Class Of - 1987

Dorian Trail (as at 2003)
Dorian left Scotch to pursue a career in ballet. He attended the Australian ballet school during 1988 and 1990 and then joined the Victorian Company of Dance and Theatre in 1991. In 1993 he headed north to the Queensland ballet company. In 1993 Dorian decided that he needed a break from ballet and pursued another passion - Fly Fishing. He wrote about it, he taught it and he did it in Queensland.

In 1998 he had another career change and moved into Real Estate and housing finance. In 2001 he created his own mortgage broking business "Ground Capital Finance" that operates predominantly in Brisbane.

Andrew Runciman (as at 2003)
Andrew Runciman wrote in to OSCAnet in September 2003 as follows –

“I cannot remember the last time I sent an update so I will briefly cover the past 18 months. I finally got married to a lovely English girl last April (02), Joanna and we had a wonderful honeymoon in Venice and Florence, blessed by mainly good weather and some great times.” “Unfortunately four weeks after the wedding and a week after moving into our new house, my battalion was sent to Northern Ireland (Belfast) to provide emergency cover to prevent the quite violent rioting that had been occurring on a regular basis. It turned out to be a full six month tour which was not a great start to married life. On return in November 02, my wife and I managed to attend an Alpha Leaders course at Holy trinity Brompton in London which was a great experience, although we have yet to find time to get involved with helping with a course.”

“My battalion was involved in the fire fighting duty to cover for the striking fire fighters which was commitment that extended through to April this year (03). It was quite unsettling in that all training came to a halt every time the firemen decided to throw another strike. It also meant that the planned overseas exercise to Kenya was cancelled and I had to find the range space and plan a battalion field-firing package with only 10 days notice. The battalion conducted a deployment test exercise on the first weekend of March, moved onto the field firing battle camp for two weeks at Sennybridge, Wales and then straight onto a Test Exercise for two weeks on Salisbury Plain. The battalion came along quite nicely during this extended period of high intensity training and did very well.”

“Since early April I have been on 6 hours notice to move as we have been the Emergency Deployment battalion for the British Government. It is quite taxing knowing that everything one does can be cancelled at short notice in order to deploy (as my battalion just has to Iraq) if required. It is especially taxing on family (ie the wife) and thankfully I have recently been promoted to Major and posted to the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, North Yorkshire where I am the Officer Commanding The Light Division Company. This is a very interesting and challenging job. The perks are a planned year, most weekends free and time to spend with Joanna, and pursue sporting interests such as downhill mountain biking, shooting and stalking as well as travelling. We are due to travel to Australia in October in order to attend a friend's wedding and catch up with family and friends. More importantly I will be able to get in a good surf as we will be staying in Manly for the first week. Unfortunately it means I miss the London Dinner (again).”

Andrew certainly leads a very interesting life, and we wish him all the very best in with his married life and his career.

James Brawn (as at 2003)
One of Scotch's greatest musicians

James has had a rather atypical upbringing for most people, but one that is common to a few Old Boys from Scotch. From a very early age, James showed a great talent for music, in piano and clarinet.

Some of the repertoire highlights in James early music career include playing Piano Concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, Saint Saens and Rachmaninov with the Scotch Orchestra, as well as the Weber Clarinet Concerto.

In his final year at Scotch, James was awarded $20,000 through the ABC Young Performers Awards, and went to study with Rita Reichman in Philadelphia in the United States. His daily study regime with Ms Reichman was gruelling and he says, perhaps the most intense period of his life.

Typically for musicians, James entered many competitions and in 1991, played in the Queen Elisabeth Hall final of the Royal Overseas League Competition, and in addition to winning the piano final, won best overseas musician prize, and 3 awards as best Australian Pianist.

Life in London gave James exposure to hearing and attending masterclasses with many of the best musicians in the world including Andras Schiff, Tamas Vasary, Menahem Pressler and playing chamber music regularly with Amadeus Trio (now the renowned Amadeus Quartet).

In 1992, James married Sue Green (a soprano), following the completion of his post-graduate studies. They moved to Cambridge, where most of James’ time was spent studying repertoire, and teaching at St Johns and Kings College choir schools from 1993 to 2001.

James moved back to Melbourne July 2001, closely followed by his family (wife and four children – Tom, Lucy, Olivia and Ophelia), dog and furniture. James remarks that it was much easier to get the dog into Australia than his wife and children - 6 weeks versus 6 months!

He started teaching piano with 4 students at Scotch four days after arriving back to Australia, and now teaches two days per week, and enjoys an active performing career.

James has been offered full time work with other schools, but as musicians know, it is difficult to balance teaching with practice schedules for a performing career, and feels strongly committed to his current situation at Scotch.

James recently gave a recital at Scotch including works of Scarlatti, Chopin and Rachmaninov. He performs regularly and can be contacted for upcoming concerts through the Music Department at Scotch.