Returning from a year’s secondment, I was greeted by our new effervescent and thoroughly engaging colleague who was taller than me!! Outrageous!

After happily relinquishing the tallest person in the offi ce title, I would love to introduce Alex to those who may not have already met. Alex Siegers joined the MPU in March 2019 having worked previously at Sydney Youth Orchestras after graduating from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Arts majoring in Jazz Voice, Linguistics and Asian Studies. We noticed that no matter the weather she would arrive at work by bike, which begged the question, Why? Alex I learned, is passionate about Active Transport.

"We don’t own a car and I ride my bicycle everywhere - to work, to the supermarket, to Bunnings, to gigs and even to the airport! My partner walks or runs most places. If we want to go somewhere further afield or transport something large, we just get a ride share or hire a car - they have Uber pets now, too, so I can take the dogs!"

Alex has many wonderful and varied hobbies: "Gardening on my balcony and apartment rooftop, dog sitting for my mum and my friends. My newest iso-hobby is trying to bake sourdough. Our house’s sourdough starter is named Christiano Ronaldough (after the soccer player). We feed him every day. He lives in the cupboard above the stove. My housemate Kyle has been more successful baking edible bread than I have, though."

Having travelled a lot following your final year at school, do you have a particularly interesting travel tale? "So many to choose from. One that I think will appeal to Australia Ensemble subscribers - I took a gap year after my HSC and worked at a school in London. In my summer holidays I went to visit my friends who lived in Berlin, composer Brett Dean’s daughters - Kiki and Lotte Betts-Dean. One evening when all the family were back in town Kiki told me that we were going to a family friend’s house for dinner. Their friend Simon, who lived in Potsdam. So I chucked on a pair of sandals and jumped on the train. We arrived and it wasn’t until he opened the front door that I realised that I was at the house of SIR SIMON RATTLE and Czech soprano Magdalena Kožená. So that night, I ate orecchiette, hand-made by Simon, and played Pictionary with Sir Simon, Magdalena, and Brett! And from what I remember, Simon was not very good at Pictionary - it was nice to know that he is still only human!"

Alex Siegers is the Operations & Communications Assistant for the Music Performance Unit.

Tall stories with Alex, written by Yvette Goodchild, Artistic & Operations Coordinator