Rebecca Chambers (born 31 May 1975) is an Australian
concert pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
from
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.
Early life and education
In 1996 she was named
Young Australian of the Year
The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...
.
She was educated at
Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...
. She made her debut as piano soloist with an orchestra at age 7.
When interviewed by the ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' in 2003 for a story about how winners of the Young Australian of the Year Award thought their country had changed, Chambers stated:
She won the piano section of the ABC Young Performers Award in 1993.
She received the
Roy Rubinstein Award while pursuing her master's degree at the
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...
.
Career and personal life
A solo performance with the
Manhattan Symphony at the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
was her professional debut overseas, as winner of the inaugural Panasonic Award.
She also received the
John Gaitskell Mensa Award for highest academic and performance achievement.
Chambers is married to Greg McMaster, a vocalist (tenor) and a personal trainer; the couple have a son. Together they started a business in May 2014 called Kidko. Kidko holds performing arts classes - singing, dance and drama as incursions and after school classes.
Chambers is the director of Chambers Music and teaches private piano lessons.
She is an accomplished ballroom dancer. She has also produced, filmed and edited five documentaries, which have been aired on Channel 31.
Chambers is a naturopath, having completed an Advanced Diploma in Health Science (Naturopathy) from Endeavour College (formerly the Australian College of Natural Medicine) in 2009.
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Rebecca
1975 births
Living people
Musicians from Melbourne
Australian classical pianists
Australian women pianists
Victorian College of the Arts alumni
Manhattan School of Music alumni
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century women pianists