Melanie Waite, violin

Born in Sydney, Australia, Melanie began her musical studies on piano, aged 6. At 12 she also started playing viola (after a brief affair with the flute), and went on to graduate with distinction from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on this instrument. During her conservatorium time she was working professionally with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Sinfonia. After a changing to violin, she moved to the Netherlands to study with Berent Korfker in Amsterdam. She furthered her studies with Florian Donderer at the Prins Claus Conservatorium and Katy Sebestyen in Brussels. In addition to leading Camerata Ardesko, Melanie has just completed a succesful 21 performance tour of the Netherlands as solo violinist with Noord Nederlandse Dans for their 2009/10 production 'Avalanche'. She also works as a freelancer, and concertmaster of the SMC-orchestra of the Max Proms.

Melanie is part of the ‘Alinga Duo’ (violin/cello) and performs regularly as a chamber musician, but from her first orchestra rehearsal at age 11 until today, her real passion has been orchestral music. She has held many principal positions with orchestras including; the JMWO (World Youth Orchestra), the IOIA orchestra-summer institute of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Australian Youth Orchestra, and has toured extensively through Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Melanie won an internship with the NNO (North Netherlands Orchestra) for 2007/08 and was awarded a Huygens Beurs (Dutch government scholarship) for 2008. She has also been supported by the Makarov Foundation.

Melanie plays on a copy of the "Goyen" Guarneri del Gesu made by Dutch violin maker Hendrik Woldring

Mel's website is:

www.melaniewaite.com 

10 questions

Who are your favourite 3 composers?

Brahms, Beethoven, Bach or Vivaldi

Are you a cat or a dog person?

Dog! (but don't tell my rabbit)

Who is your favourite film character (and name of the film)?

Mr Keating (Robin Williams) from ‘Dead Poet’s Society’

What 3 foods can you not live without?

Chocolate, pizza, broccoli

When you were 6, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer, a Wimbledon (tennis) champion, and on ‘Young Talent Time’

If you could wake up on holidays tomorrow anywhere in the world, where would it be?

A sunny, undeveloped place

What are you non musicals hobbies/interests?

Cycling  (a ‘tour de france’ fanatic), dance, squash, sport in general, photography, writing, hiking, traveling, reading, political satire, building websites, graphic design, cooking/eating desserts 

Who is your favourite author?

That changes; Oliver Sacks, Chris Stewart, Jostein Gaarder, Dr Seuss 

What are you annoyed by?

Superficiality, greed, people who don’t think for themselves, mobile phone ring tones

Who are you inspired by?

People who help others, people who aren’t afraid to stand out, my grandpa, Ghandi, Lance Armstrong, and of course a long list of great musicians and composers