Deborah Hart has been a professional french horn player for over 30 years with Orchestra Victoria (1995-2011), Melbourne Symphony and West Australian Symphony Orchestra among others. She spent two years in The Netherlands where the highlight of her career was playing first horn with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam for two weeks in performances that were broadcast all over Europe.

She has taught all levels of brass players from beginners at country primary schools to professionals, but has always been interested in musical performance anxiety – trying to work out how to play at her capacity during auditions and important high profile performances.

Deborah discovered ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) in 2010 and has spent a number of years applying it to her own performance struggles and in 2015 started coaching other musicians who have gone on to win at a number of auditions for professional orchestras both in Australia and internationally.

After completing her Master of Counselling in 2016, in 2017 she began running workshops for music students and has presented her workshops on performance anxiety at ANAM, Queensland Conservatorium, WAAPA, UWA and JMSS (John Monash Science School).