The 1983 national winner of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Instrumental and Vocal Competition, Deborah de Graaff performed the Clarinet Concerto by Jean Françaix with leading orchestras around Australia, participated in International Congresses and competitions in Munich and London, and in 1987 was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Scholarship. She has recorded many times for the ABC and performed as chamber soloist with her mother, the contralto Lauris Elms, Rita Hunter, Geoffrey Parsons, and John Winter, and performed concertos at the Sydney Opera House with Richard Bonynge, Paul Dyer and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and The Sydney Mozart players. Chamber music performances have taken her throughout Australia and internationally to Vietnam and England. Her recordings with Len Vorster feature A Clarinet Collection and an all Australian CD, Ulpirra, currently available on the Walsingham Classics label, and Brahms, The Complete Works for Clarinet for ABC Classics. Deborah de Graaff is a lecturer in Clarinet at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney University, and is engaged in research in Music Psychology at the Music Education Department of Sydney Conservatorium.

Discography