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Professor Liam Viney

Head of School – Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences University of Queensland / Pianist

Liam is a performer and scholar with interests in piano performance, especially duo pianism, and new music. As a performer Liam has collaborated with dozens of composers, ensembles, and symphony orchestras. He is a member of two ensembles in residence at The University of Queensland – UQ Chamber Players, and Viney-Grinberg Duo. Each group explores existing bodies of literature while also commissioning new works. He is a leading authority on Australian duo piano music, with a focus on the collaborative creation of new musical practice and thought. As a solo performer Liam has performed with a number of symphony orchestras, in concertos ranging from those of Mozart and Beethoven to Prokofiev and Ligeti. Liam has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works for piano, two pianos, and chamber ensembles from composers in Australia and the United States with funding from sources such as the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Fromm Foundation, Harvard. In recent years his work has been nominated for Australian Music Centre/APRA Awards for Excellence. Liam has been featured on eight commercial CDs on labels such as ABC Classics, Tall Poppies, and Naxos. Liam has served on the keyboard faculty of California Institute of the Arts. He is currently Professor and Head of School at the School of Music, University of Queensland.

Tim Topham

Founder of TopMusicCo / Author

Internationally recognised leader in music education, Tim has been helping to reshape and recharge the traditional landscape of instrumental music education since founding TopMusicCo in 2010. Tim’s vision of a more creative, modern and integrated approach to music teaching has seen him speak on stages from the USA to UK and Australia, including the 2024 Keynote to the Music Teachers’ National Association of America in Atlanta. Tim is the author of No Book Beginners, a leading text demonstrating the many benefits of delaying reading in beginner music teaching. Tim holds a Bachelor of Music, a Diploma of Education and a Master of Business Administration in Educational Leadership. He also holds a Diploma in Piano Performance (AMusA) with Distinction.

Gillian Erskine

CEO and Co-founder of Forte School of Music & Piano Teaching Success

Gillian is a pedagogical composer and developed the Forte Curriculum. She co-authored the popular Theory Fundamentals series and hosts Piano Teaching Success TV Q+A. Gillian started teaching piano at 17, but by 21, she felt burnt out and exhausted teaching 60 private students a week. It’s then she discovered a way to teach groups that was an epiphany! She developed group teaching expertise and went on to own and grow a large music school of 870 students which allowed her the freedom to pursue even bigger dreams. Today, she shares her expertise in Group Piano and unique Whole Body Learning methodology to help piano teachers globally explore opportunities to help make teaching more fulfilling and rewarding.

Samantha Coates

Samantha Coates is an internationally regarded author, composer, presenter and piano pedagogue, with almost four decades of experience in both private and group piano teaching. She is the creator of BlitzBooks, a music education series which has captured the imagination of students and teachers across many continents, and has transformed the teaching of sight reading, music theory, and the use of rote teaching in the piano studio.

Samantha holds a Bachelor degree in piano performance, and now specialises in pedagogy, with the particular goal of equipping her students with recreational music-making skills. She is passionate about helping the wider piano teaching community and regularly presents her own webinars and live sessions on a wide range of pedagogical topics.

Samantha also enjoys giving volunteer piano recitals at aged care facilities, in which she tailors her programs to maximise the residents’ memories and emotional connection. She loves dark chocolate, staring at the ocean, going for long walks, and shamelessly crying through Disney movies.

Angela Turner

Pianist / AMEB Keyboard Syllabus Consultant

Australian pianist and lecturer, Angela is renowned as soloist and chamber musician. In recent years, Angela has enjoyed a focus upon chamber music, most notably with the Lyrebird Trio, winners of all piano trio prizes at the 2013 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition. Lyrebird Trio was an ensemble-in-residence at the Queensland Conservatorium and the Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada. Angela’s engagements have included appearances at many of Australia’s finest venues, including Melbourne Recital Centre, Sydney Opera House and Ukaria, and festivals including the Port Fairy, Coriole, Mackay, Tyalgum, and Australian Piano Duo Festivals, amongst others. Since 1998, Angela has been on staff at the Queensland Conservatorium, leading a pre-tertiary program for Young Conservatorium, and teaches tertiary piano at the Queensland Conservatorium and University of Queensland. Currently the Principal Keyboard Consultant for the AMEB, her “Exploring” piano repertoire series is published by Hal Leonard. Angela completed her Master of Music at the Royal College of Music, London, and is a graduate and medallist of the Queensland Conservatorium.