About
Australian violinist and creator Simone Slattery, a 2019 Churchill Fellow, is one of the most versatile young musicians and performers of her generation, with a passion for music from a wide range of eras. Her performances nationally and internationally, on both modern and baroque violin, have received critical acclaim, and her compositions described as “stunning”. Simone has appeared as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician internationally, and performs regularly in festivals ranging from the Adelaide Festival, to the BBC Proms, to Woodford Folk Festival.
Simone graduated from the University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium of Music in 2009 with first class Honours, before completing two years at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). She has attended summer schools and mentorships in Australia, Canada, America and Europe. She is the recipient of awards and scholarships from the Winston Churchill Foundation, the Kevin Taylor Legacy, Arts South Australia, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, the Elder Conservatorium of Music, and the Australia Council for the Arts. In 2018, Simone was awarded a PhD in music performance with a Dean’s Commendation from the University of Adelaide.
In 2017 Simone co-founded the award-winning Bowerbird Collective, an arts organisation that seeks to explore links between art and science. The Collective’s works to date include Where Song Began, winner of a Ruby Award and performed over 100 times, Life on Land’s Edge, winner of an Independent Arts Foundation Award for Innovation, Kaurna Yarta - The Seasons, the Moonbird and Lyrebird Festivals, and Songs of Disappearance Birds/Frogs/Mammals which reached the top of the ARIA charts.
Simone’s compositions have featured in live performance, radio, film, exhibitions and installations, including the Art Gallery of South Australia’s ‘Clarice Beckett: the present moment’ retrospective, and Tourism Australia’s immersive nature experience ‘Australian Geographic: Our Country’. Her creations have been described as “a delicate and beautiful fusion” and “like being sung to by the country”.