Q. First Name:
R. Madeleine
Q. Last Name
R. Easton
Q. When did you join SYO?
R. not entirely sure, I think I wold have been about 9 or 10! I went into the Junior Strings
Q. What instruments did you play in SYO?
R. Violin
Q. What is your favourite memory of SYO
R. There are way too many to mention, but perhaps my first concert with the most senior orchestra, the Symphony. I had finally made it after many years working my way up through the orchestras. I was back desk 2nd violin, and the repertoire was the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Heather Cottrell as soloist, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas, then Sheherezade by Rimsky Korsakov. Jemima Littlemore was leading and played incredibly. Those three pieces were a revelation to me, and to be surrounded by all those truly excellent musicians, making music like that absolutely hooked me for life!
Q. What role does music play in your life?
R. Music IS my life. I live and breath it every day. It is my sole purpose on this planet to perform music and to some how make a difference to those who listen. I am not a composer, I do not have music coming out of me that I need to write down. My role is as a performer. All I’ve ever wanted to do was to do the composers justice, and be a vessel from which their music can flow in a meaningful way. It is not an easy life, but there is no other life I could possibly imagine leading.
Q. What is your favourite musical repertoire from the SYO performances?
R. When Henrik Pisarek was conducting, we were privileged to perform all the Brahms Symphonies, most of Tchaikovsky’s, Shostakovich 5th, plus many a Beethoven, alongside his overtures, and of course Mozart. Not to mention the three works I mentioned before. He was fond of Koday’s dances of Galanta and Borodin’s Polotsvian dances as well. The orchestra was a wonderful training ground for us to learn the core repertoire, be mentored by older musicians, learn the ropes, make life long friends and most of all, fall in love with music and playing in an orchestra.
Q. What advice would you give young musicians today?
R. Know that it is a huge privilege to be in an orchestra, or an ensemble of any kind. The memories you will make and the friends you will have will be with you for life. Show up on time, early in fact, be positive, be friendly, get good at networking, learn how to sight-read! Do that extra hour of practice as the rewards are great indeed.
The Australian violinist Madeleine Easton is internationally recognised as a director, conductor and violinist
in historically informed performance practice. She appears as soloist, concertmaster and director of some of the world’s most respected ensembles and orchestras.
Madeleine studied with Alice Waten and Chris Kimber at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she graduated with first class honours. Alongside her degree, she studied baroque violin with Lucinda Moon. She
was awarded scholarships and was successful in competitions winning the Sydney Conservatorium Concerto Prize with Bartok’s 2nd violin concerto, and was a finalist in both the 1999 Richard Goldner Concerto Competition and the 1998 Gisbourne International Music Competition in New Zealand. In 2000 she was a recipient of a full scholarship to attend the Julliard/Meadowmount Summer School in New York State
winning the chamber music prize, and a year later won a place to study at postgraduate level at the Royal College of Music with Dr Felix Andrievsky where she graduated with distinction winning the String Prize for most outstanding performer. Madeleine’s career as a concertmaster and director has led to engagements with leading orchestras worldwide including the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra of Lisbon, The English Baroque Soloists, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, The Kings Consort, The Gabrieli Consort, the Musicians of the Globe, The Independent Opera Company, London Orchestra da Camera, Florilegium, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Omega Ensemble, the Northern Ballet Orchestra of England and
the Australian World Orchestra, and The Hanover Band. Madeleine also has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music.
Since the resumption of live music post pandemic, She regularly returns to Europe to perform with the Orchestra Revolutionaire et Romantique and English Baroque Soloists under the baton of her mentor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Recently performances include the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey and a tour of Europe performing Bach’s great B minor mass.
Her talent of combining both period and modern styles of violin playing has led her to form a special relationship with the Royal Academy of Music in London. There, she directed the Ralf Cohen Bach Cantata
Series from 2009 – 2019, and regularly gave masterclasses and curated courses on baroque performance.
Other engagements in the educational field include leading the World Orchestra at the Schleswig Holstein Festival in Germany, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and Monash University in
Melbourne.
Madeleine has performed on many award winning recordings including the Bach Cantata series and the recently released Bach B minor Mass with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists for Deutsche
Grammaphon, and Haydn’s ‘Creation’, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Gabrieli Consort. She has released the complete piano trios of Alexis de Castillon on Peyrole Records, the Antoine
Reicha Bassoon Quintet and variations with the all Australian ensemble, ‘Island’ on the ARS label, and Bach’s Musical Offering for Somm records.
Madeleine returned to Australia in 2019 to devote her energy to her ensemble, Bach Akademie Australia. Formed in 2016, it has now become a mainstay on the Australian baroque music scene and regularly achieves 5 star reviews. Madeleine is passionately dedicated to pedagogy, and is proud to teach at the Sydney Conservatorium High School, her Alma Mater.
Madeleine plays on a 1682 Giovanni Grancino violin.
