Held on the 26th Sep 2025
at 1pm to
1:50pm
Distinction in Performance
Stretch your legs and sample some tunes during your lunch break. Come along to hear this showcase of outstanding performers and recent award recipients.
This concert features performances by recent Diploma candidates, each of whom have achieved outstanding results – an Award with Distinction – in their chosen field.
Nibble on these bite-sized performances from:
Diane Jones, piano
Samuel Hooper, violin
Luke Frost, piano
with Meriel Owen as associate artist, piano
Event details
Friday 26 September, 2025
1pm (50 minutes, no interval)
Ian Potter Recital Hall, The Hedberg
19 Collins Street, Hobart
Enter via the heritage façade on Collins Street.
Concert program:
SCRIABIN Piano Sonata No.2, Op.19: Mvt I
BRAHMS F-A-E Sonata: Scherzo "Sonatensatz" WoO.2
BACH JS Partita in E Major, BWV1006: Mvt I (Preludio)
SMETANA Arr SITT Z domoviny (From the homeland), JB1:118: Mvt II (Andantino)
SCRIABIN Impromptu Op.12, No.2
MENDELSSOHN Fantasie in F# minor, Op.28 "Scottish Sonata": Mvt III (Presto)
With introductions from the performers themselves.
This event is free but tickets are required. Head to the Theatre Royal to book yours today.
Like our AMEB Tasmania Facebook page for updates, including all you want to know about our featured performers.
Please note: We’ll be taking some photos throughout the day to record the event, and post on social media. If you’re coming along and would rather we avoid any images of you, please let us know by 5pm Thursday 25 September, 2025, via infotas@ameb.edu.au.
The Hedberg Lunchtime Concert Series is an initiative of our partners at UTAS and the Discipline of Music.
Meet Di Jones
Di Jones has enjoyed a diverse musical journey across the last 45+ years. During this time, she has worked extensively as an accompanist, repetiteur, musical director and associate artist, performing with classical and contemporary vocalists and instrumentalists, choral ensembles, orchestras, musical theatre ensembles and big bands, as well as performing as a soloist.
Since relocating to Hobart from NSW in 2021, Di decided that whilst she loves working with other musicians, it was time to do something for herself. So, after a 43-year exam hiatus, she completed her AMusA (AMEB Associate of Music, Australia), receiving an Award with Distinction, under the guidance of Shan Deng.
Motivated by that outcome, she is currently preparing for her LMusA (AMEB Licentiate of Music, Australia) later in 2025.
Di continues to enjoy supporting students for eisteddfods, AMEB exams and auditions, and collaborating with other musicians. She is also the accompanist for the delightful Lindisfarne Riverside Arts Club choir.
Meet Samuel Hooper
Violinist Samuel Hooper is 15 years old and studies with Emma McGrath (Concertmaster, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra). In 2025, Samuel was awarded first place in the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Baroque Competition and, in late August, will perform for Virtuosi Tasmania. Earlier, in 2024, Samuel won the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra's Rising Star Award and performed as a soloist with the TSO. Samuel has participated in Australian Youth Orchestra programs and, in 2025, was Associate Concertmaster of the Young Symphonists. Additionally, he is a current participant in the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Cultural Leadership Resonate program.
Having received Sydney Eisteddfod’s Most Promising Young String Player Award Samuel is pursuing a career in music, hoping to both perform and to teach others the joy of the violin.
In 2024, Samuel achieved his AMusA (AMEB Associate of Music, Australia) with Distinction.
Meet Luke Frost
Luke Frost is a Tasmanian classical pianist and recipient of the Royal Over-Seas League Tasmanian Branch Prize in Classical Piano (2020), and has performed in concert series in Hobart, Kettering, Swansea, and the Huon Valley. He began studying with Jennifer Marten-Smith in 2015, and her mentorship has been, and continues to be, pivotal to his development and love of classical music.
In 2020, Luke was invited to record Chopin’s Etude Op.10, No.4 at the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Studio, which was featured in their acclaimed Daily Dose online concert series. That same year, he performed works for solo piano and piano four-hands alongside Jennifer Marten-Smith.
In 2021, Luke gave a series of three classical recitals at the Salamanca Arts Centre, featuring works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Chopin. In 2022, he performed alongside Jennifer Marten-Smith in the Kettering Concert Series, and co-organised a fundraiser concert for Ukraine at the Hedberg in Hobart.
Luke also received the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music Scholarship in 2021, enabling him to further develop as a performer and musician through his studies at the Hedberg under Shan Deng. In 2023, Luke completed a Bachelor of Music in classical performance at the Hedberg.
In 2024, Luke achieved his LMusA (AMEB Licentiate of Music, Australia) with Distinction.
Currently, Luke is pursuing a double degree in law and philosophy at the University of Tasmania, and teaches piano in Howden and Taroona.
Meet Meriel Owen
Meriel studied her Diploma of Music at Canberra School of Music in 1985, before heading to the US to study her Masters at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in piano chamber music and accompanying. Meriel is a Churchill Fellow, after receiving the 2013 honour to study harp in Austria and Germany. She is a freelance teacher and musician on both piano and harp and has played with orchestras across Australia, including the Tasmanian, Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, and Opera Australia.
As an accompanist, she has worked at the Australian National University and as a freelance including innumerable student exams and recitals, specialising in string repertoire. As a chamber musician and collaborative artist, Meriel has performed at many festivals across Australia and the US, and is a regular with Virtuosi Tasmania.
With over 30 years of teaching experience in Australia and the US, Meriel has taught at Canberra School of Music, Radford College (ACT), St Mary's College (TAS) and has intermittently taught privately between a full calendar of performance and travel engagements. Meriel has been an Examiner for AMEB Tasmania since 2018.
