Marie Searles

Pianist Marie Searles completed a Bachelor of Music at the Canberra School of Music in 2002 studying with Susanne Powell. Throughout her degree she took an avid interest in accompaniment and chamber music, twice winning the Margaret Smiles Accompaniment Prize for the best vocal and instrumental accompanist. Marie pursued further tertiary studies with David Miller at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, completing her Masters in Accompaniment in 2004. As part of her postgraduate studies, Marie performed with fantastic musicians including Caroline Henbest, Ben Jacks and Michael Halliwell. She has appeared with the Sydney Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra conducted by Brett Dean and has also participated in master classes with Steven Isserlis, Ian Brown, Cristophe Coin and Peter Wispelway. In 2004, Marie took part in the Conservatorium's annual Southern tour performing concerts and holding school master classes at various regional centres throughout southern New South Wales. In the same year, Marie competed in the Mietta Song Recital Award in Melbourne where she accompanied the winning singer (Sharon Zhai) in the finals. In 2005, Marie was awarded a bUzz grant from the Australia Council for the Arts to record a promotional CD. In September this year Marie will be relocating to Europe to continue further studies.