Helena Kernaghan and Kaori Sparks
Duo Gaku 楽
Duo Gaku 楽 unites Japanese-born violinist Kaori Sparks and Australian pianist Helena Kernaghan, bringing together two accomplished chamber musicians with rich international careers. After years of touring Europe and Australia respectively—Sparks with the Tokyo-Budapest String Quartet and Kernaghan as a soloist and member of the Abraxas Piano Trio—the two artists connected in Albury in 2011 through a series of earthquake relief benefit concerts. Following over a decade of acclaimed collaboration as founding members of the Orpheus Trio, they formally launched Duo Gaku at The Cube Wodonga in 2025, debuting a dynamic repertoire that spans classic masterworks to newly commissioned Australian compositions, including the world premiere of Gordon Kerry’s Violin Sonata No. 2.
Helena
Helena Kernaghan finished her Masters in Music Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2005 after studying with Donna Coleman and Caroline Almonte. Helena soon established herself as an accomplished chamber musician, accompanist and soloist. In 1997 she formed the Abraxas Piano Trio and performed and studied in Singapore, Czech Republic, Germany and the UK. Performance highlights included soloist in Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques at Government House, a duo piano recital with Will Poskitt of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps at the ABC’s Iwaki Auditorium, and soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Since 2006 Helena has lived in Albury enjoying the challenge of teaching and maintaining an active performing life. In early 2012, Kaori and Helena, along with cellist Sam Goble, formed the Orpheus Trio, and performed extensively around regional Victoria, Melbourne and southern New South Wales. In November 2025 they formally launched Duo Gaku 楽 at The Cube, Wodonga, with a program of Stravinsky’s Suite italienne, Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, and the world premiere of Gordon Kerry’s new Violin Sonata No.2, commissioned for them by Carolyn Masel.
Helena was the founding artistic director for the Albury Chamber Music Festival (2016–2019), and has continued her work in this field as artistic director for Murray River Fine Music. She has established a collaboration with the VMTA by bringing the Geoffrey McFerran Young Victorian Regional Piano Award to the border in 2024. Helena is a gifted and versatile accompanist and in recent times has collaborated with a variety of artists including Dutch thereminist Thorwald Jørgensen, American pianist Donna Coleman, Australian soprano Merlyn Quaife, and tenor Shanul Sharma.
Kaori
Kaori Sparks (nee Nogi) was born in Japan. She began playing violin at the age of four, piano at the age of seven. She studied at Musashino Music University in Tokyo, receiving honours for violin, violin-piano duet, chamber music, and orchestra performance. She performed many concerts as a selected student of the University, and graduated in 2002.
Kaori toured Europe as a member of the Tokyo-Budapest String Quartet, and Tokyo-Budapest Ensemble five times between 2004-2006, under the directorship of concert clarinettist and conductor, Kálmán Berkes. She also performed with the Salzburg Festival Orchestra and Hungarian National Orchestra during this time.
After a busy life going back and forth between Europe and Japan, Kaori scaled back her concert performances in 2007 and concentrated on teaching. She and her family relocated to Albury, Australia in early 2009.
In March 2011, northern Japan, including Kaori’s home prefecture of Fukushima, suffered significant damage from a major earthquake. This prompted Kaori to organize three charity concerts throughout the year around Albury, with the generous support of many local classical musicians. It was at the last of these performances that she got to know and play with pianist Helena Kernaghan.
Kaori opened her own music studio in Thurgoona during 2013, resuming the teaching of violin and piano. She is very passionate about chamber music and has collaborated with accomplished musicians including clarinettist David Griffiths, violinist Markiyan Melnychenko and violist Simon Oswell.