Violinist Cooper Chen and Pianist Kate Yin
The Talent returns to 3MBS for episode 1 season 2 of 2026! This episode features violinist Cooper Chen and pianist Kate Yin, with guest mentor Jos Jonker. Jos joins Kevin Tamanini and host Kyla Matsuura-Miller to interview and give feedback to the young performers. Keep reading to find out more!
Cooper Chen
Violin
Cooper is a 13-year-old violinist from Scotch College. He studies with Mark Mogilevski and Kirstin Kenny, and piano with Igor Machlak. At age 12, he earned his AMusA in both violin and piano with distinction. In 2024, he was accepted into the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music’s Fine Arts program. Cooper has received awards in solo and chamber music competitions and enjoys composing, reading, and exploring the lives of great composers.
Kate Yin
Piano
Kate is a 16-year-old pianist. She is currently a year 11 student at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, where she studies with Stewart Kelly. Recently, she won first prize at the Boroondara Eisteddfod 16 & under section, and was selected for the 2026 Young Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition. Apart from piano, she is also a dedicated composer and cellist.
Jos Jonker
Guest Mentor - Violin
Originally from the Netherlands, Jos began playing the violin when she was four years old. She has lived in Australia since 2021 and has worked with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. In October 2024 Jos joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as their Associate Principal Second Violin and since 2025 is one of the violin teachers at Monash University.
Before her relocation to Australia, she was a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra Academy. Jos has a broad range of orchestral experience playing with a variety of orchestras such as the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has also worked as acting Second Concertmaster of the Philharmonisches Orchester Landestheater Coburg.
As part of her education she studied under Thijs Kramer, Ilya Grubert (Bachelor), Prof. Sebastian Hamann (Master) and Prof. Eberhard Feltz (string quartet). During her Bachelor and Master studies in the Netherlands and Germany Jos developed a keen passion for chamber music and currently is one of the violinist of the Partridge String Quartet.
Jos plays a violin made for her in 2022 by the French luthier Patrick Robin and plays on a Sartory bow (Paris, c.1920).