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THE PARTRIDGES
Mana Ohashi - Violin
Jos Jonker - Violin
Eunise Cheng - Viola
Daniel Smith - Cello
MANA OHASHI
Violin
Mana Ohashi, born in Melbourne, Australia in 1997, began playing the violin at the age of three learning through the Suzuki method with teacher Kim Bishop. In 2018, Mana graduated from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) where she studied with Robin Wilson for three years and in 2019, she moved to Germany to study with Mi Kyung Lee at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, where she is currently in her fourth year. As an 'Emerging Artist' with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), Mana has performed numerous orchestral and chamber music concerts throughout Australia under the direction of Pekka Kuusisto. She is a founding member of Melbourne's Partridge String Quartet, with whom she won first prize at both the Queensland International Chamber Music Competition and the ANAM Chamber Music Competition. She has traveled to the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity in Canada, where she was mentored by the Parker, JACK, and Eybler Quartets, and to the Curtis Institute of Music, where she participated in an intensive course led by the Dover Quartet.
In 2018, she also participated in the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy in Germany. Most recently, she was a semi finalist in the Dorcas McClean Scholarship competition as well as participant at the NUME Festival and Academy in Italy and the Tibor Varga Academy in Sion. Mana was an awardee of the Australian Music Foundation Award in 2021 and the humble recipient of the 2019 Richard Pollet Memorial Award. Since January of 2023, Mana has been a member of the Hermann Levi Academy of the Bavarian State Orchestra.
Mana plays on a violin made by Munich-based luthier, Osamu Nambu.
JOS JONKER
Violin
Originally from the Netherlands, Jos has been playing violin since she was four years old. She has spent the last two years as a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra Academy. Jos has a broad range of orchestral experience including spending a year on contract as acting second concert master of the Philharmonisches Orchester Landestheater Coburg.
During her Bachelor and Master studies in the Netherlands and Germany Jos developed a keen passion for chamber music and currently is one of the violinist of the Partridge String Quartet. Jos plays a violin specially made for her by Patrick Robin in 2022 and plays on a Sartory bow (Paris, c.1920) that she was able to purchase with the generous support of the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument and Ars Donandi.
EUNISE CHENG
Viola
Founding violist of Partridge String Quartet, Eunise has had a diverse career performing locally and internationally as an orchestral and chamber musician. Although initially beginning her music studies on violin and piano when she was 4 in Perth, Eunise soon discovered an interest towards the viola which has since brought her to travel around Australia. She is now recognized as a graduate of the Australian National Academy of Music and holds bachelor degrees in performance from the Music conservatoriums of both Western Australia and Melbourne as well as a Masters in Music Research from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Outside of her achievements involved with the Quartet, Eunise is also a past recipient of the Wesley Scholar Music Scholarship, Kate Flowers Scholarship, Corinna D’Hage Mayer String Scholarship, Flora Bunnings Chamber Music Prize and Margaret Bello Chamber Music Prize. Eunise has participated in masterclasses with artists including violists Maxim Rysanov, Thomas Riebl, Takacs, Dover, Borodin, Goldner, Doric, Elias, Tinalley and Jerusalem String Quartets, Eggner Trio, and Trio Dali.
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During her three years of study at ANAM as a student of Caroline Henbest, Eunise performed chamber music with internationally recognized musicians such as violinist Anthony Marwood, oboist Dudu Carmel (Israel Philharmonic), Stefan Dohr (Berlin Philharmonic), Howard Penny, musicians from the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Paul Dean. Highlights also include performing in the Australian World Orchestra and being led in programs by prolific musicians such as the Ensemble Modern, Goldner String Quartet, Lawrence Power, Richard Tognetti, Brett Dean, Sophie Rowell and Benjamin Bayl. These performances brought Eunise to perform in venues around Australia such as the Ukaria Cultural Centre in Adelaide, Melbourne Recital Centre and Sydney Opera House (Utzon Room) and unique chamber music settings such as the Huntington Estate Music Festival, the MPavilion for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, ‘Quartetthaus’ as part of the Perth International Arts Festival and the ‘Sound Shell’ for the 4Winds Music Festival. In 2014, she was involved for a year in a mentoring program with the Australian String Quartet, the ‘Quartet Project’ culminating in performances alongside the ASQ in Adelaide. Outside of the quartet’s own venture into performing Australian chamber works, Eunise has premiered works including Mark Holdsworth’s String Trio ‘Primrose’ which was showcased at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery for the Memento Mori Exhibition.
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An alumni of the Australian Youth Orchestra, Eunise has fond memories being heavily involved as a participant of their programs including the AYO Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Fellowship (2016), Chamber Players (2015-2017, 2019), AYO Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra programs (2017) and the Momentum Ensemble. Through these programs, she has worked with prolific musicians such as Nicholas Alstaedt, James Crabb, Vilde Frang, Nigel Westlake, Ariel Zuckermann, Richard Mills, Erin Helyard and Simone Young. She has performed as Principal Viola with orchestras such as the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, ANAM Orchestra, AYO NMC Alexander Orchestra and AYO Momentum Ensemble. In 2021, Eunise was delighted to perform in Melbourne Recital Centre's Elizabeth Murdoch Hall as part of the Musica Viva Morning Masters Concert Series. She currently holds a position as a teaching artist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s music education outreach program the ‘Pizzicato Effect’ and is on the jury for the Musica Viva Strike A Chord national chamber music championships for the Yamaha Novice Section in 2021.
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Eunise plays on a 2017 Sato-Goodsell Viola - affectionately nicknamed 'Betty'
DANIEL SMITH
Cello
Daniel, a graduate of the Griffith Conservatorium of Music and Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) has had a myriad of experiences as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Having been principal cellist for the Australian Youth Orchestras for several years, Daniel received the AYO’s Peter Weiss Cello Scholarship in 2012 and selected as co-principal cello for their 2013 international tour (Dan got to play the cello solos in Scheherazade alongside legendary violinist Joshua Bell at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, an experience not easily forgotten!!)
Daniel plays regularly with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria, and has performed with the Tasmanian and Queensland Symphony Orchestra(s) and Queensland Chamber Orchestra(s) Camerata and Southern Cross Soloists. In addition to festivals attended as a PSQ member, he has played at major national music festivals including the Canberra International Music Festival, the Huntington Estate Music Festival, The Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, The Bangalow Music Festival, and the Darwin Festival. Daniel has participated in masterclasses with some of the world’s leading cellists including Nicolas Alstaedt, Li-Wei Qin, Alban Gerhardt, and Timo-Veikko Valve.
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Throughout his studies, Daniel performed in side-by-side programs with international talents such as Anthony Marwood, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Gurrumul Yunupingu, John Gilfedder, Ensemble Modern, The Australian World Orchestra, and the Elision Ensemble. In addition to being a founding Partridge, Dan has been known to occasionally migrate to New Zealand with his ensemble ‘The Tasman Trio’ with whom he participated in the 2018 Adam Summer Music School (tutored by The New Zealand String Quartet) and in June 2019 were engaged to play Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Wellington Chamber Orchestra.
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In 2020 Daniel is delighted to have been selected as one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ‘Emerging Artists’, resulting in the opportunity to tour with members of the ensemble as the ‘ACO Collective’ on tours throughout the year. Daniel also teaches music privately and through the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s community outreach education program ‘The Pizzicato Effect’ a program closely aligned with the principles of El Sistema; promoting the benefits of communal music-making to children’s development.
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Dan’s musical icons include György Ligeti, Jimi Hendrix, Giovanni Sollima, Björk, Rushad Eggleston and John Zorn.