Brandenburg By Day
The team behind our first lunchtime concert for schools
Brandenburg By Day is a new concert series, inviting primary school students into the concert hall to experience the magic of a live Brandenburg performance.
As the national early music flagship orchestra, The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is renowned for its energetic spirit, stylistic diversity, ambition and innovation.
The Brandenburg By Day concert series is supported by curriculum aligned education resources created by specialist primary school music teachers in collaboration with our early music experts to help teachers deepen and extend the concert experience for their students through
classroom music activities.
Paul Dyer AO
Artistic Director
Paul Dyer is one of Australia’s foremost specialists in historically informed performance.
Paul co-founded the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in 1989 after completing postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague, and has served as its Artistic Director and Conductor ever since. A visionary performer and musical thinker, Paul is known for his adventurous spirit and for collaborating across genres with circus performers, contemporary dancers, and visual artists. His performances have taken him across Europe, Asia, the USA, and Canada, and his innovative approach to stagecraft continues to shape the Brandenburg’s distinctive artistic identity.
A passionate champion of Australian music, Paul has been instrumental in commissioning new works by Australian composers, often weaving early music traditions with contemporary sound worlds. His artistic leadership has also fostered meaningful collaborations with First Nations musicians, including Rrawun Maymuru and Marcus Corowa. These landmark projects blend ancient songlines with Baroque textures, offering audiences a profound and uniquely Australian musical experience.
Paul is a dedicated educator, having held teaching roles at leading institutions including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He is also the driving force behind the Brandenburg Mentorship Program, which supports and develops the next generation of early music performers.
Over the course of his career, Paul has performed with many of the world’s most celebrated soloists, including Andreas Scholl, Cyndia Sieden, Marc Destrubé, Hidemi Suzuki, Stefano Montanari, Xavier de Maistre, Shunske Sato, Maurice Steger, Riccardo Minasi, Yvonne Kenny, Emma Kirkby, Philippe Jaroussky, Samuel Mariño, Francesco Corti, Simone Kermes, and Yukie Sato.
Career highlights include the Brandenburg’s European tour with Andreas Scholl in 2001, his Tokyo debut in 1998, and numerous national and international accolades for his recordings with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Brandenburg Choir, which include five ARIA Awards for Best Australian Classical Album. More recently, Paul featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film Spectre and, in 2024 and appeared in the acclaimed documentary film Mozart’s Sister.
Beyond the podium, Paul is an avid cook, traveller, and lifelong connector of people and cultures. Through the Brandenburg’s programming, he continues to foster dynamic collaborations between Australian and international artists.
Paul was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2013 for his distinguished service to the performing arts. He is also a recipient of a Churchill Fellowship (1995), the Centenary Medal (2003), and the University of Sydney Alumni Medal for Professional Achievement (2010).
Matthew Manchester
Presenter
Originally from country NSW, Matthew Manchester is one of Australia’s leading early music performers and educators.
He appears regularly on cornetto and baroque trumpet with all of the major early music groups in Australia, and has been playing with Brandenburg for over two decades.
In addition to a busy local and international performance schedule, Matthew conducts the NSW Schools Symphony Wind Orchestra, directs the acclaimed Fort Street Instrumental Music Program, and lectures in historically-informed performance and cornetto at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Angela Wagstaff
Resource Writer
Angela Wagstaff is a music educator and visual artist with over 27 years of experience in teaching and fostering inclusive learning environments. She holds tertiary qualifications in both Music Education and Visual Art and is a First Nations woman, from Lutruwita/Tasmania.
Angela is dedicated to ensuring that children have the opportunity to engage with and participate in Music learning and believes in the importance of cultivating a love of the arts and a sense of agency within artistic expression. Her work as a Music educator, co-ordinator and ensemble director has spanned all ages from pre-K to year 12, and she enjoys helping students learn to see themselves as young musicians.
In her professional practice, Angela has an interest in integrating traditional and innovative practices. She enjoys developing the expanded potential of this synergistic combination in the classroom, as an artist and in her role as education consultant for Musica Viva.
Angela is passionate about enabling Music education to thrive in schools and empowering music educators to continue developing their practice throughout their careers.
