Rachael Beesley

“Performing the solo works, cantatas and concerti of extraordinary depth and colour, Bach’s mastery of styles and genres display a true wealth of affects and passion.” Rachael Beesley

Rachael Beesley is an internationally renowned Australian violinist, director, concertmaster and educator. Graduating 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 Elizabeth Wallfisch, Vera Beths and Sigiswald Kuijken. Rachael was based in Europe for 14 years, performing as guest concertmaster with Europe’s most distinguished ensembles and orchestras including Anima Eterna Brugge, La Petite Bande and the New Dutch Academy as well as performing regularly with Holland Symfonia and the Radio Symfonie Orkest, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Les Arts Florissants.

Rachael has performed on over 50 CD recordings and for broadcasts on radio and television and now based in Australia, she performs as concertmaster for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera and the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) – an orchestra she co-founded in Australia. 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 21st-centuries. She co-founded the chamber ensembles Ironwood and Quartz and regularly performs with Ludovico’s Band and Salut! Baroque. Rachael has performed with Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphonies and the Australian Chamber Orchestra has been invited to direct from the violin the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (core member), Adelaide Chamber Players and NZBarok.

As a highly regarded teacher and mentor, Rachael is the Kate Buchdahl Distinguished Artist in Residence at the ANU School of Music, Canberra and a lecturer at the Sydney and Melbourne Conservatoriums and the School of Music, Monash University and guest director at the Australian National Academy of Music. In the field of Historical 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 has been awarded an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant and is listed in the Who’s Who of Australian Women.

“Rachael Beesley … on solo violin where she displayed her wonderful touch and virtuosity, along with a great sense of the intricacies of the interplay between the soloist and the rest of the orchestra.” Classikon 2017

“Director Rachael Beesley then led from the violin in an engaging reading … her bright, light tone soaring perfectly over the warm accompaniment while she decorated the lyrical line with grace, flair and just the right degree of sentiment. The delicate ending was quite exquisite.” Limelight 2017