Cindy Masterman is a Brisbane-born cellist, currently in her first year at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), where she is training with the esteemed cellist and tutor Howard Penny.
In 2019, Cindy completed her Licentiate with Distinction and recently achieved her Bachelor of Music. She continued to graduate in 2023 with a Postgraduate Certificate in performance under the guidance of Trish Dean.
Her love for chamber music has led to various opportunities to travel alongside the fellow members of the Tarilindy String Quartet, which was established in 2021.
She traveled to Canada, Montreal, to attend the Musical Chairs Chamber Music Festival and was a winner of the Ross Peters Chamber Music Prize. They also attended the AYO Chamber Players in Melbourne in 2023, receiving guidance from the Head of Chamber Music at ANAM, Sophie Rowell. Cindy has also performed as a mentee alongside Ensemble Q and, most recently, alongside the Australian String Quartet.
Cindy was recently a principal cellist at the Australian Youth Orchestra National Camp, which she has attended since 2019. Her orchestral journey began in 2014 with the Queensland Youth Orchestra, which she attended for six years.
She has been awarded the Piatti Prize and participated as a finalist in the Vada Jefferies Prize and Basil Jones Sonata Prize while studying at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
Aside from Cindy’s musical endeavors, her other interests are in fitness, and she loves going to the gym.
Cindy is supported by ANAM Syndicate donors Elida Brereton, Dororthy and Hans Carlborg, Mick and Margaret Toller, Michael Schwartz and David Clouston.
Photo by Pia Johnson