Barry Ryan OAM, Artistic Advisor

• Graduated with Honours from the Sydney Conservatorium. His many awards for singing include The Vienna State Opera Award, The Marten Bequest for singing, The New York Metropolitan Award, the Shell National Aria and multiple Green Room Awards.
• Thirty-five years of international experience as an opera singer and concert artist, including performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Paris Opera Bastille, Opera Comique Paris, Komische Opera Berlin, Cologne Opera, Antwerp Opera, Basel Opera, Otono Festival Opera Madrid, Deutsche Opera Duesseldorf, Wide Open Opera Dublin, Opera Australia and all the major opera companies in Australasia.
• Leading roles include the title role of Nixon in Nixon and China, George Milton in the Australian Premiere of Of Mice and Men, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Scully in The Riders.
• Performed in six Australian operatic world premieres and is a recording artist of new Australian concert music.
• Performed under the batons of some of the world’s leading conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Zubin Metha, Sir Charles Mackerras, Richard Bonynge, Carlo Felice Cillario and Richard Hickox.
• Awarded the Order of Australia in 2013 for his contributions to the performing arts.
• Televised performances of Opera in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.
​• Lectures in Voice and Opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 2002

Dr Anke Hoeppner-Ryan, Artistic Advisor

• Graduated from the Hanns Eisler University of Music, Berlin with a Masters’ Degree in Performance and Opera and holds the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2019).
• Thirty-five years professional experience as an opera singer including performances at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater, the Otono Festival Opera Madrid, Opera Australia, the Victorian Opera, the West Australian Opera, the South Australian Opera, and Opera Queensland.
• Performed the title roles in Turandot, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Jenufa; other roles include Mimi in La Boheme, Procne in The Love of the Nightingale, Emilia Marty in Vĕc Makropulos, Leonore in Fidelio, and Lucretia Janz in Batavia.
​• Thirty years professional experience as a concert artist, including performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Philharmonic Choir, the Melbourne International Festival.
• Performed under the batons of some of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Charles Mackerras, Simone Young, Shao Chia Lü, Carlo Felice Cillario, Patrick Summers, Lionel Friend, Jörg- Peter Weigle, and Prof Rolf Reuther.
• 1st prize Hanns-Eisler Song Competition in Berlin, Bayreuth Scholarship, and the inaugural Helpmann Award for Madama Butterfly.
• Lectures in Voice and Opera including German Diction at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 2006; lectured at the Australian National University in 2018.

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Ella Orehek-Coddington, Artistic Director

​​Mezzo-Soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington is currently in her Honours year at the Sydney Conservatorium, studying a Bachelor of Music Honours (Classical Voice Performance) under the tutelage of Barry Ryan OAM. This year she is also undertaking a Diploma of Language Studies (Germanic Studies) at the University of Sydney. While at the Conservatorium, she has been an awardee of the Kevin and Margaret Duffy Scholarship, the Patricia Lucas Music Achievement Award, the Costa Rosa Harsas Award Scholarship, and the Quinquin Foundation Scholarship. She has performed in a masterclass for Gerald Finley as a part of the Fourth Fresno State Art Song Festival and participated in the 2020 and 2021 Demant Dreikurs German Song Contest as a Reserve Finalist.Ella has performed the title role in Mascagni’s Zanetto, Juno in Handel’s Semele, Joas in Handel’s Athalia, La Feé in Viardot’s Cendrillon, Night & Juno in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Spoletta in Puccini’s Tosca, A Priestess in Gluck’s Iphégenie en Tauride, A Bridesmaid in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Suzie in Reeves’ Ever the Best of Friends. She has also appeared in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. Ella has appeared in principal roles for Concordia Ensemble and The Cooperative, as well as in concert for the Con Lieder Series and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Later this year, Ella looks forward to performing the alto solo in Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Mrs Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Ella will also partake as a finalist in this year’s Demant Dreikurs German Song Contest

