Chrysalis Trio

About

The Chrysalis Trio, one of Melbourne’s most exciting new chamber ensembles, makes its debut in regional South Australia in 2019. This compelling program of flute, viola and harp is built around Debussy and Ravel’s masterworks for this unique instrumental combination. In between, a musical adventure takes you from the French baroque to the world of contemporary American composer Miguel del Aguila.

Formed in 2013 when all the musicians were studying at Australian National Academy of Music, the Chrysalis Trio comprises Katie Yap (viola 2014), Kiran Phatak (flute 2013) and Melina van Leeuwen (harp 2014). The Trio is one of the most exciting young ensembles to emerge from Melbourne’s fertile chamber music scene, and combines outstanding musicianship with a creative, inquisitive approach to repertoire.

Their name draws inspiration from their shared love of nature, and their time spent in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, where they would take breaks from intensive rehearsals at ANAM, and discuss music, nature, history and philosophy.

Their 2019 ANAM Artists program is built around Debussy and Ravel’s masterworks for this unique instrumental combination. In between, a musical adventure takes you from the French baroque to the world of contemporary American composer Miguel del Aguila.

Program

Ravel Sonatine en Trio arr. Salzedo
Natalie Williams The Chrysalis Game*
Bruce The Eye of the Night

INTERVAL

Rameau Pieces de clavecin en concerts: Concert no 5 arr. Chrysalis
Del Aguila Submerged
Debussy Sonata for flute, viola and harp

*Commissioned by ANAM and Country Arts SA

About the Artists

Get to know the artists that form the Chrysalis Trio.

Katie Yap – Viola

Katie grew up playing the violin and piano in her hometown of Brisbane. Shortly before starting her Bachelor of Music at the University of Queensland, she fell in love with the viola and has never looked back since. Katie studied with Patricia Pollett at the University of Queensland, graduating with Honours and a University Medal in 2011. She then spent three years studying at the Australian National Academy of Music under Caroline Henbest and Christopher Moore.

Katie likes to keep her musical life varied, and her favourite kind of musicmaking is with chamber groups. As well as being the violist of Chrysalis, she plays with early music chamber groups Ironwood Ensemble and The Muses’ Delight, and joined the Australian String Quartet in 2016 in programs of quintets and sextets. In 2017, Katie spent a month in Central Queensland touring with the Orpheus Club, presenting 18 concerts and workshops, and recording four new Australian works. In 2018 she joined Van Diemen’s Band in a national tour of chamber music of the late baroque period. Orchestrally, she plays with modern ensembles including the Australian World Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, and Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, and joined the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra as Guest Associate Principal, and the Opera Australia Regional Touring Company as Principal Viola, in 2018. In the world of early music, Katie’s orchestral playing includes groups such as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra
and Bach Akademie Australia.

She loves instrumental teaching and spent six months in 2017 at the University of Queensland, as guest Head of Viola. She also plays Scottish, Irish and Canadian folk music. In her spare time, she likes to explore a wide range of musical contexts, including busking, improvising, teaching and community music. She has a chronic sweet tooth, and firmly believes that it is always the right time to eat chocolate!

Katie plays on a viola made by Helge Grawert in Queensland, Australia in 2009, and a bow made circa 1850 by Francois Bazin.

Melina Van Leeuwen – Harp

Harpist Melina van Leeuwen performs nationally as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral performer.

An avid chamber music artist, she is a founding member of the Chrysalis Trio, formed together with flautist Kiran Phatak and violist Katie Yap during their time at the Australian National Academy of Music. Melina was a featured soloist for the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra’s opening 2016 concert series ‘Classical Visions’, and has appeared with the Australian World Orchestra, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, and both the Tasmanian and Melbourne Symphony orchestras. Highlights for 2019 include performing as a guest soloist for the Melbourne Recital Centre’s 10th Birthday Gala Concert, and appearing as principal harpist for the Australian World Orchestra’s July tour. Melina has performed in the 2014 World Harp Congress, 2017 Dark MOFO festival, 2018 MOFO festival, 2016 Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Canberra International Music Festival, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

A recipient of a National Undergraduate Scholarship at the Australian National University, Melina completed a Bachelor of Music in 2012 with a High Distinction average under the tutelage of Alice Giles. Previously, Melina studied with Xanya Mamunya and Jacinta Dennett. In 2016 she received an Australian Postgraduate Award at Melbourne University, where she is currently completing her PhD investigation into the philosophical writings of 20th century harpist Carlos Salzedo. In 2017 Melina was awarded a Norman Macgeorge Travelling Scholarship that enabled her to conduct archival research for her PhD in the United States and Switzerland, at institutions including the Curtis Institute of Music and the Paul Sacher Stiftung, and to work on Salzedo repertoire with American harpist Heidi Lehwalder.

Melina performs on a 2008 concert grand Salzedo harp by Chicago makers Lyon & Healy.

Kiran Phatak – Flute

Kiran Phatak is one of Australia’s most versatile and accomplished young flautists. Winner of the Australian International Flute Competition in 2013, Kiran was also a finalist and prize-winner in the 2014–15 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Awards. He has performed as a concerto soloist with orchestras around the country, and as a chamber musician at many major international arts festivals, including the Melbourne, Adelaide, and Four Winds festivals, the Coriole and Huntington Estate Music festivals, and the Perth International Arts Festival. Kiran is also a prolific orchestral musician, performing regularly with Australasia’s major symphony orchestras, both on stage and in the pit. In 2017 Kiran completed a contract as Principal Piccolo with Orchestra Victoria; he has also played flute and piccolo with the Melbourne, Tasmanian, West Australian and New Zealand Symphony orchestras.

Kiran is a founding member of Arcadia Winds, a group that has led the way for Australian wind music as Musica Viva’s inaugural FutureMakers ensemble. In the last two years alone, Kiran and Arcadia Winds have collaborated with some of the world’s finest musicians including the Australian String Quartet, Lambert Orkis, Ole Kristian Dahl, and Thorsten Johanns; commissioned and performed more than a dozen new Australian works; and embarked on the development of a groundbreaking online resource for the distribution of Australian music. A passionate pedagogue, Kiran has taught across all levels of music education, curating weeks of wind music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and the Australian National Academy of Music with Arcadia Winds; tutoring the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Young Symphonists program, and developing a show with Arcadia Winds and Musica Viva that will be seen by up to 15,000 schoolchildren per year over its three-year lifespan.

Born in Canada to parents of Australian and Indian origin, Kiran grew up in Perth, Western Australia, with early musical interests ranging from clarinet playing and singing to Canadian folk and Indian classical music. After dabbling in legal studies at the University of Western Australia (UWA), Kiran made flute playing his calling, studying at UWA, the University of Melbourne and the Australian National Academy of Music. When not engaged in a myriad of professional and amateur musical activities, Kiran is a compulsive reader and writer.

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