Our Committee
Associate Professor Anthony Ware
President
Anthony is an Associate Professor of Humanitarianism and Development at Deakin University, with extensive experience in establishing and leading organisations.
He is co-founder and former director of the Australia Myanmar Institute, co-founder and former secretary of the Development Studies Association of Australia, and set up and ran the Convenor of the Development-Humanitarian Research Group at Deakin University for several years.
As well as being the President of CPO, Anthony is the principal trombonist with CPO and plays with other community music groups in outer southeast and eastern Melbourne.
Kent Ross
Vice-President / Resident Conductor
Kent Ross is a composer, conductor, arranger and music educator from Melbourne, Australia. He has recently completed a Masters of Music from Box Hill College of Music where he specialised in the area of conducting. He also holds a Bachelor of Music from the Australian Catholic University in the fields of classical piano and choral conducting as well as a Bachelor of Music in Composition also obtained from Box Hill College of Music. Kent has musically directed and conducted over twenty-five musical theatre productions such as Les Miserables, Titanic, Catch Me If You Can and Legally Blonde. Kent has been nominated multiple times for best musical director by the Lyrebirds and the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria.
In 2017, Kent joined the Casey Philharmonic Orchestra where he was made Associate Conductor for a time but now sits on the board as the orchestras Vice President and in 2019 was appointed Resident Conductor. He has recently been made chief conductor of the Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra. In 2019, Kent was excited to join youth dance organisation Spark Productions Australia as Music Director and conductor of the Spark Orchestra for the company’s 2019 original dance work ‘Snow and Rose’.
Kent is also a published composer who has had a number of piano works on ANZCA syllabus.
Perren Mortimer
ALL ROUNDER
Perren has recently moved from the Double Bass section to Percussion where she can satisfy her multi-instrument skills and can still dance while she plays. She started playing Saxophone at 10 years old, Bass at 30 and has accumulated lots of other instruments in the meantime. Despite playing an instrument the size of a small giraffe, she likes the idea of music being played anywhere, anytime and bringing people together. Currently studying Maths and teaching Piano and Electric Bass from home. .
Philip McCahy
Treasurer
Philip is a benign urologist working around the Berwick area and in Gippsland, as well as being the Clinical Director of the Victorian Audit of Surgical Mortality at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He also leads urology trips to Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
His initial orchestral playing experience ended abruptly aged 16 when he stormed out of his school orchestra after disagreeing with the musical direction, but after a 30 year gap he picked up the double bass again and has played for the CPO since 2019. Having been firmly based in the City of Casey since 2007, he is passionate about delivering locally based services to help enrich everyone’s quality of life
Dr Vicki-Ann Ware
Artistic Director
Vicki completed a Bachelor of Music Performance/Bachelor of Arts at The University of Melbourne, and a Doctorate in music at Monash University. She is a pro-am horn player, and also pianist, cellist and oboist.
She has many years’ experience performing at amateur, pro-am and professional levels, teaching music, as well as 25 years’ experience in community music, conducting workshops, training in song writing and using music/arts in community development and peacebuilding.
Professionally, she is a Senior Lecturer in International and Community Development at Deakin University, with research expertise in community arts and arts-based conflict transformation. She convenes the international Arts/Sports CD Network, and the Arts Research Group (at Deakin). She is passionate about enriching people’s lives and empowering them to lead the lives they value, through artistic experiences.
Sonja Coleman
LIBRARIAN
Sonja is an avid music lover and ‘lounge room’ musician, who enjoys playing a range of fretted string instruments informally at home with family and friends.
While enjoying music from a wide variety of genres, she is particularly inspired by late Romantic era orchestral music, especially the works of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Celtic and wider European traditional folk music. Sonja is a fervent supporter of high-quality music education in schools, and is pleased to also have the opportunity to champion community music excellence through her contributions with Casey Philharmonic Orchestra.
Declan Coleman
GENERAL COMMITTEE
Declan is double bass section leader and the creator of entertaining intermission films that play at some CPO concerts. He is studying music composition (among other things) at university. Declan’s musical heroes and influences are many, including the Baroque mastery of Heinrich Schutz, the creative Victorian-era wit of Arthur Sullivan through to the brilliance of contemporary film composer Danny Elfman. Declan loves the interesting opportunities that the orchestra offers which combine music of the highest calibre with fun – especially being able to wear costumes on stage! – and fully embraces CPO’s approach of ‘doing orchestra differently’.
Gerard Tan
GENERAL COMMITTEE
Gerry has worked as a local General Practitioner (GP) for 26 years. He learnt piano as a child, and violin in his 40s. He isinvolved in other community orchestras in the outer east/southeast of Melbourne (Maroondah symphony, Dandenong Ranges Orchestra, Nicholas Orchestra), and is section manager, upper strings (violin, viola) for CPO.
He is passionate about classical music and his two dogs. Has found that music helped tremendously during his time off for cancer treatment, and is keen to share the benefits of music widely
Kristy Stafford
GENERAL COMMITTEE
Kristy is a full time instrumental music teacher, working both with primary school students during the day, and teaching at a music academy at night. She took her first piano lesson at age 6, and fell in love with music, adding many other instruments to her skill set over the years. She has played Flute and Piccolo with the Casey Philharmonic Orchestra since 2018, bringing to life her love of classical and contemporary music. Kristy has a Diploma of Broadcasting (Radio and Television) and spent many years hosting a radio show on 88.3 Southern FM. Through the show she met a multitude of incredible Melbourne talent, and continues to work with them on their musical projects, helping them fine tune their music prior to releasing it to the market, as well as being involved in the song writing and production process.
Hannah Hunt
GENENRAL COMMITTEE
Hannah has lived in a small country town, Winchelsea, for most of her life. Starting music in her first year of high school, she quickly found a love for writing music and playing instruments. Throughout her years of high school she has arranged many pieces for the school bands and ensembles, her favourite ensemble being the BHS Double Reeds. In 2017 and 2020 she was a finalist in the Fanfare competition. She now attends Monash University studying performance on bassoon, her primary instrument and hopes to one day be either a composer or to play in an orchestra full time.
Callum O’Connor
GENERAL COMMITTEE
Connor is studying music and teaching at Monash University . He joined the orchestra in 2019 playing the French Horn and was elected to the committee for the 2022 season where he helps with staging the shows. and giving the younger person’s perspective.
Orchestra Leaders
Section Leaders:
Upper Strings - Gerry
Lower Strings – Ben Gi
Woodwind – Kristy
Brass / Percussion – Anthony Ware, Vicki Ware