Meet The Team
Anika Collins
Violin
Akiko Miyazawa
Director
Violin
Piano
Lachlan Skipworth
Composition
Theory
Momo Foord
Violin
Our Founders
Akiko Miyazawa
- Violinist -
Akiko Miyazawa is the artistic director of Cygnus Arioso and a member of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. She was born in Japan and began studying the violin at age three. She completed her Bachelor and Master of Music at the Kyoto City University of Arts, winning the faculty award in 2007. She studied violin with Midori Kugota and chamber music with Noboru Kamimura and Kyoko Shikata. During this time, she performed regularly with the Hyogo PAC Orchestra, the Kyoto Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. She was invited to give solo performances at the Izumi Hall, Osaka and the Kirishima International Music Festival in Kagoshima.
During her Masters, Akiko undertook an exchange year to Germany to study with the leading Polish Violinist Magdalena Rezler at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik. After finishing her studies in Kyoto, she returned once more to Freiburg, where she completed a Diploma of Advanced Studies with assistance from the Scholarship of Baden-Württemberg. She also held a practicum position in the first violin section of the Philharmonisches Orchester Stadttheater Freiburg. In 2011, she then took up a second violin contract with the Deutsches Nationaltheater, Staatskapelle in Weimar.
Lachlan Skipworth
- Composer -
Hailed as having perhaps "the most immediately attractive composing voice in Australian music," Lachlan Skipworth blends an evocative harmonic palette with the intricacy and sophistication of classical tradition. Skipworth’s distinctive oeuvre draws on a breadth of musical influences, including several formative years spent in Japan studying the shakuhachi — an experience that continues to shape his compositional voice. Marked by technical finesse and an inquisitive spirit, his music resonates with performers and audiences alike, securing his place as a leading voice in Australian composition.
Winning the prestigious 2016 Paul Lowin Prize for his Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra firmly established Skipworth’s reputation and marked broader industry recognition. His orchestral work Spiritus won the 2017 Albert H. Maggs Award from the University of Melbourne and the highly competitive New England Philharmonic annual call for scores. Pine Chant, created in collaboration with dendrochronologists at the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, received the 2023 APRA Art Music Award for Chamber Work of the Year. Skipworth’s recordings draw critical acclaim, including a five-star Limelight review for his debut album, an ARIA nomination for his second, and a feature on ABC Classic for his latest release Altiora Peto.
