The Arts

The Arts

Hale School has long had a strong and diverse interest in all artistic endeavours. Some of our most successful are mentioned here. We are gradually adding in photos and more expansive bios for those already included in this list. In the meantime, if there are any other Old Haleians you think should be added to the list, please contact our Manager, Helen Plange, on (08) 9347 0169 or by email at oldhale@hale.wa.edu.au
 

 


CONDUCTOR
Peter Bandy (1958-62)

Peter Bandy is a conductor of considerable experience with successful performances in such diverse genres as Choral, Orchestral, Opera and Ballet Music. Alongside his performing talents are years spent learning his craft as Music Director, Music Arranger, Chorus Master and Orchestra Manager. He has conducted most professional orchestras in Australia and New Zealand and has held important positions conducting Choral and Orchestral Music, Opera and Ballet. 

Peter has worked with a diversity of artists such as James Galway, Dame Joan Sutherland, Richard Bonynge, and Peter Schikele (PDQ Bach). He was Music Director of Sing Australian Hawthorn for four years and his association as Music Director and Conductor of The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet, (which performs annual seasons of popular ballets with orchestra in Hamer Hall) continues. He has also been Music Director of The Heidelberg Choral Society since 2011.

 

 
 


POET

Alec Choate (1929-32)

Alec Choate was a noted Western Australian poet. His first volume, Gifts Upon the Water, was published by Fremantle Press in 1978. Three further collections followed: A Marking of Fire (1986), winner of a Western Australia Week Literary Award in that year, School Girls at Borobudur (1990) and Mind in Need of a Desert (1995). Alec’s last collection, The Wheels of Hama – Collected War Poems (Victor Publishing) won the poetry section of the Western Australian Premier’s book Awards in 1997.

Alec's poems appeared in Australian journals and anthologies, were broadcast on ABC radio, and earned wide praise throughout a long and distinguished career.

 

  

OPERA SINGER
Callen Dellar (1989-95)

 

 


SCULPTOR
Christian de Vietri (1994-98)

Christian is a highly talented and successful sculptor. Christian’s works first came to prominence during the National Sculpture Prize at the National Gallery of Australia in 2005 and many are now held in major collections around the world. One of his latest pieces is the ‘Spanda’, a 9 story high sculpture located at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Western Australia inspired by Christian’s experience of the teachings and practices of Śaiva Tantra, and which is the world’s largest freestanding structure made of carbon fibre.

Christian’s contribution to the Arts has been recognised repeatedly, including by him receiving the 2003 Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award.

 

 


NOVELIST
Robert Drewe (1952-60)

Robert Drewe began his literary career as a cadet reporter at The West Australian at age 18 and went on to become a well-known columnist, features and literary editor with The Australian and The Bulletin, winning two Walkley Awards as a journalist.

He turned from journalism to writing fiction, with well known titles such as The Bodysurfers, Our Sunshine, The Drowner and The Shark Net - to name just a few, and  has won the National Council Book Award (Fortune), a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (The Bay of Contented Men), Australian Book of the Year (The Drowner), the Western Australian Premiers’ Prize for Non-Fiction (The Shark Net) – and many more besides. Our Sunshine was made into an international film, retitled Ned Kelly and starring Heath Ledger, The Shark Net was adapted for an ABC-BBC-produced international television mini-series and a BBC radio drama. The Bodysurfers, also became a successful ABC and BBC TV mini-series and was adapted for radio and the theatre.

Awarded a special Australian Artists' Creative Fellowship by the then Prime Minister, Paul Keating, he has also received an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Queensland, and an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Western Australia. He has lived and worked in San Francisco and London and been writer-in-residence at the University of Western Australia, LaTrobe University in Melbourne, the South Bank Centre at Royal Festival Hall, London, and at Brixton Prison in London.

Roberts most recent books are the best-selling novel Whipbird and a collection of coastal stories, The True Colour of the Sea. In 2019 Robert won the prestigious Colin Roderick Award for his book The True Colour of the Sea.

 

 

AUTHOR & MARINE PHOTOGRAPHER
Hugh Edwards (1943-44)

Hugh Edwards OAM is a Western Australian author of 32 books. He is published in six languages in 10 countries. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2009 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal ‘For services to Australia’s Maritime Heritage through the discovery of historic shipwrecks and as an author’. Edwards was instrumental in the discovery of important 17th- and 18th-century shipwrecks on the Western Australian coast, and was a leader of diving expeditions to them. He has been recognised as a ‘primary finder’ of the 1629 Batavia and 1727 Zeewyk

Hugh’s book Islands of Angry Ghosts regarding the ship Batavia, won the Sir Thomas White Memorial Prize for the best book written by an Australian in 1966. Other well known works include Wreck on the Half Moon Reef, Shark - The Shadow Below and Port of Pearls.

