Heather Monkhouse comes from Perth, Western Australia and in 1983 moved to New York. As a student of Leon Russianoff she obtained her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from The Juilliard School and her Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. For Bass Clarinet she studied with Vincent Abato and at the Aspen Festival she was a student of Joaquin Jaldepenas, and Bil Jackson.
In New York Heather performed in a variety of musical situations – from large orchestras to the Amato Opera and smaller ensembles such as the New York Contemporary Music Band, a group created to perform and explore new music. In 1990 she was invited to attend the Kneisal Hall Chamber Music Festival as the Woodwind Fellow. Later that year she gave her New York debut recital at Carnegie Hall, as a winner of the Artists International Musicians Series. Just prior to returning to Australia, Heather was the invited guest soloist with the Australian Wind Orchestra at their performance at Carnegie Hall.
Since returning to Australia, Heather has performed frequently as a soloist and chamber musician. In July of 2002 she performed as a soloist at the International Clarinet Society’s Clarinetfest Conference in Stockholm and was invited to perform at the 2003 conference in Salt Lake City. In 2008 she premiered two works at the Kansas City Conference Dancing in the Snake Pit by Maria Grenfell and Tasman Suite by Eric Ewazen.