BIOS

About Helena, Sam & Kaori:

Helena Kernaghan finished her Masters in Music Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2005 after studying with Donna Coleman & Caroline Almonte. Helena soon established herself as an accomplished chamber musician, accompanist and soloist. In 1997 she formed the Abraxas Piano Trio which featured Sam Goble on cello, and this was when Helena & Sam first began collaborating on musical projects. Performance highlights during this time included performing as soloist in Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques at Government House, a duo piano recital with Will Poskitt of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps at the ABCs Iwaki Auditorium, and soloist in Gerswhin's Rhapsody in Blue with The Opus 21 Big Band. Since 2006 Helena has lived in Albury enjoying the challenge of teaching and maintaining an active performing life. Helena was the founding artistic director for the Albury Chamber Music Festival (2016-2019), where she worked tirelessly to bring Classical music live performance to her home town. Helena has continued her work in this field as artistic director for Murray River Fine Music, the border region's newest and most exciting music performance and education venture.

Helena is a gifted and versatile accompanist and in recent times has collaborated with a variety of artists including Dutch thereminist Thorwald Jorgensen, American pianist Donna Coleman, Australian soprano Merlyn Quaife, and tenor Shanul Sharma.

Sam Goble finished his degree or Masters studying under Tim Walden and Josie Vains in 2006 at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 1996 he was awarded a Melbourne Symphony Young Artist Award for which he chose the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in A minor to workshop and broadcast. Other awards include the Piers Coepmore Scholarship for Cellists, and in 1999 he won the John Gaitskell Mensa Memorial Award for the most outstanding end of degree recital for that year. In 2000, Sam toured with the Cologne Youth Philharmonic through Wales and Northern France, in part as soloist. Returning to Australia in 2001, he in 2002 recommenced study for Honours, again at VCA. In 2004 he completed the first year of his Masters degree and went to Germany to study at the Hannover Hochschule fur Musik und Theaterin Hannover, Germany for three semesters with Tilmann Wick, returning in 2006. He now works as a freelance cellist and teacher.

After establishing The Abraxas Piano Trio together in 1997 (with violinist Rachael Kim), Helena and Sam won the Athenaeum Award for Chamber Music (1998), participated in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition Masterclass Series, and studies with renowned Russian cellist Alexander Korchagin. In 2000, with a Queen's Trust Grant, they embarked on a world tour with performances in Singapore, London, Cardiff & Prague. They were selected to be Artists in Residence at The Rodd in Wales, Sir Sidney Nolan's estate, where they performed a series of concerts, and culminated with masterclasses with eminent Hungarian pianist Peter Frankl at London's Royal College of Music.

Kaori Sparks (nee Nogi) was born in Sukagwa City, Fukushima-ken, Japan. She began playing violin at the age of four and gained entry to the Musashino Music University in Tokyo. She studied violin, viola and piano there, graduating in 2002. She studied violin under Hiroshi Nishida, Robert Davidovich and Katsuya Matsubara; violin-piano duo with Georgi Badev, and chamber music with Sandor Nagy and Kalman Berkes. Kaori toured Europe as a member of the Tokyo-Budapest String Quartet, and Tokyo-Budapest Ensemble five times between 2004-2006, under the directorship of concert clarinettist and conductor, Kalman Berkes. She performed at various music festivals including: Zell am See Music Festival (Austria) in 2005-06; Salzburg Open Air Mozart Festival 2005; Budapest Spring Festival 2005-06. She also performed with the Salzburg Festival Orchestra and Hungarian National Orchestra. In 2005 the Tokyo-Budapest Ensemble received sponsorship from the EU Cultural Exchange Committee and held recitals at the Hungarian Embassy and Tsuda Hall in Tokyo. The latter venue saw the world premiere of Hungarian pianist/composer Gyorgy Vukan's Five Jokes. Kaori scaled back her concert performances in 2007 and concentrated on teaching, both adults and children. She and her family relocated to Albury, Australia in early 2009. Since 2013, Kaori has operated her own violin studio in Thurgoona NSW, the Kaori Sparks Violin Studio. She enjoys teaching both adults and children.

Kaori & Helena first collaborated in 2011 for the Help Japan fundraiser concert series in Albury. They formed the Orpheus Piano Trio with Sam in early 2012 and have enjoyed the challenge of being a rural dwelling, interstate trio! Their 2012 concert series The Light and the Dark was well received by large crowds at Castlemaine and Albury. They also performed at Melbourne's Bennetts Lane jazz club for the William Poskitt Memorial fundraiser concert. 2013 saw the trio perform another successful concert series featuring works by Brahms, Beethoven and Debussy. The Wangaratta concert from this series was recorded live and comprises their live CD which is available in the shop link on this page. 2014 included a series of concerts to launch and promote the CD with performances in Bendigo, Wagga and Bright in addition to their regular venues. 2015 has seen the addition of Ravel's glorious Trio added to their repertoire which will have performances in November in Albury and Wagga.