Principal Accompanist.   Mr. Tom Buchanan     B.Mus (Hons). LLB. Grad Dip Leg Prac

Tom completed his Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree at the School of Music – Conservatorium of
Monash University in 2006, as well as undertaking a Bachelor of Laws, which he completed in 2007.  Whilst studying in
the School of Music at Monash, Tom majored in classical performance (piano).  His principal teachers were Mr David Bollard and Dr Kenji Fujimura, and during this time he also had the opportunity to study and work with numerous local and international artists, both as a solo performer and as an accompanist.

Throughout his studies at Monash Tom was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, most notably the Joan Earle Prize for Excellence in Piano
Studies, both in 2002 and in 2004, and the first prize in Monash University’s Concerto Competition, both in 2002 and 2006 (Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor; Anderson Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C).

Since completing his tertiary studies, Tom has taught piano at many schools around Melbourne, including Christ Church Grammar School, Geelong
Grammar School (Toorak Campus) and Korowa Anglican Girls’ School.  He was also admitted as a Lawyer of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2008.

Throughout his schooling and tertiary studies Tom had the opportunity to work with many choirs, opera choruses, tertiary voice students and professional singers from Opera Australia.
In 2007 Tom became the Assistant Accompanist of the Australian Welsh Male Choir and in 2008 he was appointed Principal Accompanist and Assistant Musical Director of the choir.  From 2008-2009 Tom was the Musical Director of the Casey Choir in Berwick, an SSA choir.  In 2009 Tom became the Musical Director of the Mornington Peninsula Chorale, and in this position he has conducted – amongst other works – Faure’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Brahms’ German Requiem and Bortniansky’s Choral Concerto No 32.

Tom has performed throughout Australia and New Zealand as a solo pianist, accompanist and conductor.  In addition to this he also regularly works as an instrumental and vocal accompanist  and as a chamber musician in a wide variety of settings – piano trio, piano duet/duo and balalaika/piano duo.

ASSISTANT    ACCOMPANIST

Lester Cheung  M.Mus.