). Before Benedict had even finished his Honours, he moved to New York to study a Master of Fine Arts in musical theatre writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Though that wasn’t part of his original plan. “I’d been very set on going to the Royal Academy of Music [London] to study musical direction. I went and auditioned for that, embarrassed myself in a room and got royally rejected, which was character building. “I actually kept the framed rejection letter on my desk as a little personal reminder. “And then the NYU thing was a total accident. I found out about it from a friend two nights before the application was due. It was this 42-page monster thing. You had to write multiple songs, provide a creative portfolio and complete a whole bunch of free-writing exercises that seemed like personality tests. I thought, well, what’s the harm in applying?” There were several more hoops for Benedict to jump through after that, but in the end, he was offered a scholarship and ended up studying something he loved. In fact, the work he’s most proud of is his original musical Dr. Fox and the Impossible Cure for Death which had a developmental production at Michigan State University’s Wharton Centre for Performing Arts. Why musical theatre writing? “I was always composing, and I fell in love with musicals towards the end of Year 12 but didn’t know how to get into them. [Getting into NYU] was a happy accident that got me there 10 years ahead of schedule,” he said. Mean Girls is scheduled through until the end of May 2023 and after more than 12 months of living out of two suitcases and doing his laundry in hotel laundromats, I assume the novelty of life on tour might be starting to wear off for Benedict. “Nine times out of ten it doesn’t feel glamorous, but then you have moments when you’re conducting a musical at the Kennedy Center in DC and you’re like ‘Oh, wow, I got to conduct at the Kennedy Center with my mum sitting two rows behind me’. I could cry thinking about it. It made everything worthwhile.” Looking back on his time at St Peters, Benedict says he can’t highlight his time in the College’s Music Program enough. “I have to specifically recognise Grant Mason, Christine Taylor and Kent Farbach, as well as Mark Pradella and Kerry Jacobsen,” he said. “They were all so instrumental in my growth as a musician and a human, and on reflection I realised that I use things that each one of them taught me on a day-to-day basis.” >>

Ben Heim (2011)

Ben Heim (pictured above) is a New York-based composer and creative technologist whose mesmerising and immersive audiovisual works have been displayed in galleries and public spaces around the world from London, New York and Paris to Denmark and Iceland. “Today most of my work involves creating real-time artworks that combine generative visuals, music, sensors, data and audience interaction for a variety of commercial and artistic projects,” Ben explained. “It’s a very exciting mixed bag of things...from bringing music acts to life on giant LED walls to interactive installations for corporate lobbies. “I still write a lot of music too, whether it is creating immersive soundtracks for my generative artworks, or in the commercial film scoring world where I have composed music for short films.” Ben’s interest in this artform began in 2015 when he was staging a series of immersive concerts in Brisbane that combined contemporary classical and electronic music with live visuals, projections and contemporary Australian literature. “I kept wanting to add more visual elements to the music and really wanted the visuals to be perfectly connected to the music too,” he said. “This led me to learning more about generative real-time visual creation and I spent a couple of years part-time working on creating compelling visuals to accompany the music I was writing.” In time, Ben became highly proficient at this work and started receiving commissions for both creative and commercial projects. "Being skilled in real time visuals meant I could then combine my artworks with many other emerging technologies and data sources aside from music [such as] real-time transport and weather data, lighting installations, depth cameras, virtual reality, and various sensors.” While this might seem like a cutting-edge method for creating audiovisual art, Ben’s musical background has more traditional roots. “Music has always been a part of my life as my father was a pianist. I would remember him constantly practising and so it always made sense to me that music would be something I did,” he said. “I think my real love of music probably started in my early teens though, when I took up drum kit and formed a band with my friends at St Peters. “Making and performing music became my passion from then on, and though my career has gone through all kinds of different focuses and transitions, it’s still a huge part of what I do.” The Music Program at St Peters played an important part in Ben’s development as a musician. As a student, he sang in Chorale, played percussion in the Symphonic Winds, and was also involved in Drum Line and percussion ensembles. “There were so many people who helped me on my musical journey,” he said. “Primarily it was Graeme Morton who encouraged me to take up composition and Christine Taylor who provided me with many opportunities as my Music Extension mentor.” Upon leaving St Peters, Ben completed a Bachelor of Music at UQ then travelled to London to pursue a Master's at the Royal College of Music. He was then awarded the Brian May Scholarship which provides financial assistance for promising Australian film composers to study film scoring at NYU. After completing his studies, he decided to remain in New York to follow a career in film composition and audiovisual art. “Living and working in New York has been a dream come true,” Ben said. “All the songs and stories of New York really are true. It’s one of the most amazing places, but also the hardest and most unforgiving environment to try to make it in... you really have to work hard for everything you get, but the payoff of making it is like no other.” Two of Ben's artworks are above. You can visit Ben's website by scanning here: