FILIPE Klempfner may be just 13, but the talented award-winning Berridale musician already has a firm idea of what he wants to do in his future.

His goal is to play the violin in a symphony and he dreams of playing in an orchestra for his favourite musical, Hamilton.

Meanwhile, as he completes his schooling and indulges in his other passions, alpine ski racing and mountain biking, the classically-trained Snowy Mountains Grammar School Year 8 student is honing his craft and expanding his repertoire as one half of the duo, the K Brothers, with his 11-year-old brother Justin.

The brothers support fellow Berridale musician, singer/songwriter Gabi Forman, and jamming for fun with Snowy Mountains Folk.

Folk music is a long way from the classical music Filipe has been studying since he was four-and-a-half, but he loves it.

“Folk is a new genre for me and I am loving playing with Gabi, which I did at her album launch in Jindabyne last November and with Snowy Mountains Folk,” he said.

“I really like folk music. It is really relaxed for the quieter songs and when you do the bluegrass songs you can’t stop jiggling with the energy of it.

“I have been filling in for (Bibbenluke fiddle player and singer) Gus Olding, who played the fiddle on her album, when he cannot play with Gabi, and he has offered to take me under his wing and teach me more about the fiddle for the folk side of things, which is amazing.”

Filipe and Justin - multi-instrumentalists who are regular Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC) prizewinners - were selected to perform with the Snowy Mountains Folk Youth Band on The Crossing Youth Stage at Cobargo Folk Festival last Saturday.

“It was our biggest gig yet and in a whole new environment, even wearing different clothes,” Filipe said.

“It is really hard to get onto a folk festival program as a performer and we are really happy that we were given this opportunity.

“We played songs like Crooked Tree by Molly Tuttle and I love it because of the message it has about not really fitting in and how the music goes from relaxed and quiet to moving fast.”

With all three musicians spending time overseas leading up to the festival, they rehearsed every night last week after dinner “to make us professional and tight”.

Filipe had only just come out of a cast after breaking his “bow wrist” while mountain biking at Thredbo during the school holidays.

“I was really scared that I wouldn’t be able to play at Cobargo.”

Justin said he had also been very excited to play at Cobargo, saying folk music was great fun to listen to and play.

The festival ran over three days and involved more than 70 local, national and international performers.

The three young musicians were the only Snowy Mountains locals to perform and they hope to achieve program status at upcoming folk festivals during 2025.

Filipe and Justin are the sons of Jindabyne Public School teacher, Monika, and Qantas pilot, John Klempfner, moving from Sydney to the mountains during the COVID pandemic.

They had been “doing term three” at SMGS so they could train for ski racing with Thredbo Ski Race Club and the whole family was keen to re-locate permanently.

Their careers as violinists began when Filipe fell in love with the instrument after seeing his Mum’s friend playing during a visit to the Czech Republic when he was three-and-a-half.

“I asked Mum if I could learn and she never said anything as she thought it was just a phase,” Filipe said.

“The next year we went again and I saw him play again and I told her, ‘I want to play and I’ve always told you that’.

“She got me a second hand violin and a teacher and I have been playing for nine years now.”

Justin tagged along for the lessons and sat drawing and listening and humming and eventually the teacher suggested, given his perfect pitch, that he should learn the violin as well.

Both had been playing the piano, but the violin took over and continued when the family moved to the mountains.

These days they play classical, Irish and folk music on the fiddle, the piano, recorder and sing.

Using the stage name The K Brothers, the siblings entered the ANBC regionals in 2023 and won the People’s Choice award and placed third in the Primary category.

More results continued in 2024 when they took out major awards at both Cooma and Bombala regionals and the national grand final.

Filipe was interviewed and played live on ABC South East Radio late last year and the brothers played at the Jindabyne Carols By The Lake event.

Outside of music, Justin was second in alpine and third in skier cross at the Australian Interschools Championships last year, while Filipe was fifth in nationals in 2022 and first in alpine at states in 2023.

At school, at which they both excel academically, they are both part of the Devo Band at SMGS with music teacher and well known local musician, Sue Sell, and Filipe helps out with the Year 3 students.

Looking ahead, both Filipe and Justin are keen to play as much music as they can and Filipe is keen to encourage other young people to take up the violin.

Justin said it was a pity the fiddle was less popular than the guitar, and was more difficult to play because it doesn’t have frets.

“At the ANBC one of the judges from the James Brothers said he had so much respect for us playing the fiddle,” he said.

The boys’ mum said the K Brothers would not have achieved so much without the support of people like Allan Spencer, who founded the ANBC, their music teachers and others.