Since leaving Ivanhoe Girls' in 2004, I studied music performance, specialising as a viola player. I studied at at Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), then at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), and completed a German language course before moving permanently to Germany in 2009.

There, I furthered my studies in Stuttgart and Lausanne, Switzerland. Luckily, my very rusty Year 12 French could be put to some use there.

After various apprenticeships with professional orchestras in Germany, I won a position in Bern, Switzerland. However, I had just fallen in love with a Bavarian percussionist, so I spent five and a half years commuting between Bern and Munich, roughly 450km apart.

Eventually, I won a new position in Munich as Principal Viola in an opera and theatre orchestra.

After giving birth to a gorgeous little girl with my lovely husband, the Bavarian percussionist, I naively decided I could have it all and somehow won a position in my dream orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Here, I am fortunate to perform with some of the world's leading conductors and soloists and have travelled to many corners of the globe, playing at venues such as the Proms, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall Tokyo, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Musikverein Vienna.

My role also allows me to create children's education concerts and outreach programs, helping connect with regional communities. I am often invited to perform with orchestras across Europe and, in August 2026, had the privilege of returning to Australia to perform with the Australian World Orchestra. It was a great joy to reconnect with fellow Australian musicians who have built careers in leading orchestras around the world.

While I miss the kindness, easy-going nature and lifestyle of Australia, I am still thoroughly enjoying discovering all that Europe has to offer.

Ms Christa Jardine
Class of 2004