Simon Hewett is the QYO Director of Music and Conductor of the Queensland Youth Symphony. After completing a Bachelor of Music at the University of Queensland (First Class Honours and a University Medal), Simon received a German Government Scholarship and finished his studies in conducting at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Franz Liszt’ in Weimar, Germany. He made his debut at the Sydney Opera House in 2003. In 2012 he was awarded a Green Room Award for Best Conductor of an Opera.

In 2005 Simon was appointed as Kapellmeister and Assistant Music Director to the Hamburg State Opera. He was Principal Conductor of the Stuttgart Opera from 2011 to 2016, and has appeared as a regular guest conductor at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera and Vienna State Opera.

Simon was appointed Principal Conductor of the Hamburg Ballet in 2008, and since then he has appeared with the Hamburg Ballet at the Salzburg Festival, the Spoleto Festival, in the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Moscow and Australia.

Paul Dean is widely regarded as one of Australia's foremost musicians in his multiple capacities as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, composer and Artistic Director. He is Associate Professor and Head of Winds at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. He is a founding member of the Endeavour Trio and co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Q with Trish O’Brien. Paul was the Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) from 2010 - 2015 and a Principal Clarinet with the Australian World Orchestra. Paul was the Artistic Director of the Four Winds Festival and the Tutti Beijing International Youth Music Festival and was also the founder and Artistic Director of the Southern Cross Soloists, the Bangalow Music Festival and the Sunwater and Stanwell Winter Music School.

Between 1987 and 2000 he was Principal Clarinet with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra on over 40 occasions. Paul has performed as soloist with the Queensland, Melbourne, West Australian, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia and Southern Sinfonia in NZ, and the Trondheim Symfoniker (Norway). As a chamber musician he has been guest artist with the Navarra Quartet, the Doric Quartet, the Heath Quartet, the Australian String Quartet, the Goldner String Quartet, the Grainger Quartet, the Flinders Quartet, and the Tin Alley Quartet. He has performed as soloist at many Festivals throughout world including the Oxford May Music Festival, the Huntington Music Festival, Alpine Classic Switzerland, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, Coramba Chamber Music Festival, Camden Haven Music Festival, and the Melbourne, Christchurch, Brisbane, Queensland, Perth, and Sydney Festivals.

Most recently Paul toured Portugal and Hamburg with Trish O’Brien, Jack Liebeck and celebrated Portugese pianist Filipe Pinto-Riveiro. Paul’s recording of the Mozart and Brahms clarinet works for the Melba label, and the clarinet music of English composer Benjamin Frankel for German label CPO have won high praise from critics around the world.

Paul was Composer in Residence with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2019 and has also been commissioned to write works for the Aspen Music Festival (Colorado) and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for a horn concerto for Andrew Bain, Principal Horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Melbourne Ensemble, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Q, Ensemble Francaix, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, violinists Jack Liebeck and Anthony Marwood, cellists Torleif Thedeen, Trish O’Brien, Blair Harris and Patrick Murphy, tenor Andrew Goodwin, pianists Daniel De Borah, Alex Rainieri and the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, harpist Marshall McGuire, the Brodsky, Goldner and Flinders Quartets, Katie Noonan, the Melbourne Piano Trio, the Seraphim Trio, the Endeavour Trio, Australia Piano Quartet and the Australian Flute Festival. His opera “Dry River Run” commissioned by the Queensland Conservatorium Opera School, premiered in September, 2018 and in 2017 the Queensland Symphony premiered the Orchestral Fragments of the opera.

David Deacon is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium where he studied violin and viola with Elizabeth Morgan and John Curro. David also undertook post graduate studies with the German violist, Wolfram Christ – Principal Viola of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. From an early age David was an active soloist, chamber player and orchestral musician performing across Australia and throughout Europe and America. David was Principal Viola of the Queensland and Australian Youth Orchestras and upon joining the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1996, was the youngest musician in the ensemble.

David developed a passion for conducting while he was a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1996 – 2006, playing and touring internationally with world renowned conductors such as Edo de Waart, Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit and Vladimir Ashkenazy. David returned to Brisbane in 2006 as Acting Associate Principal Viola with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra while also performing chamber music and teaching viola at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Throughout his music career David has also sought to understand music from many different genres and styles, performing in specialist Baroque and Contemporary ensembles, Film Music Orchestras, Irish Folk Bands and Jazz violin.

In 2008, David accepted the role of Co-Director of Co-Curricular Music and Head of Strings at St Peters Lutheran College as a new career path in music education and conducting. Since 2008 David continues to pass on his knowledge learnt through performing with the world’s best to music students throughout Queensland.

Chen Yang has had a long association with Queensland Youth Orchestras. He first joined as a violinist in 1975 and was concertmaster of QYS from 1978 to 1980, touring with the orchestra in 1980 to Europe, including the International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Aberdeen, Scotland. Attributing these positive QYO musical experiences as a major influence in choosing music as a career, Chen studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and graduated with distinction in violin performance.

