Strings
of the North
Our premiere Chamber Music ensemble is making headlines from Cairns to Port Douglas to Innisfail to Townsville and beyond!
Meet STRINGS of the NORTH
Christine Marnane, Violin
Christine was born and raised on a farm in Atherton, North Queensland. She accidentally learned violin, was good at it and went on to study violin at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, University of Queensland and University of Melbourne. She was a member of the Queensland and Australian Youth Orchestras, and a founding member of Queensland’s Camerata. Christine performed in a variety of groups including music comedy as a member of Mozart Madness. She has taught and performed in Brisbane and Melbourne and Sydney She now enjoys playing folk and just about any kind of music. Christine leads North Queensland Chamber Orchestra and is delighted to be performing, conducting and teaching back in North Queensland. Strings of the North is a wonderful opportunity to perform all kinds of music with great musicians.
Christine was born and raised on a farm in Atherton, North Queensland. She accidentally learned violin, was good at it and went on to study violin at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, University of Queensland and University of Melbourne. She was a member of the Queensland and Australian Youth Orchestras, and a founding member of Queensland’s Camerata. Christine performed in a variety of groups including music comedy as a member of Mozart Madness. She has taught and performed in Brisbane and Melbourne and Sydney She now enjoys playing folk and just about any kind of music. Christine leads North Queensland Chamber Orchestra and is delighted to be performing, conducting and teaching back in North Queensland. Strings of the North is a wonderful opportunity to perform all kinds of music with great musicians.
Peter O’Reilly, Cello
After completing his musical studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, Peter joined the comedy musical ensemble, The Como String Quartet. Known for their irreverent and often hilarious takes on Classical music, the group was nominated for a Perrier award at the Edinburgh Festival, played on MTV, and even managed to do a cameo on the Muppet show. After the group disbanded, Peter continued more serious studies under the great Slovenian cellist, Milos Mjejnik in Austria.
On returning to Australia, he joined the Melbourne based group, The Binneas String Quartet. After many months of rehearsals, the ensemble gained a position as quartet in residence at the Toronto Conservatory and had lessons with such musical luminaries as Alfred Brendel, Eugene Lehner and Paul Katz from the Cleveland String Quartet.
As one of Melbourne's leading freelance cellists, Peter has played on many albums and film scores and has done casual work with both the State Orchestra of Victoria and the MSO. As principal cellist of The Rantos Collegium and the Australian Pops orchestra, he was fortunate enough to perform alongside Pavarotti, The three tenors, Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard and Led Zeplin. Peter moved to Cairns with his family in 2022 where after two years of back breaking renovations on an old Queenslander, is now a most enthusiastic member of Strings of the North.
JULY 2024
AUGUST 2024
SEPTEMBER 2024
NOVEMBER 2024
DECEMBER 2024
