About us

Huw Dann

Huw completed his BMus at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. Huw was a member of the Sydney Sinfonia, a training program run by the Sydney Symphony from 2005-2007 and from 2007-2009 studied at the Center for Advanced Musical Studies (USA), where he studied with trumpeters Hakan Hardenberger, Thomas Stevens, Mark Gould, Markus Stockhausen, Stephen Burns and Edward Carroll.

Before moving to Auckland in 2009 to take up the position of associate principal trumpet with the orchestra, Huw freelanced in Melbourne, performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Huw has also been guest principal trumpet with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Huw worked with the Melbourne Symphony's education program and was Head of Brass at Presbyterian Ladies' College (Melbourne).

Along with Huw's many performances in concert halls across Australia and New Zealand, he has performed as a soloist in China, America and Canada. He has performed in the middle of the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of eighty thousand spectators and has even performed for the Queen at a private dinner party.

Huw enjoys reading, cryptic crosswords and is a passionate supporter of the Melbourne Demons.

He is an artist teacher at the University of Auckland and also teaches trumpet privately in Auckland.

Emma Eden

Emma Richards

Emma began her musical life in Timaru at the age of 9 playing the tenor horn in the Waimataitai School Brass Band. From here she continued on to study the french horn at Massey University in Wellington with Heather Thompson. While still studying Emma won the position of 2nd horn in the Vector Wellington Orchestra.

After graduating with first class honours in 2007 Emma travelled to Canada where she was selected to attend the Banff Summer School and to Toronto where she undertook an intensive horn course with Joan Watson. In 2011 Emma returned to Toronto to attend and perform in the International Women’s Brass conference and to do further horn study with Joan.

Emma has performed in various orchestras and ensembles throughout New Zealand, Australia, China, Canada, London and Tonga including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Choral Society, St Mathews Chamber Orchestra and is looking forward to playing Horn Concerto No.1 by Strauss with the Manukau Symphony Orchestra in 2012.

In 2009 Emma won principal horn of Vector Wellington Orchestra but left this position in 2010 to take up the position of principal third horn with the Auckland Philharmonia.

Outside of music Emma also enjoys waterskiing, surfing, gardening and crochet.

John Gluyas

John Gluyas (MMus) is a graduate of the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jorgen van Rijen, the solo trombonist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

He is an internationally experienced musician having played with the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra, Macau Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Auckland Philharmonia to name a few. John has also worked in the commercial music scene performing in musicals such as Dusty Springfield the Musical, My Fair Lady and has recorded for film tracks and TV advertisements.

As well as being an inspirational teacher, John is an experienced arranger/composer of brass music and is the music director/conductor of the Auckland City Brass Band. John has held the highly regarded position of Head of Brass at St Michaels Grammar in Melbourne, brass leader at summer schools for the Melbourne Youth Music program and has been the lower brass tutor for Orchestra Victoria’s education program Move.

John is passionate about new music. He is a member of and regularly performs with the ARKO Symphonic Project based in Melbourne. In 2007 and 2009 he attended the IMPULS New Music mastercourse in Graz, Austria where he studied with trombone soloist and composer Mike Svoboda. During this course he performed with Klangform Wien. In 2011 he performed the world premiere of KURSK: an Oratorio Requiem by composer David Chisholm, as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Although trombone is his specialty John is experienced in teaching all the lower brass instruments and regularly performs on the bass trombone, renaissance sackbut, euphonium and tuba.