ABOUT
Justin Beere is Associate Principal Clarinet of Orchestra Victoria and founding Artistic Director of the Melbourne Chamber Players. He has established himself as a versatile orchestral and chamber musician, with a performance career spanning Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
He regularly appears as Guest Principal and E-flat Clarinet with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian World Orchestra, and has extensive experience across opera and ballet repertoire through his work with Orchestra Victoria, performing for Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet. His playing has been broadcast on ABC Classic, 3MBS, Radio New Zealand, Opera Europa, and ABC Classics.
Justin is also active as a recording artist, contributing to television and film soundtracks. His credits include The Messenger (score by Bryony Marks), The Newsreader, and the recent series Dog Park.
A committed chamber musician, he has collaborated with ensembles including the Orava Quartet, Flinders Quartet, Arcadia Winds, Hindemith Wind Quintet, and the Melbourne Ensemble, and has appeared at festivals such as Port Fairy, Peninsula Summer, Bendigo, Melbourne Festival, Music by the Springs, the Banff Summer Music Festival, and the Mackay Chamber Music Festival.
Deeply engaged in Australian contemporary music, Justin has commissioned and premiered a wide range of new works. He has performed with leading ensembles including Syzygy, Arcko Symphonic Project, Opus House, and Rubiks Collective, and has premiered works by composers such as Margaret Sutherland, Deborah Cheetham, Nigel Sabin, Paul Dean, Brett Dean, Sam Smith, Gordon Kerry, and Matthew Laing. He also the Director of the Continuo Commissioning Circle, a Victorian initiative supporting the creation and performance of new chamber music.
Recent highlights include his 2024 performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Makoto Ozone at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, where a reviewer praised his “beautifully shaped, evocative opening.” Other notable performances include the premieres of Paul Dean’s No Exit (E-flat Clarinet Concertino, 2014) and Nigel Sabin’s Clarinet Quintet (2019), Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with the Orava Quartet, and performing Principal E-flat Clarinet with the Australian World Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. A critic wrote of his performance of Messiaen’s Abyss of the Birds:
“Justin Beere’s astounding breath control and range of dynamic in the third part, ‘Abyss of the Birds’, was riveting.”
A Fellow and alumnus of the Australian National Academy of Music, Justin studied with David Thomas, Paul Dean, Stephen Kenyon, and Floyd Williams. He has participated in masterclasses with Andrew Marriner, Michael Collins, Paul Meyer, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Thorsten Johanns, James Campbell, and Frank Celata. He holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the Queensland Conservatorium, undertook postgraduate study at the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music on an orchestral woodwind scholarship, and completed a Master of Music Research at the Queensland Conservatorium while undertaking ANAM’s Professional Performance Program. His awards include the Nelle Ashdown Memorial Award and the Robert and Elizabeth Albert Scholarship.
As an educator, Justin has taught across Queensland and Victoria and has served as a Teaching Associate at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and its Young Artists Academy. He maintains a private studio in South Melbourne, working closely with emerging clarinettists.
