Tutors

  • Michele Walsh Artistic Director

    Michele Walsh is delighted to be returning to the Mt Buller Chamber Music Summer School with her friends in the Merlin Ensemble.

    A graduate of the University of Adelaide and winner of the prestigious ABC Instrumental Competition, violinist Michele Walsh undertook further studies in London with distinguished violinist Szymon Goldberg. She has appeared as soloist with major orchestras in Australia and has performed in the UK, USA, Canada, Europe and South-East Asia. Formerly Associate Concertmaster of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, a position she held for over a decade, she is currently Associate Professor in Violin and Head of Strings at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

    Michele was a founding member of the Griffith Trio, which for over a decade performed in major centres in South East Asia. She is a frequent guest at chamber music festivals around the country and has been a regular Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music Winterschool. Most recently in May 2022 Michele returned to Montreal as performer and faculty member at the Schulich School of Music’s Musical Chairs program.

    Michele has a particular interest in fostering young musicians and working in regional areas. She is very committed to the work of the Australian Youth Orchestra, having served as a Board member and Chair of the Artistic committee for many years. She continues close association with the AYO through membership of the Artistic Committee and Council and regular involvement in their programs.  She is in demand as a guest teacher and frequently serves on competition juries in Australia and South-East Asia.  Many of her former students are major competition prize winners and hold positions in Australia, Europe, USA and Asia.

  • Margaret Connolly Violin

    Margaret studied violin with Jan Sedivka in Hobart at the Tasmanian Conservatorium and Günter Pichler in Vienna. After several years playing with the Wiener Volksoper and other Austrian ensembles, performing throughout Europe and in Japan, Margaret returned to Australia to join the New England String Quartet, then ensemble-in-residence at the University of New England, Armidale. After moving to Brisbane, she was a member of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, during which time she made many guest appearances with other ensembles and also toured with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. She ceased full-time orchestral work to pursue various teaching, chamber music and early music activities.  Margaret plays regularly as a core member with the Badinerie Players and in various chamber music configurations at Queensland Conservatorium.  As a member of the Merlin Ensemble, she has also tutored and performed regularly at the Mt Buller Summer School.  She has a successful private teaching studio and since 2015 has been regularly invited to play with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

    In 2019, Margaret formed the group, Opus 5 to play on a 4MBS cruise to New Zealand. The group continues to perform and in 2021 were Artist- in -Residence for 4MBS . Her latest musical venture is a trio with cellist Sue Ellen Paulsen and pianist Mark Hooper.

    When not making music, Margaret loves to cycle, knit socks, travel and practise yoga.

  • Patricia Pollett Viola

    Patricia Pollett is one of Australia’s leading string players. Well known as an advocate of new music for the viola, she has commissioned, performed and recorded numerous solo works by leading Australian composers. For her solo CDs of Australian music, Patricia has been internationally lauded for her ‘…inspired and virtuosic performances…” (The Strad) and for “… her daring, her imagination, and her innate musicianship…” (The Journal of the American Viola Society). She was honoured for this work with an APRA Australian Music Centre Classical Music Award for the Most Distinguished Contribution to the Presentation of Australian Composition by an Individual.

    Patricia has performed as soloist and chamber musician with major Australian ensembles and orchestras and has extensive international performance experience, particularly with the Italian string ensemble I Solisti Veneti. She was a founding member of the contemporary ensemble Perihelion, and the ensemble White Halo, both resident at the University of Queensland.

    Patricia has appeared as guest principal viola with several major orchestras including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Welsh National Opera Orchestra. She is in demand as a teacher, giving masterclasses for leading education institutions in Australia and overseas including the Australian National Academy of Music and New York University. An active contribution to the development of the arts in Australia has led to her participation on the boards of the Australia Council, the Australian Music Centre, and the Australian Youth Orchestra. She is a Professor on staff at The University of Queensland where she was Director of Performance and Engagement for many years.

  • Rosemary Quinn Cello

    Rosemary’s studies commenced at the Queensland Conservatorium and continued in Detmold Hochshule, Germany with Marcio Carneiro where she received a Diploma in Performance.  In Europe, Rosemary studied with Andre Navarra in Siena, and toured with the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra.

    As a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Rosemary toured the major concert halls of Europe and America before establishing a freelance career in Sydney. Her passion for the Baroque and Classical periods led her to a twenty-year performing life with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

    In recent years, Rosemary founded the Mosman-based Trio Pollastri, performing a variety chamber music repertoire around Sydney. Her love of teaching instrumental and chamber music has flourished in her position at the Sydney Grammar School, which she has held for many years, and in her private studio in Mosman.

  • Caroline Henbest Viola

    Caroline Henbest is a Violist and Feldenkrais Practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia. She performs as a chamber musician, soloist, and extra player in the MSO and enjoys regular appearances at festivals such as the Stradbroke Island Chamber Music Festival and Music by the Springs. Since 2015 she has been Resident Viola Faculty at the Australian National Academy of Music.

    As well as the viola, Caroline also loves to play the violin, though generally with friends who don’t earn their living as performers. Her love of music-making with community musicians came from her father, a passionate amateur violinist, violist and cellist. Working with non-professional musicians, and reading chamber music with friends who love to play for fun, brings another dimension to her musical life. Caroline has taught on many occasions at the Mount Buller Chamber Music Summer School.

    Early in her career she was violist in the Mistry Quartet and performed with many UK based chamber orchestras and ensembles. She has acted as guest principal with the SSO, MSO and TSO, as well as the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia, Glyndebourne on Tour, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

    Caroline moved to Australia from England in 1993 to be Principal Viola with the ACO. She was a full-time member for eight years and a part-time member for ten.

    Her teachers at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Guildhall School of Music & Drama included Robert Masters, David Takeno & Hans Keller

    Caroline’s recent Master of Music Research degree (Griffith) explored creative collaboration through composition and performance.

    (*Photo by Agatha Yim)

  • Molly Kadarauch Cello

    Molly Kadarauch is one of Australia’s pre-eminent and versatile cellists and has concertized at leading venues all over the world as well as within Australia as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. In 2010 she founded Sutherland Trio together with Elizabeth Sellars (violin) and Caroline Almonte (piano) who have made regular appearances at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, Port fairy Spring Music Festival and other regional touring venues as well as recording for ABC Classic FM and 3MBS radio.

    Originally from California, she moved out to Australia in 1996 after studies in Boston and concertizing in Berlin to join the Australian Chamber Orchestra as an associate principal cellist and core member until the end of 2003. Her active multi-faceted career has since then led to her performing as guest principal with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia, and in 2019 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra chamber players. Other appearances include touring Australia in “Voyage to the Moon” (a Musica Viva/Victorian “pastiche” Opera production, 2016), touring India and Australia with the Australian World Orchestra (2018, 2019) and participating as a soloist at the Melbourne International Cello Festival (2017). Chamber music collaberations have included exciting performances with Richard Tognetti, Steven Isserlis, Pieter Wispelway, and William Barton, to name a few. Her tertiary studies were completed at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (with Laurence Lesser, BM,1991) and in Berlin as a Fulbright Scholar at the Hochschule der Kuenste (Wolfgang Boettcher,1993). Molly is also a passionate educator and has over the past 16 years enjoyed working with students from all ages and abilities including at the Melbourne Conservatorium, Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University), ANAM, Monash University, the Australian Youth Orchestra, Victoria State Music Camp, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Orchestra 21, Mt Buller and Clunes chamber music festivals.