Elizabeth Wallfisch

Ever since establishing herself in the early 1970s, Elizabeth Wallfisch has maintained a three-pronged career as a violinist spanning repertory from the Baroque era through contemporary works and as conductor or leader of several period-instrument ensembles. Innate musical gifts appeared in childhood, leading to her first appearance as concerto soloist at age twelve. She also participated in the final of the ABC Concerto Competition with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. At the Royal Academy of Music in London she trained with Fredericke Grinke and received the President's Prize plus further distinctions. Additional early honors arrived when she captured the Franco Gulli Senior Prize for violin at the Accademica Chigiana at twenty and shared the Mozart Memorial Prize later that same year. Recognition as a Baroque specialist followed in 1974 after she earned the award for the most outstanding Bach performance in the Carl Flesch Competition.

By the mid-1970s she had begun appearing as a recitalist and as guest soloist with orchestras both in her native Australia and in England. Once she had secured a foothold on English concert platforms through performances with the London Mozart Players and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Wallfisch concentrated on the Baroque violin, refining her technique and reputation as soloist, conductor, and ensemble leader. Broadcasts and initial recordings encouraged her to form the Locatelli Trio in 1989 with Paul Nicholson and Richard Tunnicliffe, an ensemble through which she presented frequent Baroque recitals. She has also served regularly as leader of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Her most prominent recordings with that group include the complete violin concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Josef Haydn. She has additionally explored works by C.P.E. Bach, J.M. Kraus, and Josef Myslivecek as well as those of English composers such as Thomas Arne. Although primarily associated with Baroque literature, Wallfisch has performed Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto for violin and cello and his Violin Concerto, extending her range to late-Romantic scores by Richard Strauss, post-Romantic pieces by Igor Stravinsky, modernist works by Dmitry Shostakovich, and compositions by contemporary Australian creators Peter Sculthorpe and Esther Rofe. She has occupied academic posts, among them artist-in-residence at Melbourne University, yet remains chiefly a performing musician. Engagements have included a 2000-01 tour season with the Hanover Band under Roy Goodman. She is married to cellist Raphael Wallfisch, with whom she has collaborated in performance.