On Friday 17th May, the P&C hosted a Masterclass for senior String students with Monica Naselow, a violinist with the Australian World Orchestra. This is the first in a series of Masterclasses with the AWO that will be run at the school in the course of the next year.
Biography of Monica Naselow
Born in Penrith, NSW, Monica began Suzuki violin lessons at age 4 with Patricia Moran and later Yasuki Nakamura. She attended MLC School Burwood, after which Monica was a Rotary Youth Exchange student for a year in Germany. Monica received her Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with teacher Goetz Richter, then was awarded a Queen’s Trust of Australia Scholarship to pursue orchestral training overseas, and was accepted into Postgraduate study at the Zurich Opera House Orchestral Academy in Switzerland. Monica was concertmaster of the Australian Youth Orchestra in 2000, and soloist together with violinist Jane Peters in the AYO Camerata tour for the Musica Viva Bach Celebration Tour of Australia.
In 2002, Monica moved to the Netherlands to take up a position with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) in Amsterdam. In 2008 the RCO was given the title of “World’s Best Orchestra” by UK Gramophone magazine. Monica resigned her position in August 2012 in order to come back to Australia, having spent 10 years in the orchestra as a permanent member of the 2nd violin group performing under the baton of Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding and many more. Tours with the RCO took Monica throughout Europe, USA and Asia, performing at some of the world’s biggest festivals such as the BBC Proms and in Carnegie Hall. Monica was also Principal Second violin of the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Henk Rubingh and Vesko Eschkenazy, and regularly performed in various chamber music ensembles, including a duo with violinist Marijn Mijnders.
Returning to Australia in September 2012, Monica joined the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Monica currently lives in Hobart with her husband Aaron and their two sons, Xander and Flynn.