 

 


MUSICIAN

Andrew Fisenden (1994-01) 

Andrew has fast become one of Australia’s most influential ‘new generation’ drummers. He is a naturally gifted and hard-working musician whose career has seen him perform every kind of gig from small jazz clubs in Western Australia to 50,000 seat arenas in New York and across Europe.

Andrew won Australia’s Best Up & Coming Drummer Competition in 1999 and was awarded the James Morrison Scholarship in 2003. Since these prestigious accolades he has developed an extremely impressive playing history: recordings with Kate Ceberano and James Morrison, international tours with VOID and K, DVD recordings and drum magazine interviews are all notable achievements in his short playing career. He is now current drummer for Guy Sebastian and Pete Murray. 

 

 

MUSICIAN
Simon Fisenden (1994-98)

 
 


MUSICIAN

Robert Gladstones (1970-81) 

Rob studied horn at the Canberra School of Music with Hector MacDonald, graduating in 1985. He took up the position of 2nd Horn in the Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra (now the Opera Australia Orchestra) in 1986 and was appointed Associate Principal in 1988. During his time in Sydney Rob played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra as well as performing chamber music, musicals and many soundtrack and jingle recordings.
 
Rob moved back to Perth to take up the position of Associate Principal Horn with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in 1989, moving to his current position of Principal 3rd Horn in 1995. He has performed as a soloist with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Fremantle Chamber Orchestra, South Side Symphony Orchestra, Fremantle Symphony Orchestra, Swan Philharmonic and the National Capital Orchestra (Canberra) as well as recital and chamber music performances.

Rob is very active as a teacher and currently teaches at the University of Western Australia and Sacred Heart College. He is the Artistic Director of the newly formed Perth Horn Society. When he is not playing or teaching horn Rob is busy repairing and servicing brass instruments.

Photo: courtesy Nik Babic Photography
 
 


COMPOSER, ARRANGER & PERFORMER

Ash Gibson Greig (1984-95)

Ash is an award winning composer, arranger and performer. His work for television has been screened nationally and internationally in over fifty programs or series. He has also composed and produced scores for a string of award-winning short films, as well as several features, the game Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock, and is well known for his work in the Perth theatre scene as well as collaborations in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Ash has received two Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards (AACTA) for his music, two APRA/Australian Guild of Screen Composer Awards, 6 W.A. Screen Awards, and a Green Room Theatre Award, as well as many other nominations. 
He wrote the music for the Australian-made animated feature film released in 2020, 100% Wolf . The music for the film was recorded at Hale School with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
 
 


GLASS ARTIST
Matthew Goodlet (1969-75)

Matthew was an internationally recognised glass artist based in Western Australia. His studio based in East Fremantle and Balingup produces individually crafted pieces. His work is represented in private collections in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. Matthew had been involved in glass work since 1978, when he began apprenticeship in stained glass. In the 1980’s he started exploring and developing hot glass techniques. Sadly, Matthew passed away in 2013.
 
 


PAINTING

David Gregson (1943-50)

David was one of Western Australia’s most highly regarded figurative painters. His career spanned over 50 years during which the communicative power of art, and his virtuosic talent with a paintbrush, strongly informed his art and continues to influence many an aspiring and established artists.
 
 


MUSICIAN

Jay Harrison (1966-72)

Jay is a Perth born musician with over twenty five years professional experience playing the Oboe and Cor Anglais. He has a keen interest in the Baroque repertoire and has been a member of the ensemble Mostly Baroque for most of his career playing Oboe and Recorder. Jay was the Principal Cor Anglais with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for 32 years retiring in 2010. 

Jay is also a teacher whose career spans 45 years, including 30+ years at Hale and 2 years of peripatetic teaching Oboe, Clarinet and Saxophone with the WA education department.

 
 
 


MUSICIAN

Kim Harrison (1970-76) 

Kim Harrison completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours in trumpet performance at the University of Western Australia in 1980. Shortly after graduating he was appointed to the part-time position of teaching music and art at Hale Junior School. He also played trumpet with the W.A. Arts Orchestra, Will Upson Big Band and regularly augmented with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Kim moved to a full time Music teaching position at MLC in 1985, during which time he completed a Bachelor of Music Education with Honours at UWA.  Since joining St Mary's Anglican Girls' School in 1995 as the Director of Music, Kim has enjoyed co-directing the Hale St Mary’s Concert Band with Philip Venables. Apart from concert performances at each school, the band has toured on several occasions and played at numerous venues, most notably the Perth Concert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. 