Omid Mohebzadeh, Chief Conductor & Music Director

Omid is a young conductor based in Sydney. He studied a Bachelor of Music majoring in classical piano performance and conducting at the Australian Institute of Music (AIM) under many prominent teachers such as Dr Wojciech Wiśniewski, Dr Suzanna Hlinka, and Dr Alistair Noble. From early on with his passion for conducting, he received the position of assistant conductor for the AIM Chamber Orchestra and started his conducting journey under the tutelage of Sarah-Grace Williams. Later on, he received a scholarship from The Metropolitan Orchestra as a mentee to further study orchestral conducting. He studied score reading, analysis, and conducting with Dr Mark Shapiro at Juilliard Online. In addition to work and learn from renowned lecturers at Sydney Conservatorium of Music such as, Dr Stephen Mould, Dr Daniel Yeadon,and Associate Prof. Roger Benedict. He is currently completing his Masters in Opera Conducting under the Helen Quach Conducting Scholarship at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He is a current guest conductor at North Sydney youth orchestra, Music director of Men's Shed Chorale, Music director of Eastern Sydney Chamber Choir and orchestra, and assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Orchestra. He is also the founder of the Sydney Concerto Orchestra in 2020. He participated in several masterclasses and conducting workshops under prominent conductors and educators, such as Rob McWilliams, Brett Kelly, Carlo Montanaro, Brett Weymark. He has conducted many ensembles, choirs and orchestras including the North Sydney Youth Orchestra, North Sydney Wind Band and Concert Band, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Sydney Male Choir, and premiered Ladies in Black for amateur theatre with Strathfield Musical Society. His experience in stage management and operations also help him to work and perform in many renown places such as the Sydney Opera House, Eugene Goossens Hall at ABC Centre, The Australian Hall (Sydney), Trackdown Studios and The Federation Hall in Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Jamie-Lee Xu, Repetiteur

Jamie-Lee Xu is a pianist, currently in her first year of the Master of Music Studies (Performance) degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, after completing her Bachelor of Music (Performance). She was awarded the Keith and Eileen Ong Prize for Piano on entry to her Masters degree. Additionally, she has received the John and Dorothy Vimpani Pianoforte Fund scholarship on entry to the Conservatorium in 2018, as well as the Molly Neale Memorial Award in 2021 and 2022. She is currently studying with Dr Jeanell Carrigan, specialising in a collaborative piano major. Formerly, she has worked with James Muir, David Miller, Natalia Ricci and has had masterclass experience with Graham Johnson and Amir Farid.
Jamie-Lee has received her AMusA diploma in piano (AMEB and IMEB) as well as top bands in Music 2 and Music Extension courses for HSC and an Encore nomination. At the age of 5, she won her first gold prize in the under 12 competition at the Inner West Eisteddfod. Later on, she won 1st and 2nd place awards in the Wollongong Eisteddfod, the Sydney Eisteddfod and the Castle Hill Festival of Performing Arts.
Jamie-Lee’s interest in collaborative piano began in high school when she was 14, where she was offered the opportunity to be the choral pianist. She performed with the two choirs frequently at school concerts.
Currently, Jamie-Lee has continued working alongside singers and fellow musicians, rehearsing and performing frequently with the Concordia Ensemble. She has performed in many productions with Concordia Ensemble, including Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Mascagni’s Zanetto, Holst’s The Wandering Scholar, Viardot’s Cendrillon, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas soon to follow. She is rapidly building a reputation as a very promising collaborative pianist amongst the students and staff at the Conservatorium. Once she graduates, she would like to undertake studies further and join an opera company to continue collaborating with other musicians.

Julia Nie, Administrative Director

​Managing the main administrative and logistical tasks of Concordia Ensemble, Julia is both a pianist and a businesswoman. Although she actively chose to not pursue a degree in music, she still works in the music industry as a piano teacher. She has left behind her day of concerts and competitions and instead is pursuing a future career in international law and crime. She enjoys a wide variety of musical styles and is a real enthusiast in the performance of music from the Romantic period.