Biography
English born Anna Starr commenced her studies on modern oboe and recorder in
Australia where she grew up. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the
Queensland Conservatorium of Music where she was awarded several prizes, before
choosing to specialize on historical oboes in 1999.
Following her graduation, she moved to Europe in order to undertake a
Postgraduate Diploma in Baroque Oboe in Amsterdam with Alfredo Bernardini, and a
Mastère de practique de l'orchestre classique et romantique on classical oboe at
the Centre d'Etudes Supérieure de Musique et de Danse de Poitou-Charantes with
Marcel Ponseele. In 2002 she also graduated with a Master's Degree in Historical
Oboes, also from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
Since moving to Europe, she has performed and recorded with baroque and
classical chamber music ensembles and orchestras in Holland, Germany, France,
Belgium, England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Estonia and Switzerland,
America and Australia. Anna plays regularly with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra,
and is the principal oboist of Musica ad Rhenum directed by Jed Wentz. She has
also worked with groups such as L'orchestre des Champs Elysées, The Kings
Consort, La Chapelle Royale, Concerto Copenhagen, Florilegium, The New Dutch
Academy, Ensemble Matheus, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and the Australian
Brandenburg Orchestra.
Anna’s
first commercial solo recording was released in 2004 as part of the Complete
Chamber Music of François Couperin with Musica ad Rhenum. She is a keen and
active chamber music performer and in 2003 was a finalist in the International
Telemann Competition for woodwind soloists, and gained the second prize in the
Brugge Early Music Competition for chamber music. She is a founding member of
the successful young piano and winds quintet, the Halcyon Ensemble,
who were
winners of the International Young Artists Presentation in Antwerp, prize
winners in the Van Wasseanaer Concours, and finalists in the York Early Music
Competition. In July 2005, their first CD was released on the Passacaille label,
and a second CD is already in negotiation with the same label.