Photo: Kim Harrison (left) with Hale School staff member, Phil Venables at the 2018 Governors' Concert
 
 


MUSICIAN
Anthony Heinrichs (1983-87) 

Anthony studied at the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music, and received his Bachelor's degree. During this time, he worked regularly with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, performing the Arutiunian Trumpet Concerto, and giving the Australian premiere of Dialogue for Trumpet and Orchestra by Wayne Senior. He has acted as principal trumpet at the Pacific Music Festival in Sappor and with the Australian Youth Orchestra and Camerata Australia, touring nationally and internationally and has taught at St Andrews Cathedral School and the Sydney and Newcastle conservatoriums. Anthony joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1995.
 
 


OPERA SINGER
David Jones (1993-97) 

After gaining a degree in Science, Music and Law, David was articled to the State Solicitor of Western Australia. He practised at the State Solicitor's Office for seven years, specialiasing in commercial law, before becoming a barrister. Perhaps unusually, he also has a second life as a professional opera singer, having been an artist with the West Australian Opera Company for 10 years.

Although law is his passion, David also finds time to 'give back' to the community. He is a board director of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of WA and of the Lost and Found Opera Company. David teaches law at UWA, is an Australian Council Peer and was recently named as a Bank West Community Leader for his not-for-profit leadership.

 
 
 

SINGER
Stuart Laing (1995-00) 

Stuart graduated with a Bachelor of Music from Edith Cowan University and went on to become an emerging artist at the Australian Opera Studio. His notable performances at the studio include in La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo. He went on to become a Wesfarmers Young Artist at the West Australian Opera Company performing the roles of Don Basilio, Don Curzio, Remendado, Nick La Fanciulla del West and Horace Adams Peter Grimes.
 
Stuart then graduated from the Guildhall School of Music in London and performed in the three main stage operas at the Wexford Festival Opera. On the concert platform Stuart has performed works spanning from Bach to Goodall with the Cheltenham Kings Choir, the Minehead Choral Society, WASO, UWA St George’s Cathedral and the Collegium Symphonic Chorus. He has also performed several recitals broadcast over ABC Classic FM Australia.
 
 


ARTIST AND PRINTMAKER
Leon Pericles (1962-65) 

Leon completed fine art studies at Perth Technical College and Curtin University during the late 60’s and followed with post graduate studies at the Birmingham Polytech, UK in the early 70’s. He is an acclaimed national and international artist who has been exhibited throughout Australia and overseas since 1969.  His work is held in all Australian state galleries, the National Gallery and private collections around the world. He is also well published, has won many awards throughout his career and held numerous solo exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas.

His witty and unique view of Australia, combined with his outstanding talent, has earned him a reputation of being one of Australia's most prominent artists. 
 
 

CONCERT PIANIST
Adam Pinto (1980-91)

Adam graduated with first class Honours from the University of Western Australia before receiving a scholarship to the Australian National Academy of Music, where he received an Australian Postgraduate Award, before completing a Masters of Music at the University of Melbourne.
 
Adam’s keen interest in new music has seen him become a sought after accompanist and premiere works by many Australian composers, and perform in festivals across Australia. He accompanies advanced performance students at UWA and regularly performs both as a chamber musician and as soloist throughout Australia, including with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Elandra Ensemble and Ensemble Vertigo in Perth. Adam has recorded as soloist and in chamber music, for broadcast by the ABC.
 
 


OPERA SINGER
Sam Roberts-Smith (1991-02)

Sam graduated with a Bachelor of Music and Graduate Diploma in Opera from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts before joining Opera Australia in 2009. He was then invited to join the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Program in 2012. He made his Opera Australia principal debut in 2011 as Moralès in Carmen, followed by performances of The Imperial Commissioner and Yamadori in Madam Butterfly. Since then his roles have included First Armoured Man in The Magic Flute. Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.
 
Sam has been awarded numerous prizes including first place in the 2009 Australian Singing Competition, the Joan Sutherland Society Scholarship and the Symphony Australia Young Vocalist Award.
 
 

PIANIST
Alex Sunman (2001-05) 

Alex is a pianist of international experience, skill and repute. He has been trained in Italy, Norway, Russia and Australia and sets the highest standards as a piano teacher, enjoying the challenges of bringing students from a low level to the highest standard. Alex also speaks and tutors in Italian and French for beginners and intermediate students.
 
