Pauline Starkey BMus, PGDip

Pauline Starkey is a professional violinist and professional violist freelancing as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician across the South of England, whilst offering one-to-one tuition, orchestral training, chamber music coaching and various day courses in the countryside for adult string players.

Pauline has performed extensively from a young age as a violinist and violist and a solo, chamber and orchestral musician. She has toured nine European countries, Canada and the U.S.A. and has been involved in recordings in the UK and Poland - for Classic FM and for Polish Television. Pauline has given performances at major London venues and across the South of England, including a concert at Windsor Castle for Prince Charles. She regularly plays with the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Mozart Symphony Orchestra, St Endellion Summer Festival Orchestra and Dartington International Festival Orchestra.

Pauline's musical beginnings consisted of starting the piano at 4, the violin at 5 and the viola at 14 years of age. She has studied at some of the UK's most prestigious music establishments. When she was only 7 years old she auditioned for Trinity College of Music Junior Department and was offered a scholarship. She was later awarded further scholarships to attend The Royal College of Music Junior Department to learn the violin with Eszter Boda Katona and The Purcell School of music to learn the viola with Ian Jewel. After graduating with a BMus Hons Degree at The University of Sheffield, Pauline gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance at Trinity College of Music, London.

Pauline Starkey is a freelance violinist and violist and, drawing on her lifetime of musical skills, experiences and achievements, is a dedicated teacher of the violin, viola and piano. Pauline's performance and teaching repertoire ranges from the Baroque era to contemporary classical works and pop music. Pauline has been fortunate to learn from many of the country's leading solo and chamber music professors at a number of specialist music establishments and imparts that knowledge with enthusiasm to those willing to learn. The people who have influenced her most are Eszter Boda Katona and Leland Chen on the violin, Ian Jewel on the viola, Cecilia McDowall and Emily Jeffrey on the piano.

Pauline's vast orchestral experience involves being directed by a number of eminent conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington and the late Richard Hickox CBE, to name a few. She has also been privilaged to perform Tippett's 'A Child of Our Time' and the 'Elgar/Payne 3rd Symphony' in the presence and with the guidance of the respective composers. Together with Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra, Pauline had the honour of being the first youth orchestra in the UK to premiere the latter. Her other youthful escapades include taking part in setting a world record for the largest youth orchestra at Wolverhampton's football stadium in the 1990's and a mighty fund-raising marathon, playing all 9 of Beethoven's symphonies, interspersed with all 4 of Brahms' symphonies in one go - a real test of skill and stamina!

 

Her solo and chamber music experience includes entering competitions and masterclasses at local Arts Festivals and London Music Colleges - in Junior and Senior Departments. Pauline is a solo and chamber prize winner of the Richmond Music Festival and the Kingston Music Festival, on the violin and viola. She has given concert performances at The Purcell Room and whilst only under the age of 12, was well known for her performances of the Vivaldi and Bach Double Violin Concertos, which she gave alongside her sister, at local venues and at Trinity College of Music JD.

Pauline Starkey also has a passion for composing and is looking forward to publishing her own works. She delights in writing for all stringed instruments and the piano and has created a collection of solo, duo, trio and quartet works of varying difficulty and style. In addition, Pauline enjoys arranging music for tuition purposes and church music for unaccompanied violin or viola - including Taize music.

 

Alongside classical concerts with orchestral and chamber musicians, Pauline has collaborated with a guitarist in London with whom she formed the duo 'AMPS'. Together they wrote and performed their own original music - a unique fusion of classical and experimental folk rock sounds. Pauline always enjoys the thrill of switching from violin to viola and vice-versa, not just inbetween songs but unusually during them too. In the space of just a few years they finished over 20 works and thrilled audiences with their unique and innovative sound, culminating in studio recordings of some of their most favourite works.