James Monro
ANAM Musician (Cello, 1st year 2026)
As a performer, chamber music is my favourite flavour of music. It demands a balance: listening as much as playing, shaping a collective interpretation while leaving space for individual expression and spontaneity. This is the balance I want at the centre of my musical life, and I believe ANAM is the place to cultivate it.
Pedagogically, chamber music provides some of the most rigorous and transferable training available to a musician. The constant need to communicate, blend, and adjust requires heightened listening and score awareness, skills that I find are underappreciated in solo and orchestral playing. I’ll be studying with Howard Penny, and I am eager to work with him to fold the nuance and sensitivity of chamber playing into my solo voice. Beyond calibre of its musicians and faculty, I’m drawn to ANAM by its chamber focus, refreshing emphasis on new music through the ANAM Set, imaginative concert programming, and depth of interpretation.
Performing Strauss' Death and Transfiguration under the baton of Simone Young at the ANAM 30th Gala promises to be a transformative experience (perhaps even transfigurative). I’ve only ever witnessed her artistry from the back of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, so the opportunity to observe and engage with her rehearsal process up close is thrilling.
ANAM Day One at the Abbotsford Convent. Photo credit: Pia Johnson.
James Monro headshot by Peter Hislop
James is supported by ANAM Syndicate donors Elaine Canty AM and Roy Masters AM, Mary Oliver