John Keene is a double bass player and conductor based in Sydney. He was awarded the Sydney Symphony Orchestra fellowship for 2015, and was offered the fellowship again for 2016. Currently, he is studying a Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Alex Henery and Kees Boersma, Double Bass Co-Principals SSO. John has performed as a soloist with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Chamber Orchestra, having won the 2015 string concerto competition, and was also a semi-finalist in the Fine Music FM Young Virtuosi Award 2016. John is a casual musician with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.

John was 1 of 10 Australians selected to participate in the final year of the Symphony Services International Core Conductors Program, and in 2016 attended a total of 8 conducting courses with professional symphony orchestras in Australia and New Zealand. In 2016, he established ensemble nouveau, an orchestra that primarily provides opportunities for emerging Australian composers and soloists to work with an orchestra. John was also recently selected to be the Australian Chamber Orchestra Emerging Artist for 2017.