 

GUITARIST
Kah Ngee Thong (1999-06)

 
 


COMPOSER
Carl Vine (1962-66)

Carl is a pre-eminent Australian composer of contemporary classical music. From 1975 he worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a variety of theatre and dance companies and ensembles. Carl’s catalogue includes seven symphonies, eleven concertos, music for film, television and theatre, electronic music and numerous chamber works. Since 2000 Carl has been the Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia. In 2005 he was awarded the Don Banks Music Award and in 2014 Carl was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the performing arts as a composer, conductor, academic and artistic director, and to the support and mentoring of emerging performers.
 
 


ILLUSTRATOR & CARTOONIST

Peter Viska (1959-63)

A few years after publishing his infamous ‘LIKE’ magazine at school Peter moved into a career as a political cartoonist and children’s content creator. He has illustrated over forty children's books. His humorous books include the Far Out Brussel Sprout! Series with sales over a million copies and his cartoons have been published in Nation Review, The Age, Sunday Observer, Herald Sun and corporate magazines.

Peter has been a major part of the Australian animation industry for over 35 years and heads Viskatoons, the longest running animation company in Victoria. Viskatoons became the major supplier of animation for the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and he is the creator of the iconic Li’l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers 26 episode television series. Peter recently created, executive produced and directed the 104 episode Jar Dwellers SOS series. He holds three Australian Cartoonists Association Stanley Awards for Animation Cartoonist of the year.
 
 


PUPPETEER
Tim Watts (1996-01)

Tim is a performer, deviser, director, puppeteer, improviser and animator who creates and performs original, imaginatively engaging theatrical experiences born from improvisation and experimentation. Since graduating from Notre Dame University, Fremantle with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in 2005, Tim has participated in international workshops, including studying clown and physical comedy with Dell’Arte International in Blue Lake California, puppetry workshops with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Fremantle and Blind Summit in the UK. He has co-created many shows, some of which won awards and continue to tour all over the world. He is a founding member of The Last Great Hunt and a Sidney Myer Fellowship recipient.
 
 

PIANIST
Raymond Yong (1984-91)

Raymond has gained widespread recognition as a pianist around Australia, performing solo recitals, concertos with orchestra and chamber music concerts with some of Australia’s finest musicians and ensembles. He was a Young Visiting Artist at the Australian National Academy of Music in 2003.
 
Also recognised as a conductor, Raymond made his conducting debut in 2010 with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.
 
He was the founding Artistic Director of Orchestra 21, Music Director of the Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Victoria Chorale. He is also a regular visiting conductor for the Barrier Reef Orchestra in North Queensland.
 
 

PAINTING & CERAMICS
Garry Zeck (1954-59)

Garry initially developed a solo career as a painter, after completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Western Australian College of Advanced Education. He then became interested in ceramics in 1974 after being awarded a twelve month Painting Fellowship at the Fremantle Arts Centre. Garry has produced regular exhibitions of paintings, drawings and ceramics and his work is highly regarded throughout Western Australia.


 
 


ACTOR AND WRITER
Meyne Wyatt (2002-06)

Meyne attended the one-year Aboriginal Performance Course at WAAPA and then graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2010. He has since appeared in several TV shows, films and theatre productions around Australia.   For his performance in Silent Disco, Meyne was named Best Newcomer at the 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards. His semi-autobiographical play 'City of Gold' shown in theatres in Sydney and Brisbane during 2019, was a smash hit. He also received widespread recognition and praise for his monologue performance from the play, on ABC’s Q&A program amid the 'Black Lives Matter' movement. 

In a COVID-19 lockdown twist, Meyne turned his creative skills to painting and broke new ground as the first ever Indigenous artist to win the coveted Packing Room Prize at the NSW Art Gallery’s Archibald Prize in 2020, with a mesmerising self-portrait.

Meyne was the only Australian to feature on Time magazine's 2021 TIME100Next list featuring 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future of entertainment, health, politics, business and more.
 
 
 



THEATRE AND OPERA DIRECTOR

Matthew Lutton (1994-01)

Matthew is a theatre and opera director who is currently the Artistic Director and Co-CEO of the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne. At the age of 17, while still studying at WAAPA, Matthew founded the Perth-based production company, ThinIce. From 2003 to 2006 he was the Artistic Director of the Black Swan Theatre Company’s BSX-Theatre program, and following this success was appointed as the Black Swan Theatre Company’s Associate Director in 2006. In 2011 he relocated to Melbourne to work with Malthouse Theatre as an Associate Artist.
 
Matthew is an award-winning director and has worked on projects ranging from intimate performance to grand opera, collaborating with companies around Australia and overseas including Black Swan State Theatre,  Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre, Opera Australia, West Australian Opera, New Zealand Opera and Bavarian State Opera. At the time of his appointment at Malthouse Theatre, Matthew was the youngest person at the artistic helm of a major theatre company in Australia.