Matthew Walsh is a young but experienced classical and contemporary guitarist, currently in his forth and final year of study to obtain a Bachelor of Music (Education) degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He hopes to further his study in 2012 by under-taking a Master of Music Education.

Matthew first started playing guitar when he was 7 years old - a product of the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music himself where he was taught by Ann Lehmann. He has been teaching both classical and contemporary guitar since 2007 and at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music since 2010. He has been composing and performing music throughout this time, particularly for contemporary band projects - where most recently he had the opportunity to tour Australia promoting his own band's music and CD release through an Australian independent record label.

Matthew has also been taught and mentored by legendary classical guitarists Raffaele Agostino and Gregory Pikler. He is a member of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music classical guitar ensemble, for which he performs regularly.

Jens Hoppe has a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium. He has worked as a free-lance guitarist since 1987 playing jazz, blues, pop, latin, R&B, funk and contemporary music. He has performed extensively in Australia and has toured Germany.

He has been teaching guitar for 25 years and joined the staff at the Wollongong Conservatorium in 2002.

Nigel Jones began learning classical guitar in 1973 at the age of 4. His teacher, David Bowler was a former pupil of Len Williams – (father of John Williams), founder of ‘The Spanish Guitar Centre’ in London. Nigel attended many concerts during the 1970’s and met many of the great guitarists such as Andres Segovia, John Williams, Julian Bream and Paco Pena.

In 1980 Nigel immigrated to Australia with his family and enrolled at the Wollongong Conservatorium. In 1989 he graduated from Wollongong University with a Diploma in Applied Science (Nursing). He then enrolled in a 3-year full-time Diploma of Music Performance course at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. Some of His teachers include; Dr Peter Calvo, Dr Stephen Snook, Greg Pickler, Australian guitarist and composer Guy Strazzulo, Robbie Varga and more recently San Francisco based flamenco guitarist, Jason (el Rubio) McGuire.

He accompanies Flamenco dance classes here in Wollongong and has been playing and teaching professionally for over 20 years. In 2004 he gave solo recitals in the South of France, the UK and the USA. Nigel is available for tuition in both Classical and Flamenco guitar styles.

He joined the staff here at the Conservatorium in 2008.

John Spence was born in Dungannon in Northern Ireland in 1965. He came to Australia the following year. He studied composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music graduating in 1989. His teachers include Gillian Whitehead, Martin Wesley Smith, Graham Hair. He has continued studying with Greg Schiemer in recent years.

He has composed music for a variety of mediums. After completing his degree he wrote a number of chamber works including his second string quartet and a sonata for piano/harpsichord. His first symphonic work Sola Gratia was composed in 1993.

In 2003 his work for flute ensemble Waltzing the boiling billy was premiered by the Wollongong Conservatorium Flute Ensemble at a flute convention in LA. In 2004 he wrote an orchestral overture for the Viva la Gong festival. His orchestral work The Money Box (2005) was composed for the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. Some of his chamber works have featured on recordings of Australian works published by Wirripang and performed by David Miller and various associate artists including Mark Walton and Emma Knott.

He has also produced electronic and electro-acoustic works. His recent collection entitled The Absentee Performer consists of early electronic music created with analogue based electronics as well as new works focusing on microtonality using traditional orchestral instrumentalists with computer assisted electronics.

He is a producer, arranger and session musician working at Studios 301 and Albert Recording Studios working across many different genres. He also teaches harmony and composition at the Wollongong Conservatorium.