Hello fellow guild members!
Thank you for voting me as your president, I am very honoured to take up this role and I look
forward to serving the guild over the coming years. A huge thanks goes to Laura Tiong for her
wonderful work to date as past president, including instituting a piano-4-hands day (see details in
the attached flyer and information below) and for representing us at the Australian Guild of
Collaborative Pianists. We wish Laura all success with her interstate move. Your current
Accompanists Guild of Queensland committee members are:
- President – Rachel Hocking
- Secretary – Kathleen Clifford
- Treasurer – Sarah Stranger
- Committee members – Crystal Smith, Robert Manley, Maree Kilpatrick
Annual General Meeting
Our annual general meeting was recently held on Saturday 24th August 2024, thank you to those
who attended in person and online. A special thanks to our guild secretary Kathleen Clifford for
running the AGM, to our treasurer Sarah Stranger for administering the finances, and guild council
member Robert Manley for supporting our online attendees. Amongst the AGM agenda items, we
made mention of our membership, which I’m pleased to report, has grown to 79 members this
year. Welcome to our new members:
- Bron Postlethwaite
- Barry Walmsley
- Yuma Hartnett
- Allister Harrison
At the AGM, we presented Sue Witham in-person with her honorary life membership and we
appreciate all she did, along with her colleagues, to help set up our guild 30 years ago (see the
lovely photo below!). Sue outlined some memories from those early days back in 1994,
reminiscing why the guild was needed to fill a gap in the provision of accompanists in
Queensland, providing a one-stop directory in the form of a publication that was sold in shops
(now our website).
During the AGM, we also made mention of the many prizes that we are sponsoring to recognise
young accompanists performing at the recent Eisteddfods. We also passed some minor
constitutional changes including:- adding a grievance procedure as required by law; and adding
clauses to allow electronic communication to reflect our modern practises.
Our AGM finished with a thoroughly interesting presentation from Guild member Juanita
Simmonds on Christina Boughen’s career and life. This informative presentation was based on
resources held at the Queensland State Library, many which Juanita included in her PowerPoint
slides including old programmes, newspaper articles and beautiful photographs. Juanita had been
awarded the Christina Boughen OAM Fellowship to undertake this research and was the first
fellow to explore these papers. She made the relevant point that Christina, although an active
accompanist that had a great impact on many young musicians’ careers through the provision
and organisation of council concerts, did not belong to an institution or arts organisation, and so
this research is important to give Christina the recognition so thoroughly deserved.
Australian Guild of Collaborative Pianists
The next AGCP zoom meeting, conducted by David Miller, will be held 19th September 5pm and
all guild members are welcome to join. The AGCP is currently exploring the importance of the role
of collaborative pianist and finding ways to encourage more young pianists to take up this role. If
you are interested in receiving the zoom link, please contact me at presidentagq@gmail.com.
Piano 4-hands day – Sunday 29th September 12:30pm
The upcoming ‘piano-4-hands’ day is an event designed to bring guild members and other
interested pianists together to have some fun playing duets. The afternoon allows for rehearsal
time before an informal concert is held at 4pm – family and friends are welcome to attend as
audience. The event will be held Sunday 29th September at UQ School of Music (Zelman Cowan
building) from 12.30pm and afternoon tea is provided. To register, please contact Kathleen at
secretaryagq@gmail.com. Thank you to the School of Music at the University of Queensland for
hosting our event. Thank you also to Crystal Smith and our other guild council members for
assisting with the organisation of this event.
As your new president, I’d like to hear of any ideas or suggestions from guild members re.
improvements for our guild. I can be contacted on presidentagq@gmail.com. In addition, we will
also be reviving our Facebook page and have started an Instagram page to assist with
communication of guild activities to our members and prospective members. If you are someone
who reads the socials, please follow us at:
Instagram – @accompanists_guild_of_qld
Facebook – Accompanists Guild of Qld
I wish you all the best with the upcoming season of exams, concerts and recitals, happy playing!
Dr Rachel Hocking
