Our Current Concertmaster
Margaret Butcher
Margaret was appointed concertmaster for Preston Symphony Orchestra in May 2021. She has previously been a concertmaster of the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra in Sydney and the Armidale Symphony Orchestra.
As a concerto soloist, Margaret has appeared with the Armidale Symphony Orchestra (Barber and Prokofiev No.2), Armidale Youth Orchestra (The Lark Ascending) and the University of Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Szymanowski No.2). Since moving to Melbourne in 2016, Margaret has played with the Australian Discovery Orchestra, Opera in the Alps, Art of Sound Orchestra and Melbourne Bach Choir. She enjoys playing in a piano trio, the Azure Trio.
Margaret is a committed strings teacher. She currently conducts the Junior Melbourne String Ensemble for talented young players. She teaches violin & viola and coaches chamber music at Camberwell Girls Grammar School as well as running a busy home studio in Thornbury. She has had students win scholarships and continue on to tertiary music studies.
Margaret’s own tertiary violin studies include a Bachelor of Music (Hons) at the University of Sydney and a postgraduate study in violin at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria.
Our Last Concertmaster
Suresh Brady (1997 – 2021)
Suresh Brady stepped down as Concertmaster after Concert 1 2021, having made an outstanding contribution to the orchestra over the previous 20 years.
