From The Founder

My name is Jennen Ngiau-Keng. I am a Melbourne-born violinist, an entrepreneur, and - if I’m being entirely honest - someone who is deeply stubborn about solving problems.

For most of my adult life, I’ve had the privilege of performing with most of Australia's premier symphony orchestras and touring the world with my violin. But behind the scenes of my playing career, I've spent over a decade trying to solve an incredibly frustrating, age-old problem that most classical musician, parent, and student faces.

We all know the feeling of having a beautiful, perfectly playable instrument sitting in its case at the back of a closet, gathering dust. You don’t want to hoard it; you just want it to go to a student, a hobbyist, or a colleague who will actually open the case and make music with it.

But actually trying to sell it? That is where the real headache begins. If you’ve ever tried to rehome an instrument before, you have probably cycled through this exact, frustrating loop:

The Flyer: You print out a flyer and pin it up on a noticeboard at school, university, or work. You hope that someone might want to buy it, but you're pretty certain it's going to be futile.

The Social Media Shoutout: You post a few photos on your personal feed, hoping a friend of a friend is looking. But all you get are a few polite "likes" and zero inquiries.

The Consignment: If the instrument is genuinely valuable, you finally give up and leave it with a local music shop or luthier. It sits in their display case for months - sometimes even years - waiting for the right buyer. And when it finally does sell, the shop takes a painful chunk of your money in commission fees.

I knew there had to be a better, cleaner way to get instruments out of dark closets and back onto the stage.

The "Third Time’s the Charm" Journey

This platform is my third - and absolute final attempt at getting this right!

In 2012, I launched Lonely Instruments. In 2023, I released the ORCHESTRATED App.

While both of those projects had their hearts in the right place, they were probably a bit ahead of their time, and admittedly, had their share of technical growing pains. But instead of walking away, I took those lessons to heart.

This new, streamlined web-based version of ORCHESTRATED is the result. I stripped away the complex, glitchy mobile app interfaces. l wanted to build something simple and reliable. No bugs. Just direct, useful solutions for the global classical music community.

HOW WE WORK (And Why It’s Free Today)

To keep things as pure and uncomplicated as possible, ORCHESTRATED is not a payment broker. We never process transactions, we don't handle shipping, and we absolutely never take a commission on your sale. We function simply as a clean, specialised digital bulletin board designed exclusively for orchestral and world instruments, as well as accessories.

Like any good ensemble, a marketplace is nothing without its players. We are currently in our launch phase, which brings a classic "chicken-and-egg" challenge: we need instruments on the shelves so buyers have a reason to visit, and we need buyers to visit so sellers can make a sale.

That is why I am asking for your help to kickstart this community:

GET LISTED FOR FREE: Right now, there are absolutely no fees to list your instruments or accessories on the platform. It is 100% free.

Once ORCHESTRATED becomes popular and active, we will introducet listing fees to help cover all the overheads.

So for now, I invite you to take advantage of the platform and list your instruments and gera for free today.

Thank you for being part of the journey and helping build the dedicated, respectful space our global classical community has always needed.

— Jennen Ngiau-Keng

POST YOUR FREE LISTING NOW