Happy New Year and Happy 4th Anna-versary!

Happy New Year to one and all and a Happy 4th Anna-versary for 'Anna Kho Music'! This is quite a late post, as the new year got busier than I thought. However, I have so many exciting things to share with you! Firstly, here are some photos from a recent photoshoot with my dear friend, Jex Sollis from Orange and Poppyseed Photography.

Before I continue with the new and exciting news, let's go over the highlights from 2018! Last year, I performed one of my favourite musicals, Les Misérables, with one of my favourite musical theatre family, Savoyards. It was an incredible production and I'm so proud of the cast, crew and orchestra who put their heart and soul into it. As always, it was a pleasure to play for musical director, mentor and musician, Geoff Secomb. Don't forget to go check out their 2019 season on their website! On top of that I also filled in for my percussion friend, Tracie Comber, for Spotlight Musical Theatre production of Not the Messiah. It's been a while since I sight read on a gig, and it was so much fun! Towards the end of the year I also augmented for Queensland Wind Orchestra at Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference Gala - another incredibly fun gig with a hard working and awesome community ensemble! The orchestra also accompanied international percussionist, composer and educator, Nathan Daughtrey, as a soloist for one of his compositions. I was super excited and I felt honoured to be a part of it! Lastly, I came home to my Stairwell Project family at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Going into our 5th year, great things are happening as the music brings smiles to faces and minds in the community. We would love your support to help continue this amazing project, so please head to the GoFundMe fundraiser for more information. There is also a website, if you want to read more about it. Lastly, I was a guest on  Sundowner Drum Talks hosted by the very awesome, CJ Nash, and I was invited to Sundowner Drum Talks Charity Podcast Live Stream event. The event fundraised money for Beyond Blue and raised up to $258.85 AUD - it really shows what a small community can do for the greater community. You can still go and donate or view the podcast live stream on Sundowner Drum Talks' YouTube page.

As you can see, I didn't perform as much as I have in previous years. I have also been very quiet in terms of my exposure and advertising on my websites. That's because last year I started a new job as a percussion tutor at a beautiful school with amazing students! I absolutely love my job, and I really wanted to focus on it and be a good teacher to the new generation and future of this percussion program. The staff and community are so lovely, and it's become a new home to me. Now that I've settled in, I'm definitely keen to come back to some more playing this year.

I'm currently working on a website for my podcast, Musicians Unmuted, and getting ready to take this project solo and continue podcast episodes and more with this website! I'm keen to start recording music at home for fun, and get into some more solo percussion, piano and vocal works, arrangements and originals - yes, composing! I'm also eager to get back into studying again. I mentioned an online Masters before, but I reconsidered and I'm aiming towards starting a Masters degree in Brisbane later this year. I like face-to-face interaction for my education, and what better place than the home I grew up and know today.

Celebratory shot with Jex Sollis from Orange and Poppyseed Photography. 11 January 2019.

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As a result of all my planning for this new year ahead, I decided to have a photoshoot and feel fresh for a new beginning to a new chapter of my story. I'll definitely keep you updated for what's to come, but know that if I'm quiet it's probably because I'm busy working hard and not hardly working! In the mean time, enjoy these photos and go check out my past projects, performances, recordings and documentation through blogs, photos, YouTube and Facebook page! Also feel free to share my contact and websites to all, as I would love to be more involved in the music community whether its performing, teaching or other means of support! 

Thanks again to Jex Sollis from Orange and Poppyseed Photography for a fun and amazing photo shoot. Also check out their Facebook page for other gorgeous photos featuring more portraits, couples, families, children and pets! I always fall in love with her photoshop fantasy artwork, which I highly recommend to go check out at her Etsy page.

This new year has a lot to offer and I can't wait to get into it. I think this perfectly captured photo on the left is a perfect summary of how I feel about this new year ahead!

Laugh, Love and Live 2019! 

Anna x