This site is no longer updated and will not be available after December 2010. 
Competitions
The Dorcas McClean Travelling Scholarship for Violinists 2009
The stage three Final of the 2009 competition will be presented as a public concert in Melba Hall on Sunday 6th September 2009.
Each finalist will perform a Mozart Concerto (no. 3, 4 or 5) with the Parkville Chamber Orchestra, led by Guest Director/Violin Rachael Beesley, and two Paganini Caprices. The 2009 finalists are
- Ms Ji Won Kim (NSW) Mozart, Concerto No. 4 & Paganini, Caprices No.s 11 & 24
- Ms Sujin Park (NSW) Mozart, Concerto No. 3 & Paganini, Caprices No.s 15 & 24
- Ms Tessa Ho (VIC) Mozart, Concerto No. 5 & Paganini, Caprices No.s 1 & 23
Sunday 6th September, 6:30pm
Melba Hall
Faculty of the VCA and Music
Gate 12, The University of Melbourne
Royal Pde
Parkville
Free general admission
Inquiries: 8344 7830 - music-concerts@unimelb.edu.au
Guest Director - Rachel Beesley
Violinist Rachael Beesley is one of Australia’s most versatile and dynamic performers. Based in The Netherlands over the last 14 years, she has established an exciting career as concertmaster and soloist with the finest European orchestras specialising in Early Music. Now based in Australia, Rachael has made a resounding impact on the music scene in Australia, performing, educating and directing programs around the country.
A graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor and Graduate Diploma of Arts in Music and a Master of Music from The Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, The Netherlands, Rachael is much in demand as a chamber musician and soloist, regularly collaborating with contemporary composers and exploring repertoire from the 17th to 21st centuries on period instruments. Rachael appears as guest concertmaster with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, director and soloist with the Tasmanian Symphony and Melbourne Chamber Orchestras as well as concertmaster with Opera Australia, Victorian and Pinchgut Opera and has recorded over 50 CD recordings for Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Sony and ABC Classics.
As a professor at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Netherlands, Rachael has developed unique courses on Historical Performance Practice and Practising In Flow and in collaboration with Alchemy Road is developing a unique program in Australia for businesses and schools on Creating Flow. A devoted educator Rachael teaches and guest lectures at the Conservatoriums of Music in Melbourne and Sydney and the Australian National Academy of Music.
Dorcas McClean (1917 – 1981)
One of Australia’s most gifted violinists, Dorcas McClean began her musical studies at the age of three at the New South Wales Conservatorium. By the age of eight, she was already appearing as a soloist at public concerts in Sydney as well as performing for numerous radio broadcasts.
Her brother Hugh and sister Georgina were also talented violinists and together the family often performed chamber concerts. When she was 12, Dorcas caused a sensation at a choral concert in Sydney with her performance of the Finale from the Concert No.2 in D minor by Wieniawski, and was hailed by critics as a child virtuoso.
Shortly before her death Dorcas McClean expressed the wish to establish a scholarship for the advancement of the musical education of young Australian violinists. Accordingly she bequeathed the whole of her residuary estate to The University of Melbourne.
The University of Melbourne has inaugurated the Dorcas McClean Travelling Scholarship in honour of this brilliant musician and dedicated patron of the arts. This scholarship is offered nationally and awarded biennially. Three Scholarships of $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000 are on offer making the prize one of the richest in the country.