BRANDON LEE, LAURA VAUGHAN & ALICIA CROSSLEY
RESONANCES & REFLECTIONS
SUNDAY 29th NOVEMBER 2026 4PM
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
BRANDON LEE(koto)
Brandon Lee is a Japanese koto (zither) performer based in Melbourne, Australia. Originally from Malaysia, he started the koto while attending university in Melbourne. He eventually moved to Japan and was a live-in apprentice for koto virtuoso Kazue Sawai in Tokyo. In 2011, he officially obtained his teaching and performance license from the Sawai Koto School. In 2014, he graduated with a Masters of Music from Monash University.
Since moving back to Melbourne, Brandon has actively performed all around Australia, including Melbourne, Sydney, and Broome. He has performed at events and festivals such as, NGV’s Cool Japan, Broome’s Shinju Matsuri, and more. He has also performed internationally in Japan and America.
Brandon performs both classical and contemporary for the koto but he is also interested in cross cultural collaboration in music and has worked with musicians like Anne Norman, Peter Knight, Andrea Keeble, and Sandy Evans.
LAURA VAUGHAN (viola da gamba)
Melbourne-based viola da gamba player Laura Vaughan is one of Australia’s most distinctive and engaging early music musicians. Valued for the expressive depth of her playing and her natural warmth on stage, she has become a much-loved presence in the country’s early music community.
Laura studied with Miriam Morris at the University of Melbourne before continuing her training at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Wieland Kuijken and Philippe Pierlot. Since then, she has built a richly varied performing career across Australasia, performing on viola da gamba, violone, lirone and baryton in repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to the present day.
While deeply grounded in historical performance practice, particularly music of the 16th to mid-18th centuries, Laura is equally passionate about expanding the repertoire for these extraordinary instruments. She works closely with contemporary composers, drawn to the viola da gamba family’s uniquely intimate and expressive sound.
A regular guest on ABC Classic FM, Laura appears frequently as both soloist and chamber musician, and her recordings — including solo albums released on the VDB, Move and Paladino labels — have received wide acclaim. She performs regularly with many of Australia’s leading ensembles, including the Orchestra of the Antipodes, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Van Diemen’s Band, Genesis Baroque, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Adelaide Baroque, and Consortium.
Laura is also a founding member of the ARIA Award–nominated trio Latitude 37 and the Gryphon Baryton Trio. Alongside her work in early music, she has appeared with the Tasmanian, Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Auckland Philharmonia.
Off stage, Laura teaches at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, where she enjoys encouraging and mentoring the next generation of early music performers. In 2026 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Ballarat Organs & Fine Music Festival.
Away from rehearsals and concerts, she loves spending time with her two children, her Tibetan Spaniels Poppea and Heloise, and, naturally, a Melbourne coffee.
ALICIA CROSSLEY (recorders)
“If there can be such a thing as a recorder rockstar, Crossley is that…” — Fish Fine Music
Alicia Crossley is an ARIA-nominated recorder virtuoso renowned for her imaginative programing, compelling musicianship and advocacy of contemporary Australian recorder repertoire. She performs music that traverses of a broad range of styles and genres and has a particular passion for music that explores the versatility and virtuosity of the bass recorder.
Admired for her “phenomenal versatility” (Sydney Arts Guide), Alicia has performed for audiences across Australia, the USA and New Zealand and has appeared at major festivals and conferences including SEAMUS (USA), Australasian Computer Music Conference, Electronic Music Midwest (USA), Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Vivid Festival, Canberra International Music Festival and Four Winds Festival. She has performed with leading orchestras and ensembles including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera and Bach Akademie Australia, and founded the unique and vibrant ensemble Duo Blockstix.
During her career Alicia has built an impressive discography of solo albums and collaborative recordings. Her debut album Addicted to Bass was described as “endlessly fascinating” (The Music Trust) and her second album Alchemy was nominated for Best Independent Classical Album by AIR. Her third album Muse featuring the Acacia Quartet was “fizzing with energy and unpredictable bite” (Sydney Morning Herald), earning an ARIA nomination for Best Classical Album. In her fourth album Bass Instincts “Crossley’s mastery of instrumental colour is breathtakingly compelling" (The Music Trust). She also appears as a featured soloist on the soundtrack for the film Storm Boy, and features in Series 2, episode 13 of ABC’s ArtWorks.
Described as “an unstoppable force, a one-woman whirlwind of commissioning and performance” (Limelight Magazine) Alicia’s dedication to expanding recorder repertoire and advocacy of Australian Art Music has seen her commission and premiere more than 60 new works for recorder by a diverse range of Australian composers including Elena Kats-Chernin, Lyle Chan, Christopher Sainsbury, Anne Boyd, Holly Harrison, Alice Chance, Amanda Cole, Tristan Coelho, Julian Day, and Nat Bartsch. Her cutting-edge collaborations continue to push the boundaries of contemporary recorder repertoire and embrace new and exciting sound worlds.