Biography

Violin

RACHAEL BEESLEY

 

Rachael Beesley is an internationally renowned Australian / British violinist, director and concertmaster. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne - Bachelor of Arts in Music (1989), Graduate Diploma of Arts in Music (1991) studying with Spiros Rantos and from The Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, The Netherlands - Master of Music (1999) studying with Sigiswald Kuijken, Elizabeth Wallfisch and Vera Beths.

 

Rachael is a talented and versatile violinist and musician who has devoted her life to performing, teaching, and researching and has become one of the world leaders in the field of historically informed performance (HIP). She is well known throughout the world, a regular member of some of Europe's finest ensembles, including as guest concertmaster with Anima Eterna Brugge, Les Muffatti, La Petite Bande, Il Complesso Barocco, Bach Concentus, Restoration Company and the New Dutch Academy as well as performing regularly with Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Combattimento Consort.

 

Based in Australia since 2009, Rachael is a guest concertmaster of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Opera Australia and Victorian Opera for performances on period instruments, including a national tour for Musica Viva Australia, as well as concerts of the St John and St Matthew Passions presented by the Melbourne Recital Centre. She co-founded the ensemble Ironwood in 2006 and regularly leads the chamber music ensembles Ludovico's Band, Salut! Baroque and Accademia Arcadia.

 

Rachael is a wonderful director who has the expertise to present fascinating and colourful programs that will delight and educate audiences. She has therefore been invited to direct from the violin the Tasmanian and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (core member), Adelaide Chamber Players and NZBarok. Most recently, Rachael has been appointed Co-Artistic Director of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, specialising in Classical and Romantic repertoire on period instruments. She also has performed in Australia with Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

 

As a highly regarded and much sought after teacher and mentor, Rachael teaches at the Sydney and Melbourne Conservatoriums of Music, the School of Music Monash University, was the Kate Buchdahl Distinguished Artist in Residence, Adjunct Academic at the ANU School of Music, Canberra and guest director at the Australian National Academy of Music. She has inspired a new generation of Australian graduates who are forging successful careers in Europe, the US and in Australia. In the field of Historical Informed Performance Practice and the unique area of Practising in Flow, she has been invited to speak at conferences in Australia, New Zealand and The Netherlands where she has taught at Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Netherlands since 2000.

 

Rachael is much in demand as a chamber musician and soloist, regularly collaborating with contemporary Australian composers as well as exploring repertoire from the 17th- to 20th-centuries on period instruments. Rachael performs in festivals throughout the world, notably winning prizes at both the Van Wassenaer Concours (1998) and the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge Concours (1999). In 2000 she was awarded an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant and since 2011 is listed in the Who’s Who of Australian Women. She has performed on broadcasts for the radio and television and on over 50 CDs for Harmonia Mundi, SONY, BIS, Accent, Pentatone, Et’Cetera, Centaur and ABC Classics.

 

 

The Art of Playing Opera – To the Moon and Back

 

 

WORLD PREMIERES

 

Matthew HINDSON After Bach for Two Baroque Violins and Viola da Gamba performed by Rachael Beesley, Lizzy Welsh, Laura Vaughan National Galley of Victoria, Melbourne VIC 2019.

Tim DARGAVILLE Lost Pages From the Book of Memory and Forgetting and Invisible Dance for String Quartet performed and recorded by Ironwood 2018.

Stephanie Ann BOYD Nostrorbis for the World Sonata Project for Solo Violin recorded by Rachael Beesley 2017.

Shauna BEESLEY From my Life for Soprano and String Quartet performed by Shauna Beesley Soprano and Quartz Melbourne Recital Centre VIC 2014.

Paul STANHOPE Sea Chronicles Soprano and String Quartet recorded by Jane Sheldon Soprano and Ironwood for ABC Classics 2010.

Damian BARBELER Silk Panels for String Quartet performed by Ironwood The Barnet Long Room, NSW 2010.

Kevin MARCH Water Dreamers for String Quartet performed by Ironwood 2010.

Raffaele MARCELLINO Ein Psalm Davids SATB choir and Solo Violin, performed by the Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir and Rachael Beesley as part of the Immortal Bach series at the Eugene Goosens Hall, ABC Centre Ultimo NSW 2005.

 

PERFORMED WITH...

 

Andrea Battistoni

Elizabeth Blumenstock

William Christie

Christophe Coin

Alan Curtis

Paul Dean

Paul Dyer AO

Richard Egarr

Richard Gill AO

Federico Guillermo

Walter van Hauwe

William Hennessy

Christopher Hogwood

Jos van Immerseel

Mariss Jansons

Philippe Jaroussky

Ton Koopman

Barthold Kuijken

Sigiswald Kuijken

Stephen Layton

Sir Neville Marriner

Christopher Martin

Simon Murphy

Benjamin Northey

Marco van Pagee

Spiros Rantos

Andreas Scholl

Skip Sempe

Jeremy Summerly

Hidemi Suzuki

Masaaki Suzuki

Peter van Heyghen

Jos van Veldhoven

Jan Willem de Vriend

Elizabeth Wallfisch

Antony Walker

Jed Wentz

Will Wroth

Simone Young