Sunday 16 November 2025, 11.00am, Iwaki Auditorium
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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will celebrate the 2025 cohort of the MSO Academy with a special End of Year Showcase on Sunday 16 November at the Iwaki Auditorium.
The concert highlights and features the unique combination of artists and instruments within the Academy – Joshua Jones (cello), Joolee Kim (flute), Michael Lo (trombone) and Joel Walmsley (trumpet), alongside curator and MSO Principal Trombone José Milton Vieira and musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
Representing some of Australia’s most exciting emerging talent, the 2025 cohort has already performed with leading ensembles, won national competitions, and studied with renowned teachers both at home and abroad.
Audiences can look forward to an eclectic program spanning Romantic, Latin-inspired and contemporary works for brass, with music by Eijiro Nakagawa, Phillip Gaulbert, Jacques Casterède, and Dvořák’s Finale from String Quartet No.12 ‘American’ in a new arrangement by Vieira.
The MSO Academy is the Orchestra’s flagship professional development program for emerging instrumentalists, providing a vital bridge between study and the professional stage. Through mentorship, performance opportunities and industry experience over twelve months, it ensures that the orchestras and ensembles of the future are rich with diversity, excellence and imagination.
The showcase is a celebration of artistry, individuality and the bright future of the next generation of orchestral musicians.
Joel Walmsley, trumpet
From Brisbane, Joshua is a graduate of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and is currently completing his third year of undergraduate study at the Melbourne Conservatorium. In 2023, he began a combined Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne and ANAM.
Joshua has won numerous awards, including the Australian String Teachers Association Concerto Competition three times. He has participated in the Australian Chamber Orchestra Academy, and as part of the Amogus Piano Trio, won Musica Viva’s Strike-A-Chord competition. He won the ANAM Concerto Competition in 2023, performing Prokofiev’s Symphony Concerto in E minor with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. That same year, he also won the Melbourne Conservatorium Concerto-Aria competition with the same piece.
As an orchestral soloist and chamber musician, Joshua has performed the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Queensland Youth Symphony and was a finalist in the 2021 National Youth Concerto Competition. He will participate in the Australian Youth Orchestra International Tour in 2025.
Joolee Kim, flute
Following her studies at The Conservatorium High School in Sydney, Joolee was awarded a full entrance scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London (RAM), where she earned a Bachelor of Music (Hons) and a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music. Now back in Australia, Joolee is in her final year of her Master of Music in Orchestral Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium.
Joolee has been invited to perform at the Sydney Opera House for Encore, the Government house, LSO St Luke’s and the Cadogan Hall in London. During her time at RAM, she premiered solo piccolo works by Gabriel Erkoreka and Zhenyan Li as part of RAM’s 200th Bicentenary, the latter was performed at the commemoration of William Bennett. Her musical highlights include playing Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. She performed regularly with the Academy’s Opera Orchestra and Manson Ensemble.
In Australia, Joolee has collaborated side by side with the Australian String Quartet, performed with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic and Aussie Pop Orchestra, and has played alongside members of Orchestra Victoria and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Lo, trombone
Michael completed his undergraduate degree at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He has also studied at the Hamamatsu Academy in Japan, completed a Master of Teaching at the University of Melbourne and has since returned to the Conservatorium of Music where he is now studying as a Master of Music.
In 2023, Michael travelled to Europe to undertake an intensive period of study with trombonists in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
He has worked with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Melbourne Opera, Netherlands Festival Orchestra and 70’s Rock Band ‘Foreigner’ as a guest musician. He is a former member of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and has taught at its summer school program.
As a soloist, Michael has given Australian premieres of works by Miho Hazama, Pauline Oliveros and Susan Mutter. He also performed the world premiere of Hendrik Hoyfmeyr’s Trombone Sonata with pianist Coady Green.
Joel Walmsley, trumpet
Raised in a musical family, Joel developed a love for music as a member of the Young Voices of Melbourne Children’s Choir. In his early years, Joel discovered his uncle’s dusty old trumpet and after terrorising the eardrums of the household, it was decided that he would begin lessons. Joel’s love for the trumpet grew quickly and he was particularly influenced by the electrifying playing of Geoffrey Payne with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Joel developed his musicianship in several programs for young musicians including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellowship, The Aspen Music Festival and the various Australian Youth Orchestra programs. He has performed with the Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, as well as Orchestra Victoria and the Auckland Philharmonia. In 2023 he made his professional solo debut with the Percy Grainger Youth Orchestra.
Joel has completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours and a Masters of Orchestral Performance at the University of Melbourne and spent three years at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
José Milton Vieira is one of the leading figures of the new generation of Brazilian trombonists. He studied at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and holds a Master’s degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
Prior to joining the MSO in 2025, he served as principal trombone of the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra (OSPA) from 2006, where he also contributed significantly to chamber music and education. As a soloist and teacher, Vieira has built a distinguished international career, performing throughout Brazil, United States, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Cuba, Venezuela and South Korea, and as a guest artist at numerous festivals, most notably the 2018 International Trombone Festival (USA).
He is a prizewinner at several major competitions, including the Concorso Internazionale “Città di Porcia” (Italy, 2015) and the Lewis Van Haney Philharmonic Prize (ITF, Paris, 2012). His solo album Plural (2019) won Best Classical Album and Best Instrumentalist at the Açorianos Music Awards. A passionate advocate for new music, he has premiered numerous works for trombone.
Event Details: MSO Academy End of Year Showcase
Date: Sunday 16 November, 11.00am
Venue: Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre
Visit: mso.com.au