Rachael Beesley is an internationally renowned Australian violinist, director, concertmaster and educator. Rachael performs in festivals and concert halls worldwide as guest concertmaster with Europe’s most distinguished historically informed performance ensembles and orchestras including Anima Eterna Brugge, La Petite Bande and the New Dutch Academy, and as guest director of Les Muffatti in Brussels and NZBarok in Auckland. Rachael was a member of prize-winning ensembles at both the Van Wassenaer Concours in 1998 and the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge Concours in 1999.

In Australia, Rachael is co-artistic director, director and concertmaster of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra and has performed as guest concertmaster with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Opera Australia and Victorian Opera, Salut! Baroque and Adelaide Baroque. Rachael is regularly invited to guest direct modern orchestras from the violin, including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra,Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Adelaide Chamber Players. Rachael features on over 50 album recordings and broadcasts for radio and television and 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 the 21st centuries on period instruments.

As a highly regarded educator and mentor, specialising in the fields of Historical Informed Performance Practice and Practising in Flow, Rachael has been invited to speak at conferences in Australia, New Zealand and The Netherlands where she has taught at Royal Conservatoire in The Hague since 2000. Rachael teaches and lectures at the Melbourne and Sydney Conservatoriums of Music, the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University, and directs the Young Mannheim Symphonists youth orchestra program. Rachael has been awarded an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant and is listed in the Who’s Who of Australian Women.