Amanda Tao

flute

Amanda Tao grew up in Sydney, where she completed performance diplomas in both piano and flute while still in high school, and in 2019 she attended William Bennett’s International Flute Summer School in England. She is currently a final year Law and Music student at the Australian National University, where she studied classical flute under Sally Walker.

Her performance experience ranges from early music and classical to contemporary genres, and she has made appearances with the ANU Orchestra and Royal Military College Duntroon Band. Her numerous awards include the 2023 Friends of the School of Music Chamber Music Competition and 2023 NSW Flute Society Open Competition, as well as the Leonard and Margaret Doman Undergraduate Scholarship for Flute.

Amanda is especially passionate about intercultural music performance, and in 2025 she collaborated with the Jazmourian Ensemble and previous Kingsland Fellows, Emily Thornton and Jojo Yuen to create the Songroads Ensemble. Within a semester, the ensemble improvised an original work combining Western music, Persian elements and First Nations poetry to perform at the Gathering – ANU’s celebration of First Nations composers. Amanda also had the privilege of studying Chinese flute music under Sibei Wang,Principal Flute of the Macau Symphony Orchestra, during an exchange semester at the University of Hong Kong.

Amanda is looking forward to performing with the Kingsland Fellows in 2026 and she plans to hold an intercultural celebration with previous Fellows of music learnt during exchange.

Image: Arianne Schlumpp