Music Teachers' Association
of New South Wales

Rachel Scott

Georg Pedersen

Marleen Broekmans

Warrick Dobbie

Sarah Ingham

Judith French

Chuck Harvey Gastador

Location: Manila

Maria Sung

Sally Maer

Originally from London, Sally studied at The Royal Academy of Music where she performed in the presence of Diana Princess of Wales. After graduating with an honours degree presented to her by Lord Yehudi Menhuin, she relocated from England to Australia in the late 90s.

Sally began her career as an orchestral musician working first with the West Australian Symphony at age twenty-two, then the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Sally’s regular appearances as cellist for television shows such as The Voice, Australian Idol and X Factor helped carve out what are now regular spots for young string players in the business. During her years playing on TV, she found herself accompanying some of the biggest names in the Australian and International music scene such as Liza Minelli, Lionel Richie and Michael Buble.

With her ability to slip effortlessly between classical and modern music, ABC Classics signed Maer to their label in 2005 as “Cello Diva” and produced her first album, ‘Bed of Roses’ accompanied by the ABC orchestra. Since then Sally has had another 2 solo albums with ABC Classics; “Celtic Cello” in 2016 and most recently “Cello at the Opera” (2017) which has reached number 1 on the Classical Aria Charts and No. 1 on the  Australian itunes charts. Maer’s recordings are aired regularly on Classic FM.

Sally had a once-in-a-life-time invitation to perform at the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli 2004 with The Peter Sculthorpe String Quartet and didgeridoo virtuoso, William Barton. Here, she was talent spotted by the manager of Popera sensation ‘Amici’, and was invited to perform as their guest act on their Australian tour in 2005. Sally Maer performed her solo Cello Diva show in all the major concert venues across Australia including the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, the Melbourne Hamer Hall, Canberra Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Concert Hall, Newcastle Civic Theatre, Adelaide Festival Theatre and at the Famous Speigeltent for the Melbourne International Arts Festival. She has also headlined on the Queen Mary II during a period of working as a guest entertainer on luxury cruise ships in between her job as Delta Goodrem’s touring cellist.

In parallel to her performing career, Sally has been a dedicated teacher since the age of 17, passionate about getting young children to learn an instrument. She studied Art of Teaching whilst at the Royal Academy of Music and has a teaching diploma in addition to her Honours Degree. Maer taught the cello at Sydney Grammar School for 10 years before training to be a Kindermusik teacher. She currently teaches the cello at Newcastle Grammar School, Central Coast Grammar School and started a string program at Pretty Beach Public School. Sally has her own practice, The Fleurys Music School which she and husband, JP Fleury, founded in 2013. It has been one of the couple’s life-long dreams to have a thriving music practice of their own. They also are the creators of the pre-school music program, ‘Maestro Possums’, running music classes for babies up to age four, which is the age when most of the children who’ve come through the program begin learning an instrument.

After making the Central Coast home in 2013, Sally has formed a warm relationship with the local symphony orchestra, the Symphony Central Coast, and performed the Elgar Cello Concerto accompanied by the orchestra. She also featured as a soloist at a special opera extravaganza concert, “Opera in the Arboretum”  in with David Hobson and Sally-Anne Russell. 

Dr Geoffrey Gartner

Dr GEOFFREY GARTNER obtained his B Mus (Hons) from Sydney Conservatorium where he studied cello with Georg Pedersen. He possesses Masters and Doctoral performance degrees from the University of California San Diego.

Dr Gartner has over thirty years experience as a teacher and performer and has appeared as a guest  lecturer at universities and conservatoriums throughout  Australia and the USA. He has acted as mentor to many young string players, guiding them through their  LMusA, HSC examinations and beyond. His recordings appear on ten different labels and he performs a repertoire extending from the baroque to the newest works of today, many written especially for him.

A qualified massage therapist, Dr Gartner takes a holistic approach to teaching the cello; correct posture, technique and good practice habits are fundamental to students enjoying their cello playing and achieving great results.

Dr Gartner is well experienced as a lecturer in music history, theory and aural and is renowned for his work with emerging composers. He teaches at his Woollahra studio and is currently accepting students of all levels.