Erin Helyard joins School of Music

The School of Music announced this week that conductor and harpsichordist Dr Erin Helyard will join its staff as a Lecturer in Music from July 2014. 

Dr Helyard is at the forefront of a new generation of young musicians who combine the latest musicological and historical enquiry with a passion for promoting live music in contemporary culture.

“I am delighted not only to be returning to Australia, but also to be joining an institution where I have access to a world-class faculty and an extraordinary collection of historic keyboard instruments,” says Dr Helyard.

“The School of Music has a passionate commitment to the highest values of scholarship, performance, and outreach, and I am looking forward to contributing to the vibrant musical life of Canberra and beyond.”

Dr Helyard has extensive experience in music performance. Recent achievements include working as Principal Continuo with the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 1999 to 2003, and assistant music director to Richard Tognetti for the 2001 Sydney Festival's production of Mozart's Mitridate.

He is a founder and co-artistic director of Pinchgut Opera and is a central founding member of the Orchestra of the Antipodes. Most recently he was music director of Handel’s Orlando for Hobart Baroque, for which he received universal praise.

“Erin is internationally regarded as one of the finest virtuoso-scholars of his generation, a musician with an already outstanding reputation as an expert in historically informed performance,” says Head of the School of Music, Professor Peter Tregear.

Currently a Lecturer in Music at the New Zealand School of Music, Dr Helyard studied harpsichord with Paul Dyer, Ray Harvey and Stephanie McCallum, and completed a Masters and PhD at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montréal in 2005.

Dr Helyard will join other early music specialists at the School including Dr Paul McMahon, Dr David Irving, and Dr Alec Hunter.