Joshua Batty is an internationally renowned flautist who joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in 2019 at the age of 27, following two years in the same role with Ireland’s RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He studied with Michael Cox on a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, supported by Sir Elton John, and also trained at HEMGE in Switzerland with Jacques Zoon. During his education, he served as Principal Flute of both the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, and after his studies, he was awarded an Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music.

His early successes included prizes and competition appearances at the Royal Academy of Music, the British Flute Society, the Maxence Larrieu International Flute Competition, the Royal Overseas League, and the LSO Academy (formerly the Shell Competition).

Over the past decade, Joshua has appeared as guest Principal Flute with more than 30 leading orchestras worldwide, and as a soloist with conductors including John Wilson, Johannes Fritzsch, and Simone Young. His solo career has taken him to major venues such as Buckingham Palace, the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, and Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, whilst collaborations have spanned Europe, the USA, South America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Joshua is deeply committed to expanding and redefining the flute’s repertoire and artistic identity. His debut album, Perfect Imperfections (to be released in 2027 with Orchid Classics label), gathers a constellation of Australian, British, and American voices. Commissions range from Lowell Liebermann, William Barton, Aristea Mellos, and Harry Sdraulig, alongside performers Sir Stephen Hough, Konstantin Shamray, Chroma Quartet, some of which will be launched with a broadcast recital from UKARIA in July 2026. Alongside the album, Joshua has embarked on two major new concerto projects with Harry Sdraulig and Nigel Westlake, further broadening the concerto and chamber repertoire for the flute.

Passionate about education and advocacy, Joshua began teaching at 23 as a flute tutor at the RNCM and the University of Melbourne. He has recently established a national flute course model touring every state of Australia, focusing on resonance fundamentals, holistic career development, masterclasses, and the business of music. Since relocating to Australia in 2019, he has also curated a series of charity concerts, raising over $50,000 for causes including the Bushfire Appeal, the Ukraine War, Support Act for pandemic-affected artists, and WIRES animal welfare.

Having recently stepped away from his orchestral chair to focus on his solo career, the last 18 months has already seen Joshua perform and give masterclasses across France, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway — with an exciting future of new recital, concerto, and masterclass projects soon to be announced.

Joshua Batty is an Altus Artist currently playing on a PSII model and is represented worldwide by Emblem Artists, Australia.

Stephen Clark

Recipient of the 2016 Sir James Galway Rising Star Award, 1st Prize winner of the 2018 IMKA Music Competition and 1st Prize winner of the 2018 Alexander & Buono International Flute Competition, Stephen Clark has given over a thousand performances across all 7 continents and made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2018. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Northern College of Music and in Switzerland with Sir James Galway. Stephen is the Flute Professor at Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
 
Regularly invited to perform at flute festivals across the globe, he has given solo recitals at the Conventions of the British Flute Society, the National Flute Association of America, the Sir James Galway Flute Festival in Switzerland as well as the Florida Flute Convention, Wisconsin Flute Festival, Mid-South Flute Festival, St. Louis Flute Society and Mid-Atlantic Flute Conventions in the USA. He has been the Guest Artist at countless flute festivals, flute days and events in the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Solo engagements have taken him to over 120 countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Finland, Canada, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Croatia, Thailand, Germany, Netherlands, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Egypt, China, Libya, Malta, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, Australia, Belgium, France, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Jordan, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Seychelles, Maldives, Malaysia, Brazil, Norway, Iceland, Korea, Peru, Vietnam, Greece, Slovenia and the U.S.A. He has performed as solo flute player alongside several popular music artists including Annie Lennox, Andrea Bocelli and pop band McFly. As an orchestral player, Stephen has held principal flute positions and performed as Guest principal flute with major symphony orchestras of the United Kingdom, United States, Portugal, Ireland and Vietnam. He has worked with many significant conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Neeme Järvi, Sir Simon Rattle, Jorma Panula and Sir Mark Elder.

In addition to his performing schedule, Stephen is invited frequently to give masterclasses around the world. In the Past 12 months Stephen has given masterclasses at the Universities of Washington State, Idaho, Montana, Alabama, Western Missouri, South Illinois Edwardsville, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Northern Colorado, Texas Tech, Bowling Green State, Lousiana-Lafayette, Weatherford College Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas and the Cadek Conservatory. He has also given classes for the online platform Tonebase. Stephen has been Sir James Galway’s teaching assistant since 2017

Stephen has recorded for Classic FM, Amadeus, Linn Records and for the Naxos label and broadcast live on Northern Ireland’s 7FM and BBC Radio 3. He has released 2 solo albums on the Voyage Record Label. In 2015, Stephen was accepted into the Recording Academy of America and is now a voting member in the Grammys. Stephen has appeared on screen as the flute player in both the BBC's period drama series "Desperate Romantics" and ITV's feature film "Miss Marple - The Secret of Chimneys". He is author of “The Flute Gym” - a manual for advanced flute players.

In 2023, Stephen was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Alabama. He is a Yamaha Artist and plays exclusively on a 14k gold handmade Yamaha flute.