Jackson Bankovic always knew he wanted to play a brass instrument, and when an instructor told him he sounded good on trombone he jumped into practicing with the instrument. 

“I can’t sing, but a trombone is about as close as you can get to singing,” the 23-year-old said.

“I think there’s so much, so much room for expression in a trombone and there is so much sound range to explore.” 

What Liam Wooding loved most about the piano came down to harmony.

“So being able to get more than one note at the same time, I think that’s its greatest feature in how that can tell a story,” he said.

The two are students of the Australian National Academy of Music who are in the Bega Valley as part of an artist in residence program with Four Winds. 

READ MORE: Brass trio will blow your mind

While they have a concert together next month, the residency program was the first occasion they had spent a length of time together. 

“We didn’t really know each other,” Wooding laughed. 

“We did pretty separate things at school, but we’re getting on well, doing the jobs well, and the house is in pretty good nick!”

While classical music may not be as popular as it once was with youths, the duo were clearly passionate about the genre and their enthusiasm for it was infectious.  

“It’s just so good!” Bankovic said.

“With other songs, I can appreciate something being good, I can enjoy something. But to use a very general term ‘classical music’, it has something else intangible that’s just so good that I don’t find in other forms.”

One of the reasons Wooding enjoyed the style was because he was interested in the person behind the composition.  

READ MORE: Arcadia Quintet enjoying Four Winds residency

“I’m really fascinated by it, because it shows something of the time and place of the person who wrote it and where they wrote it,” he said.

“I’m always finding out something new in classical music.” 

He said when it came to engaging with classical music it was not mindless and did not directly relate to people’s current experiences. 

“It’s from a different culture, different time, and I think that’s why a lot of people are turned off by it sometimes,” the 26-year-old said. 

When it came to his philosophy behind performing, Bankovic said it was a balancing act.

“My philosophy is delivering the composer’s intentions to the best of your ability while also being able to make a performance that is uniquely yours,” he said. 

“Then everything you do in the practice room is leading towards that, it’s all with that end goal in mind, which is how I want it to sound.” 

READ MORE: Penny Quartet encourage love of the classics

Wooding and Bankovic will perform at a concert with Arcadia Winds, a quintet that performs wind instruments, on Saturday, October 6 from 2pm at Four Winds’ Windsong Pavilion, Barragga Bay.  

The concert will feature pieces by Arnold, Berio, Françaix, Gershwin, Grainger, Serocki and Skipworth. Tickets are $15, 16 years and under are free. 

Wooding and Bankovic will also lead a musical storytime at Bega library on Thursday, September 27 from 10.30am.