THE HOUSE THAT DAN BUILT
The House that Dan Built is a not-for-profit, female focussed Australian Arts association, with the mission to raise girls voices and advance women's careers.
The House is a visionary force that creates unique experiences to change the world and advance the culture of the Australian arts scene.
SYDNEY YOUTH ORCHESTRAS
Sydney Youth Orchestras (SYO) is one of Australia’s leading youth music organisations, shaping the lives of young musicians through outstanding orchestral training and performance opportunities.
For more than 50 years, SYO has championed youth-led programming and inclusive access, creating clear pathways for aspiring musicians across New South Wales - from their first notes to pre-professional excellence.
PAST COMMISSIONS
100 WOMEN
100 Women 100 Stories is an uplifting choral celebration of women's stories. Sung by 100 local women, it was written by 6 female Australian composers.
During the 2020 lockdowns, The House That Dan Built spoke to 100 women from around Australia. They shared stories of resilience, connection to community, and reflections on their lives.
The recorded interviews were given to six award-winning Australian female composers who wove those stories into a one-hour moving and poignant choral experience.
In 2026, we'll be re-composing 100 Women for The Women's Club, an investment in new Australian music that will result in an uplifting, joyful community performance.
EMERGENC/Y
Six young House Ensemble members will continue working with esteemed composer Felicty Wilcox on this new work. This contemporary opera comprises voices, instruments, electronics, and interaction design.
The work creatively addresses deficits in the representation of female and gender diverse opera-makers and rewrites traditional operatic narratives that cast them as victims of gendered violence.
BAGATELLE
Inspired by experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the huge challenges that isolation brought to musicians, The House presents BAGATELLE. This project was a 2021 House Commission to showcase a series of micro-compositions written by The House ensemble in collaboration with celebrated composer and pianist Sally Whitwell. This work celebrates choral voice, the return to live music, and the human connection of singing together.
BAGATELLE scores are used as music educational resources.
THE HOUSE THAT DAN BUILT
RESEARCH
2022 Orchestral Season Statistics: Tenth Muse Initiative. Tenth Muse Initiative, 2022
Donne, Women in Music Annual Report. Laccio & Hardman, 2024
Female Artist Representation in Music Streaming Avriel Epps-Darling, Romain Takeo Bouyer, Henriette Cramer, 2020
Publishing while Female. Are women held to higher standards. Evidence from peer review. Erin Hengel. November 2019
How women undersell their work. Marc J. Lerchenmueller, Olay Sorenson, Anupan B. Jena. December 20
ARTIST BIOS
Danielle O'Keefe | Founder & Artistic Director | The House That Dan Built
Danielle is the founder and artistic director of The House that Dan Built, a City of Sydney based youth music and arts company. The House is dedicated to empowering girls, raising women’s voices, and forging a path for female musicians and artists.
Danielle has worked in the arts for over 18 years, and is a highly respected performer, conductor, composer, and community arts leader.
Danielle began her practice as a performer and vocalist before moving to London to study conducting. On her return to Sydney, she became the conductor of the Australian Youth Choir (AYC) and held that post until 2012 when she left to adventure the great Australian Outback as the Artistic Director of Outback Theatre for Young People.
As a director and solo artist Danielle is highly sought after. Her collaborative work has been seen at Dark Mofo, Melbourne Festival, and Sydney Festival, and she has directed mainstage shows at the Seymour Centre, the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Complex, and Merrigong Theatre. She has worked with the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), Sydney Chamber Opera (SCO), The Australian Institute of Performing Arts (AIPA), Brent Street and PACT to direct and create new works for ensembles of young people.
Her work with young girls and female artists through The House that Dan Built has been internationally recognised, and The House that Dan Built ensemble has performed at numerous major arts festivals and public events.
Her work in collaboration with other artists has been seen on international stages, including Assembly by Angelica Mesiti at the 2019 Venice Biennale, The Howling Girls with SCO at Festival Tokyo, and most recently with her work as music director and collaborator on Chasing The Wind, an international collaboration that toured Portugal and the UK.
Under her direction, the House that Dan Built Ensemble has been invited to perform original works at the Art Gallery of NSW, NSW Parliament House, Carriageworks, SXSW, and the Biennale of Sydney.
She is driven to create work that connects women across locations, generations, and experiences, becoming a force for change and empowerment across Australia.
James Pensini | Conductor | Sydney Youth Orchestras
Peter Seymour Youth Orchestras Head of Orchestral Training and Artistic Planning
James Pensini is one of the leading conductors of youth instrumental music in Australia. Alongside his work at Sydney Youth Orchestras, he is also Head of Music Performance P-12 at Santa Sabina College.
James studied Trumpet and Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has performed and toured extensively with many orchestras and ensembles. Performance highlights include: performing as Principal Trumpet with The Sydney Youth Orchestra including a tour of Spain and Portugal; performing as Principal Trumpet with the Australian Youth Orchestra including a tour of France, Germany and the Netherlands with pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet; performing as a member of the Sydney Symphony Training Orchestra and performing as Lead Trumpet with the Australian Youth All-Star Big Band including a tour to the Monterey Jazz Festival. James has also taught a significant number of trumpet students, some of whom hold down senior leadership positions in major Australian symphony orchestras.