As his first professional musical undertaking, Chen was the Concertmaster of the Queensland Theatre Orchestra (later renamed the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra), working under the distinguished Maestro, Georg Tintner. In 1981 Chen joined the Queensland Symphony Orchestra where he played in the first violin section until 1989.

Deciding on a change, Chen spent the next spent two years as musician-in-residence on Dunk Island Holiday Resort in North Queensland where he led a string quartet and performed as a cabaret violinis. He continued as a freelance musician throughout the early 1990s, performing in show orchestras for many major musical productions at QPAC.

Chen is the leader and conductor of The Sinfonia of St Andrew’s orchestra and is the string teacher and conductor at St Hilda’s School, Southport. He adjudicates regularly for eisteddfods and competitions and is also a prolific arranger of string music for the Junior String Ensemble. Chen was the conductor of QYO3 from 1983 to 1988 and since 1991 has been the conductor of the Junior String Ensemble.

Cherie Deacon began teaching the violin and viola in Brisbane while studying at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music under Elizabeth Morgan and John Curro.  While still studying at the Conservatorium, she was invited to play with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra as a casual member.  At this time, Cherie was the Principal Viola with the Queensland Youth Symphony.  She was also awarded the AMEB Sydney May Memorial Scholarship and the Inaugural John Curro Viola Prize. 

Marrying fellow viola player, David Deacon in 1998, she moved to Sydney whilst David was a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. During this time, Cherie taught at many schools including Barker College, St Andrews Cathedral School, Tara Anglican School and the International Grammar School before having her two daughters, Heather and Alyssa. 

Returning to Brisbane in 2006, Cherie taught at various private schools in Brisbane before becoming the Lower Primary Strings Coordinator at St Peters Lutheran College in 2008.  During her tenure at St Peters, Cherie has taken great joy in her role of starting the musical journey for many students who pursue their musical studies to Year 12 and beyond.

Dr Rob McWilliams was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. He holds a Ph. D. in Music/Music Education (conducting focus) from the University of Minnesota, a Master's degree in Instrumental Conducting from Florida State University, and a Bachelor's degree in Music Education from the University of Melbourne. Dr. McWilliams was a United States resident from 1991 to 2014 and served as Professor of Music and Director of Bands and Instrumental Music Education at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh from 1996 where he also served as Head of Music from 2011 to 2014. Dr. McWilliams has conducted and presented at major music conferences in Japan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Europe, China, all states of Australia, and has been published in the Journal of Band Research, Teaching Music Through Performance, and is a composer/arranger with Alfred's Music. In early 2015 he relocated to Brisbane, Australia where he is currently working for Yamaha Music Australia as their Education Outreach Clinician, as well as teaching sessionally at the Jazz Music Institute and freelancing as a musician, educator, conductor, composer/arranger, and adjudicator.

David Law has conducted the Wind Ensemble since 2009. He began his journey with QYO in 1997 as a member of the Wind Ensemble, and from 1999 to 2003, held the principal euphonium chair in the Wind Symphony. He studied euphonium at the Queensland University of Technology and has been playing piano since the age of eight. David is the Founding President and Musical Director of the Queensland Wind Orchestra, one of Australia’s leading wind bands, and is the conductor of Brisbane’s Westside Orchestra. Additionally, David has recently guest conducted seasons for the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra, Ignite Choir, and was the guest conductor of the Wind Orchestra as part of Griffith University’s Australian Honours Ensemble Program from 2019 to 2021.

David has been an invited clinician, consultant and conductor for Queensland Music Festival’s Cape York Instrumental Program, has been a guest conductor with Griffith University’s State Honours Ensemble Program throughout Queensland, and has been a sectional lecturer with the University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra. David regularly conducts various school honour bands and workshops across Queensland, and has presented at local and national conferences on developing and maintaining successful school band programs. Additionally, David has adjudicated at state and national competitions including the West Australian Schools’ Concert Band Festival, the Queensland Catholic Music Festival and Queensland’s MusicFest.

He has worked as Music Director, Conductor and Pianist with various musical theatre organisations throughout Brisbane and has trained in Music Direction at the multiple-Tony-Award®-winning Goodspeed Musical Theatre Institute in Connecticut, USA. David has also delivered adult and youth workshops for Opera Queensland as part of their Sing with Opera Queensland program.

David is currently the Head of Performance Music at Redeemer Lutheran College, where he directs a number of award-winning wind bands, string orchestras and vocal ensembles.

Bohdan Davison is a proud alumnus of the QYO Big Band, from being lead alto saxophone in its second year of existence through to the band’s inaugural performance at QPAC at the 2003 QYO Finale concert.

It is with immense pride and joy that Bohdan is back to direct and oversee the band in 2018. With outstanding musicians and support staff, Bohdan cites his time with QYO as a big influence on his career. Bohdan has performed and toured with artists such as James Morrison, Tommy Tycho, Anthony Warlow, Pete Murray, Melinda Schneider, Bobby Shew and Ben Folds.

Bohdan currently oversees his own Big Band called Enthusiastic Musicians Orchestra (EMO), and is Head of Bands at Anglican Church Grammar School where he facilitates and inspires the careers of young musicians.