2026 Hatched Academy Participants Announced
We are excited to announce the four exceptional young composers who have been selected for Ensemble Offspring’s 2026 Hatched Composer Intensive. Chosen from 37 applicants from across Australia, with a huge diversity of ages, backgrounds and musical perspectives, we welcome: Audrey Rouge Ormella (NSW), Hao Zhen (QLD), Jude Donahue (NSW) and Moses Mohammed Kington-Walberg (VIC).
Hatched Composer Intensive 2025 - Image by Oliver Miller
These talented emerging composers will embark on a creative journey of mentorship and artistic development throughout 2026, under the guidance of Artistic Director Claire Edwardes and Hatched Academy Director Jason Noble alongside lead mentor Jack Symonds and an impressive list of international mentors including Lisa Illean, David T. Little, and Hatched Academy Patron, Brett Dean.
Their new creations will premiere at Future Classics on 21 November at the Utzon Room (don’t miss the show!). This concert features Ensemble Offspring performers Lamorna Nightingale (flutes), Jason Noble (clarinet/bass clarinet), Ronan Apcar (piano), Arkie Moore (2026 Hatched Emerging Performer/piano), and Claire Edwardes and Niki Johnson (Associate) on percussion.
Future Classics celebrates the innovation and boldness of the next generation of Australia’s most exciting composers. Complementing their works will be our 2026 Hatched Emerging Performer Commission: a new work by Californian jazz saxophonist and Grammy Award–winning composer Remy Le Boeuf, written for Arkie Moore, our 2026 Hatched Emerging Performer alongside Claire and Jason and generously supported by the Silo Collective.
We extend our thanks to our amazing community of trailblazing donors, whose generosity is the lifeblood of EO’s Hatched Academy. Now in its 13th year, Hatched Academy is an all-expenses-paid opportunity for all participants, hosting an impressive list of alumni. If you are interested in nurturing the next generation of artistic movers and shakers in Australia, we invite you to join our community of Hatched patrons – please get in touch with Isabella to find out how.
We are also proud to announce the seven participants selected for our 2026 Hatched Mentorship Program, our more casual coaching stream where participants are paired with a mentor for career advice and artistic guidance - Ziv Pinco (Sydney), Isaac Reed (Brisbane), Arthur Hayes (Brisbane), Duo Aki (Eden Annesley and Lola Schuele) (Melbourne), Kara Morton (Melbourne), Mali Laignel (Sydney), and Andrea Lim (Sydney).
We invite you to join us for Future Classics on November 21 at the Sydney Opera House for an afternoon of daring sonic ideas and a glimpse at the future of Australian music!
Meet The 2026 Hatched Composer Intensive Participants
Hao Zhen
Gold Coast, QLD
Hao Zhen is a composer, filmmaker, and pianist. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with double majors in Film Studies and Composition. She later joined the renowned Words, Text, Voices, Music program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she studied with Dr. Liza Lim and Dr. Damien Ricketson. Her work was featured in Limelight magazine’s October 2024 issue in the article “Fostering Opera’s Future.” Her chamber opera The Lullaby, created in collaboration with the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and director Lindy Hume, premiered in October 2024 at the Parade Theatre in Sydney. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition at the University of Chicago.
Jude Donahue
Sydney, NSW
Jude Donahue is an emerging composer whose work is defined by character, immediacy, and a vivid imaginative voice. Growing up immersed in creating symbolic worlds, Donahue developed an early passion for translating inner and outer experiences into music, excelling in formative studies and pursuing composition with focus. At the Sydney Conservatorium High School, Donahue’s craft flourished under the guidance of Jack Symonds, drawing strong influence from early 20th-century classical music. Their work has been recognised with several awards, including the Future Innovators Award and the James Easton Award for Gifted Composer. A dedicated collaborator, Donahue has worked with a wide range of ensembles and continues to build community through creative partnerships and new projects.
Audrey Rouge Ormella
Sydney, NSW
Audrey Ormella is an emerging composer based in Sydney, Australia. Her practice is inspired by the mangroves and birds of her local river, personal emotional narratives, and conceptual thinking. Audrey is interested in the way performer physicality and movement can be utilised to add meaning and depth to musical stories. A 2024 highlight was the inclusion of her short piece in the Goldner String Quartet’s “Goldner Variations” as part of their final performance season. Audrey enjoys working with unique colour combinations, having previously written for pipa and violin duo, as well as baryton and two solo sopranos. In 2024 an ‘operatic song cycle’ Time Has Legs, created with Hunter Bailey Watts and Grace Pfab, saw her experiment with live electroacoustic elements into performance. Audrey acknowledges the Wangal and Gadigal people, whose cultures, histories and voices are embedded in the lands she lives and works on.
Moses Mohammed Kington-Walberg
Melbourne, VIC
Moses Mohammed Kington-Walberg is a sound-focused artist from Boorloo/Western Australia whose practice spans experimental approaches to notated and graphic composition, free improvisation, sound art, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His work is driven by an interest in how different modes of making can intersect, and in cultivating music-making processes that are genuine, collaborative, and grounded in the people and places around him. Kington-Walberg’s compositions often take the form of playful, texturally driven works that employ hybrid notation, balancing structured instruction with performer improvisation. Australian art is central to his practice, with recent work shaped by studies in First Nations cultures and creative projects undertaken with mentors in Indigenous music.