As a conductor, James has worked in and run many of the finest instrumental music programs for young people at a school and representative level in Australia and has lead more than fifty regional, interstate and international tours. His work has taken him from conducting choirs at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, youth orchestras at the Berlin Philharmonie, wind ensembles with the United States Navy Band all the way to incredible community ensembles in Far-West New South Wales. James is a former State and National Board member of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association, and is regularly called upon as an adjudicator, guest conductor, workshop presenter and conducting mentor.
In 2017, James conducted The Sydney Youth Orchestra on a European Tour including workshops with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. James has twice been the conductor of original Sydney Festival programs, “Encounter” in 2020, an original site specific orchestral and dance work and “A Taste of Spain” in 2025, a celebration of flamenco dance and Spanish culture. James is the founding conductor of the Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, conducts the Peter Seymour Orchestra, and assists Stanley Dodds with The Sydney Youth Orchestra. James is SYO’s Head of Orchestral Training and Artistic Programming.
Aura Parker | Author - Illustrator
Aura Parker is a best-selling Australian children’s book author and illustrator with a distinctive voice in words and pictures. Her work is expressive, detailed, inspired by nature and filled with pattern and colour. Her upcoming picture book, Wolf Baby, due for release in November 2027 is a story of love overcoming fear, woven with fairy tale references. Aura is the creator of the Bowerbird Blues series including Bowerbird Brood, Bowerbird Bloom and Bowerbird Brave. Bowerbird Blues, a story of longing, searching and love was chosen for ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime in 2024 and read by 2.3 million people at the same time, inspiring a wave of blue children’s art and craft. Aura is passionate about children’s literacy, the environment and encouraging children to be creative and brave. She works from her studio in Sydney and illustrates her picture books in watercolour, pen and coloured pencil using traditional and digital mediums.
Sydney Youth Orchestras
Since 1973, Sydney Youth Orchestras (SYO) has been where young musicians in New South Wales discover what it means to play in an orchestra and, often, who they want to become. SYO is one of the oldest and largest orchestral training programs of its kind in Australia. In 2025, more than 1,400 young people connected with SYO, from beginners taking their first steps in an ensemble to pre-professional players preparing for careers in music. Each of them came to build the skills, confidence and community to thrive as musicians and as people.
At the heart of SYO is a progressive pathway of ensembles, each designed to meet young musicians where they are and challenge them to grow. Under the guidance of experienced conductors and tutors, players advance through carefully structured programs toward the flagship ensemble, The Sydney Youth Orchestra, led by Chief Conductor Stanley Dodds. A year-round calendar of programs opens the door to musicians who are new to orchestral playing or looking to deepen their skills in an intensive, joyful setting.
SYO's young musicians regularly perform on some of the country's most celebrated stages and alongside its leading arts organisations. SYO is a creative partner of Sydney Opera House, performing in the much-loved Kids Music Playtime series for the city's youngest audiences. It also serves as an education partner for the Opera House's International Orchestra series, giving its players direct access to visiting world-class orchestras and artists. Each year, SYO musicians join Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in an annual collaboration, and they perform at Carols in the Domain, one of Australia's most-watched Christmas events. In regional NSW, SYO's education partnership with the Warren Chamber Music Festival and regular regional touring programs connect young musicians and communities through shared music-making far from the concert halls of the city.
SYO's work is guided by three strategic pillars: Bold, Youthful and Unique; Excellence is Accessible; and Sustaining Orchestral Music. Together they reflect a simple conviction. Exceptional orchestral training should not depend on a young person's postcode, background or circumstances, and the future of orchestral music in Australia depends on investing in the next generation now.
That conviction increasingly takes SYO beyond the inner city, through partnerships with communities in Western Sydney and the Far West of NSW. This work brings live orchestral music and learning opportunities to places where access has historically been limited. At the same time, SYO is deepening its engagement with First Nations communities and artists, recognising that Australia's orchestral future must reflect the full story of the country it belongs to.
SYO's alumni form a remarkable legacy. Over five decades, former members perform with major orchestras and ensembles in Australia and around the world, and have gone on to lead as conductors, composers, educators and arts leaders. Just as importantly, many thousands more have carried the discipline, teamwork and creative confidence of orchestral life into every field imaginable.
SYO is a founding member of the Australian Network of Youth Orchestras (ANYO), the national body connecting the state youth orchestras. Through ANYO, SYO works to strengthen youth orchestral training across the country and to advocate for its value on the national stage.
As it delivers its 2025–2029 Strategic Plan, SYO is focused on growth, equity of access and long-term sustainability. The aim is to ensure that the next fifty years of young musicians experience what generations before them have: the thrill of sitting inside a full orchestra, and the lasting belief that they belong there.
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