Violinist, Rachael Beesley is one of Australia’s most versatile and dynamic performers. Based in The Netherlands for 14 years, Rachael established an exciting career of touring, recording and teaching. Rachael is a Graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Graduate Diploma of Arts in Music and a Master of Music from The Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, The Netherlands. Rachael has appeared regularly as concertmaster of La Petite Bande, Il Complesso Barocco, Pinchgut Opera and the New Dutch Academy as well as performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Radio Symphonie, Les Arts Florissants,  Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Combattimento Consort. 

Rachael is much in demand as a chamber musician and soloist, regularly collaborating with contemporary 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 and the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge Concours. In 2000 she was awarded an Ian Potter Cultural Trust. She has performed on over 50 recordings for Harmonia Mundi, SONY, BIS, Accent, Pentatone, Et’cetera, Centaur and ABC Classics and as a teacher at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, Rachael has developed unique courses on Historical Performance Practice and Practising In Flow.

The vitality and originality of the Australian music scene has drawn Rachael back to her homeland where Rachael directs from the violin, performances with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, appears as concertmaster with Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and tours nationally for Musica Viva with Ironwood, performs with Ludovico’s Band as well as presenting lectures and masterclasses at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne and the Australian National Academy of Music. Rachael’s solo performances have been reviewed as some of the most beautiful music you’ll ever hear.