Celebrating 50 Years of Music in the Pilbara

Honouring our Past, Inspiring our Future

To celebrate 50 wonderful years of the Pilbara Music Festival the Festival Committee, together with our generous sponsors, are delighted to offer a series of FREE workshops to our local community.

This special anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate the rich musical history of our region, recognise the many people who have contributed to the Festival over the past five decades, and inspire the next generation.

Whether you are a budding performer, an experienced musician, or simply have a love of music and the arts, we invite you to come along, learn something new, share in the joy of music and be part of our Golden Anniversary celebrations.

These workshops are our gift to the community - made possible through the generosity of our sponsors and the continued support of everyone who has helped make the Pilbara Music Festival what it is today.

Come and celebrate 50 years of music, memories and community, as we honour our past and inspire our future.

 

Faith Maydwell

Faith Maydwell is a West Australian concert pianist, accompanist, pedagogue, and adjudicator. Her performance career encompasses solo recitals, ABC broadcasts, and appearances as both a soloist and orchestral pianist with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO). She has lectured at the University of Western Australia and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), as well as examined for the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB).

Faith has been a regular presenter at the European Piano Teachers’ Association Conference since 2006. Her primary pedagogical interests include sight-reading, early childhood piano education (ages 4+), and fostering musical independence in students. She is also the author of Sight Reading Skills: A Pianist’s Guide for Learning to Read Music Accurately and Expressively and Piano Teaching: A Guide for Nurturing Musical Independence.

From 2014 to 2023, Faith served as the pianist and artistic director of the chamber ensemble Magellan, presenting quarterly concerts across Perth and the South West. Most recently, she performed a 13-week autumn concert series in Rockingham, with each performance highlighting a specific genre, such as the Waltz, Nocturne, Capriccio, and Prelude.

Mehdi Aghamohammadi

Mehdi is a dedicated classical violinist and teacher. His publications have contributed to scholarly journals such as the Piano Journal: European Piano Teachers’ Association (EPTA).

He has a Master of Arts in English Literature and synthesises linguistic and literary insights with the seminal teaching traditions of legendary violin pedagogues, most notably Ivan Galamian, to offer his students a unique standard of violin teaching.

Mehdi is looking forward to sharing technical and musical beauties of this wonderful instrument with students in two workshops of the 50th Pilbara Music Festival.

Myles Pollard

Myles Pollard is an Australian actor best known for his roles in McLeod's Daughters and Home and Away.  Before pursuing his acting career, Myles lived in Port Hedland and was an active particpant in the Pilbara Music Festival, where he was awarded the Deborah Munjak Perpetual Trophy for Most Promising Pianist Aged 12-17 in 1986.

His connection with the Pilbara and passion for performance make his return to the Festival a special opportunity for aspiring young performers