duo aki
デュオ秋
about us
Duo Aki (ジュオ秋), comprised of Eden Annesley (violin/looper pedal) and Lola Schuele (saxophone/shakuhachi), is an ensemble working in the nexus of Australian and Japanese classical and contemporary music.
Formed under a meeting through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade New Colombo Plan Scholarship in Japan, Duo Aki creates projects to explore narratives of environment and identity across cultures. Duo Aki champions original improvisatory works alongside underrepresented Australian female composers, heralding a new voice in the Australian arts.
The ensemble also collaborates with artists across visual, electronic and movement-based art forms, exploring the limits of saxophone, violin and the world in between. Hailing from regional centres across Australia, both Eden and Lola are passionate about promoting accessibility to musical engagement and shifting the mould of Australian classical music.
Eden Annesley
Winner of the Junior Category of the Queensland International Chamber Music Competition, Eden Annesley is a violinist raised in Grafton, regional NSW. She studied under Associate Professor Michele Walsh at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, graduating with First Class Honours and the University Medal.
In 2025 she was a founding member of the Antipodes Quartet, working under the close mentorship of the New Zealand String Quartet. With the Antipodes Quartet, Eden undertook an extensive national tour across New Zealand and will appear at the 2026 Adam International Chamber Music Festival. Eden also played as a Guest Artist with the New Zealand String Quartet.
Eden has performed as part of some of Australia’s best ensembles, notably the Australian World Orchestra’s AWO 6 project, Ensemble Q, Arcadia Winds, the Partridge Quartet and the Australian Youth Orchestra. In 2026, she will be an Upbeat Emerging Artist with Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra.
Alongside her artistic pursuits, she was also selected as one of Australia’s top undergraduate students for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade New Colombo Plan Scholarship, leading her to spend a year in Japan researching cultural influences in Tōru Takemitsu’s music. Her passion for music as a tool of cross-cultural exchange led her to co-found Duo Aki with saxophonist Lola Schuele, where she represented Australia at the Cultural Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo.
Lola Schuele
Lola Schuele is a award-winning multi-instrumentalist originally from Cairns, who has toured across Asia with the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Japan-based Worldship Orchestra and across Tokyo with renowned shakuhachi player, Akikazu Nakamura. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music Performance in bassoon performance (First Class Honours) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music under the tutelage of Lyndon Watts.
As a recipient of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade New Colombo Plan Scholarship, she was supported to live and work in Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan for 18 months. She has been selected for the Australian Youth Orchestra and was the winner of the Pete L’Estrange Music Prize at The University of Melbourne in 2022. Lola is also an active curator in Melbourne’s art scene, through engagements with Buxton Contemporary and UMSU Mudfest Festival, and now internationally through her engagement with Duo Aki at the Osaka World Expo.
