Carmel Kaine

Carmel Kaine was born in Wagga Wagga, Australia in 1937 and studied at the New South Wales Conservatorium, graduating at seventeen with the prize for the most outstanding student. After a year as a member of the South Australian Symphony Orchestra, Carmel continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she won the three violin prizes and the Violin Scholarship in her first year.

Further study at the Juilliard School in New York with Ivan Galamian was made possible by a Boyce Scholarship awarded by the Royal College of Music and a James Caird Scholarship from Edinburgh.At the Juilliard School Carmel was awarded a Violin Fellowship and in 1967 was awarded the first prize at the Vienna International Violin Competition. Recitals for the BBC followed both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles.

Carmel was a member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for ten years, during which time she made many solo recordings with the Academy and performed at major festivals throughout Europe.Vivaldi’s La Stravaganza won a Grand Priz de Disque and a Rosette Award in the Penguin Guide.Carmel was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music for twelve years and in 1983 was made a Fellow. She was invited by Yehudi Menuhin to read at his school in Cobham, Surrey.In 1990 Carmel took up the Senior Lecturer position at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and for five years was Head of Department.

In 1991, with John Willison, Carmel founded the Limpinwood Ensemble and many performances have been given for the ABC and at Tyalgum Festivals. She also founded the Queensland Conservatorium Soloists, which has raised over $30,000 for the Conservatorium’s String Department.