Kate Tyson (née Thompson) is a frequent guest clinician at conferences and workshops across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. She has taught classroom music for almost two decades in both state and independent schools and is currently the Subject Coordinator for Music at Ambrose Treacy College in Brisbane, where she works across both the Primary and Secondary schools.

Kate has a passion for community singing and has conducted numerous choirs in both Canada and Australia, including the Voices of Birralee. She is a Past President of Kodály Queensland and has contributed to Kodály teacher education programs in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. Most recently, she was the Middle Years presenter at Independent Schools Queensland’s Harmonise & Innovate Conference, and her work with Years 5 and 6 is currently featured in an education filming project developing resources for teacher professional learning. In 2026, she was nominated for an EREA Charter Leadership Award.

Kate is known for delivering practical, high-energy professional learning that equips teachers with creative, immediately applicable strategies for the music classroom.

Dr Jason Goopy is a Senior Lecturer in Music Education at Edith Cowan University and a Fulbright Scholar. He lectures and coordinates secondary and instrumental music education for the School of Education and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Drawing on two decades of teaching music in studio, school, tertiary, and community settings, he is recognised for creating flourishing music learning programs.

Jason’s research examines how music education positively transforms lives at the intersection of music, education, and psychology using creative arts-based and mixed-method approaches. He focuses on how intentional music engagement and learning enhance young people’s wellbeing and how their educators can be supported. As a 2025-26 Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar hosted by Teachers College, Columbia University, Jason investigated how learning music in New York City supports the wellbeing of young people experiencing adversity.

With a longstanding commitment to service leadership, Jason has been recognised with a Fellowship of the Australian Society for Music Education (FASME). He is the Immediate Past President of ASME and Kodály Australia, a member of the National Advocates for Arts Education, and an Advisory Group Member for the national initiatives, Music Education: Right from the Start and Australian Youth Orchestra’s Music in Me.

Dr James Cuskelly has a broad base in education, having taught in pre-school, primary and secondary classrooms as well as serving as Head of Music Education and Aural Studies at The University of Queensland, 2000 – 2009. His passion for music, and his ability to enthuse and bring about effective learning in students across all ages or abilities, is internationally recognized. James is committed to teacher training in music education, and consequently, is frequently asked to lead teacher in-service programs and workshops. He runs a variety of accredited teacher training programs both in Australia and internationally. Dr Cuskelly was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to music education in The Queen’s Birthday 2018 Honours List.

Dr. Árpád Tóth is a worldwide sought-after music educator, choral conductor, artistic director of several festivals, and a community leader. He believes passionately in the strength of human diversity, the power of music making, and in art education. He is well-known in Hungary because he is the founding leader of Hungary’s largest community choir, Csíkszerda, and the internationally well-known festival franchise, Night of Choirs. He leads the most successful educational program, “Hangadó” in the Hungarian Music House and currently teaches music educational subjects in a Hungarian minority University in Oradea, Romania (Partium). His international career has led him on a yearly basis for more than 15 countries in four continents: Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America. Some of his public speeches went viral, as he speaks about his firm belief: Singing belongs to everyone.