Mandy Hollins
Performance Career
My career as a professional flautist has encompassed chamber music, recital and solo playing as well as orchestral positions. For 23 years, from 1997-2020, I held the position of Associate Principal Flute of the Opera Australia Orchestra and from 1983-4 the Principal Flute position in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
​
I studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Trevor Wye and the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada with Robert Aitken, followed by masterclasses with flautists such as Marcel Moyse, Nicolet, Lukas-Graf and William Bennett.
​
Freelancing in the United Kingdom included working regularly with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra and the Glyndebourne Touring Opera Orchestra.
​
On moving to Sydney, I worked for many years with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Chamber music and recitals have been a major part of my career with tours in the UK, NZ and in Australia with Musica Viva.
My CD of flute and piano music, “Intimate Landscapes” with pianist Richard Mapp was released on the Atoll Record label. See my YouTube channel.
​
My teaching career has spanned 40+ years and for me has been as much about the person as about teaching the instrument.
I have been a flute tutor at many tertiary institutions and schools in the UK, NZ and Sydney including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of NSW, Auckland Conservatorium, University of East Anglia, the Junior Department of the Royal Academy in London and the Conservatorium High School.
​
My approach to Performance Coaching has evolved out of recognising the needs of students at all levels, not just to develop as players but to learn skills which they can incorporate into the rest of their lives.
Mandy Hollins
Performance Coaching
Working as a professional musician for many years, with extensive performing, teaching and mentoring experience has made me acutely aware of the many challenges faced by musicians and other performers.
In my own career, learning how to manage these challenges has led me to explore a wide range of techniques which I now incorporate into my coaching and teaching.
Since early in my career, when performance anxiety was a huge issue for me, I have trained in a myriad of approaches to address the root cause of anxiety and other debilitating emotions in the performance environment. Such approaches over the course of my playing career have included breathwork and meditation, as well as both performance and energy psychology techniques, such as EFT. Together with my extensive use of Alexander Technique I have had a lifelong interest into the powerful ways our mind and body connect and interact.
Training as a Results Coach has enabled me a platform to offer practical skills and strategies to initiate and foster the steps needed to manage the range of challenges musicians and other performers may experience.