Jazz Orchestras

Join the 2025 Summer School Jazz Orchestras stream to delve into the world of big band repertoire and improvisation. Work with some of Australia’s leading jazz soloists and directors in one of three ensembles catering for all levels of ability. Join the fast lane, sharing and enriching your love of jazz with peers from across Victoria.

INSTRUMENTS: Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophone, Trumpet, Tenor trombone, Bass trombone, Electric guitar, Piano, Double Bass or Electric Bass, Drumkit, Mallet percussion.

Suitable for students who have some prior ensemble experience. However, jazz ensemble experience is not required.

To be considered for this ensemble in the 2025 MYO Summer School, please apply for the JAZZ ORCHESTRAS stream in your application.

Vanessa Perica
Conductor
Vanessa Perica is an award-winning composer, arranger, conductor based in Melbourne, Australia. Career highlights include winning the APRA Art Music Award and Australian Jazz Bell Award (2021) for ‘Work of …
Vanessa Perica is an award-winning composer, arranger, conductor based in Melbourne, Australia.
Career highlights include winning the APRA Art Music Award and Australian Jazz Bell Award (2021) for ‘Work of the Year’, as well as the Music Victoria Award for ‘Best Jazz Album’ for her critically acclaimed debut, ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’.
Reaching number 1 on the AIR Independent charts, and number 3 on the ARIA Jazz & Blues charts, the album was also a nominee in the prestigious Australian Music Prize and AIR Independent Record Awards.
Vanessa has been commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to write compositions and arrangements for performances at the iconic Sidney Myer Music Bowl and Hamer Hall. The world premiere of the ‘Love is a Temporary Madness, Symphonic Suite’ by the MSO and Vanessa Perica Orchestra was a finalist in the 2022 APRA Art Music Awards ‘Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music’.
She has performed at the Perth, Sydney and Melbourne International Jazz Festivals, and with the Bergen Big Band in Norway.
She was named winner of the Society of Composers Jazz Composition Award in 2022 and 2023. Most recently she was also the recipient of the 2024 APRA Professional Development Award for Jazz/Improvised music.
Her commissioned works include the MSO, Monash Academy Orchestra, Australian National Jazz Orchestra with Vince Jones, Grammy Award-winning Producer Ryan Truesdell, Nadje Noordhuis, and the Australian String Quartet.
Vanessa is a Yamaha Artist, and the conductor for the Ministry of Sound Classical Australia/NZ National Tour.
“…there’s “a new sheriff in town,” she’s packing heat, and you’d best listen carefully to what she has to say.” 4.5 stars – Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
“I’ll give that 1,226 stars” – Jim McNeely, DownBeat Magazine Dec 2022 “…her record just me blew me away. It’s really incredible.” – Ryan Truesdell
(GRAMMY®-winning Producer and Composer), DownBeat Magazine Dec 2022
https://www.vanessaperica.com

Eugene Ball
Conductor
As one of Australia’s most active and versatile trumpet players Eugene has performed extensively throughout Australia and the World with groups including the Hoodangers, the Andrea Keller Quartet, the Allan …
As one of Australia’s most active and versatile trumpet players Eugene has performed extensively throughout Australia and the World with groups including the Hoodangers, the Andrea Keller Quartet, the Allan Browne Quintet, the Australian Art Orchestra, The Black Arm Band, You am I, and Dan Sultan.
Freelancing highlights include performances with Rickie Lee Jones, Joss Stone, Mavis Staples, Emmanuel Jal, Paul Dempsey, Sinead O’Connor, John Cale (Velvet Underground,) Jamie Cullum, Vince Jones, Mike Nock, Tony Gould, Don Burrows and John Butler.
Eugene is a prolific composer and arranger whose work has featured on countless recordings and television and film productions, including projects for the Black Arm Band, Kate Ceberano, Eddie Perfect and Ali McGregor. He has received numerous commissions for compositions from schools, universities, chamber ensembles and orchestras.
Eugene was awarded second place in the Wangaratta Jazz Awards in 2003, and was a finalist in the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2003 and 2006. He also holds a Masters Degree in Performance and Composition (Melbourne University) for which he was awarded a Melbourne Research Scholarship. Eugene was ABC Artist in Residence on ABC FM in February 2022.
In addition, Eugene is an experienced advocate of jazz and improvised musics. In 2003 he co-founded the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival and the performance space/organisation, Lebowski’s. Eugene served as musical director of the Eltham Jazz Festival in 2009 and 2010, and was artistic co-director of the esteemed Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues from 2019-2022.
Eugene has also developed an acclaimed career in music education, and has taught the trumpet, improvisation and composition as well as directed award-winning ensembles at Eltham High School, Monash University, the Victorian College of the Arts, and Melbourne Polytechnic.

Ben Nieuwkerk
Conductor
Ben is a passionate advocate for the equity of access to high quality music education for all students. His educational philosophy is underpinned by instilling confidence in young people through …
Ben is a passionate advocate for the equity of access to high quality music education for all students. His educational philosophy is underpinned by instilling confidence in young people through outstanding instruction, situated in extensive research of pedagogy and his performance career.
As an ensemble director, Ben has led professional, community and school ensembles through which he has developed a reputation for high-energy and expressive musicianship. This has led to opportunities leading Big Bands to performances at Falls Festival in Lorne, the Melbourne International Saxophone Festival, and Collaborations with the Australian Shakespeare Company. He has directed school ensembles to win their divisions at the Generations in Jazz Festival and as head of music at Castlemaine Secondary College has established the only symphony orchestra in a government school in regional Victoria.
In addition to ensemble direction, Ben has a passion for the intersection between freely improvised music and poetry which he explores through his own group ‘Ben Nieuwkerk’s Strange Awakening.’ He also performs in the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra and in horn sections in various ensembles.
Ben studied a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Studies) and Bachelor of Arts Monash University, and a Masters of Teaching at Deakin University. He also studied classical clarinet with Dr Brigid Burke and continues to seek opportunities to improve his musicianship and teaching skills.