Emma Ayres is a musician, music teacher, and radio presenter. She is notable for her work on the Australian ABC Classic FM

ABC Classic FM

ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...

 radio station, as well as for her numerous charitable efforts.

Background

Ayres grew up in Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...

, England. She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

 in Manchester, and made further studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin and at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 in London.

Career

Ayres was a professional viola player for twelve years—including eight years performing with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra , is the largest symphony orchestra in Hong Kong. First established in 1895 as an amateur orchestra, under the name Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957, and became a professional orchestra in 1974 under the funding...

.

In 2001 Ayres presented the classical music breakfast show on the RTHK

Radio Television Hong Kong

Radio Television Hong Kong is a public broadcasting organisation in Hong Kong that is operated as an independent department in the government under the Broadcasting Authority. RTHK operates seven radio channels, and produces television programmes that are then broadcast through local television...

 station in Hong Kong, and has been presenting the breakfast program on the ABC Classic FM radio station since 4 February 2008.

In 2008 Ayres taught at the Melbourne Girls Grammar School

Melbourne Girls Grammar School

Melbourne Girls Grammar School , is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in South Yarra, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

, and currently teaches cello to a wide range of private students.

Personal life

Ayres moved from Hong Kong to Australia in February 2003, and now lives in Sydney (cycling to work each day). In 2010, Ayres adopted Australian Citizenship.

Ayres has been involved in a number of charitable efforts. In 2000, she raised money by making a nine-month cycling trip from Shropshire in England to Hong Kong. In 2011 she helped raised over $11,000 for the victims of the floods in Queensland

2010–2011 Queensland floods

A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was...

by performing a number of public buskings in Sydney and Melbourne.

External links

• Speech: Abstraction and music: the atonal compositions of Arnold Schoenberg (21 July 2010) (January 2011)
• Australian World Orchestra Live on ABC Classic FM (26 August 2011):