Beryl Kimber (3 June 1928 – 25 November 2022) was an Australian violinist. In addition to her performing career, she taught violin at the Elder Conservatorium of Music for 34 years.

Career

Kimber was born in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia but grew up in Hobart, Tasmania. She studied piano with Miss S. Honey and in 1942 was awarded an

AMusA The Associate in Music, Australia (AMusA) is a diploma awarded by examination to outstanding candidates in the fields of musical performance and music theory by the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB). Description AMEB administers music ...

by the

Australian Music Examinations Board The Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) is a federated, privately funded corporation which provides a program of examinations for music, speech and drama in Australia. The organisation had its beginnings at the Universities of Melbourne ...

at age 14. She moved to Melbourne to study with Jeanne Gautier, a French violinist. In 1944, she was a finalist in the Conservatorium's concerto festival and performed the third movement of

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a prominent staple of the standard v ...

's Violin Concerto in G minor with the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

, conducted by

Bernard Heinze Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC (1 July 189410 June 1982) was an Australian conductor, academic, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. He conducted all the orchestras run by the ABC, most particularly the Melbourne Sy ...

. She later moved to Sydney where she was a pupil of Jascha Gopinko. In 1946, she won a British Council Scholarship at the

ABC Young Performers Awards The ABC Young Performers Awards is a classical music competition for young people that ran annually from 1944 to 2015, and again from 2017. It is generally considered the most prestigious Australian classical music competition not restricted to a ...

, which led to her studying at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

. From there, she won a full scholarship to continue her studies in Paris with

Georges Enesco George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biogr ...

, a Romanian violinist. Kimber debuted at Wigmore Hall in 1950 and in following years performed under conductors including

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in Londo ...

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

and

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 19 ...

in England and

Kirill Kondrashin Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin (, ''Kirill Petrovič Kondrašin''; – 7 March 1981) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. People's Artist of the USSR (1972). Early life Kondrashin was born in Moscow to a family of orchestral musicians. Having spent ...

in the Soviet Union. In Moscow in 1958, she won a Diploma of First Distinction at the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition, following which she studied for a year with Soviet violinist

David Oistrakh David Fyodorovich Oistrakh (; – 24 October 1974), was a Soviet classical violinist, violist and conductor. Oistrakh collaborated with major orchestras and musicians from many parts of the world and was the dedicatee of numerous violin ...

. Kimber returned to Australia and joined the Elder Conservatorium of Music in 1964 as a lecturer, rising to associate professor prior to her retirement in 1998. Her students included

Adele Anthony Adele Anthony (born 1 October 1970) is an Australian-American violinist. In 1984, at age 13, she was the youngest winner of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition; she later won other international competitions and studied in New York. She ...

, Luke Dollman and Niki Vasilakis.

Awards and recognition

In the

1980 New Year Honours The 1980 New Year Honours were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 31 December 1979 to cele ...

, Kimber was appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for service to music. She was presented with the

Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award The Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award, was inaugurated following the death of Sir Bernard Heinze in 1982. The award is in the form of a medallion and is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to music in Australia. The Award ...

in 1990.

Personal

In 1969, Kimber married pianist Clemens Theodor Leske (1923–2019). Kimber died on 25 November 2022, at the age of 94. Their son, Clemens Leske, is a concert pianist and academic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimber, Beryl 1928 births 2022 deaths Australian classical violinists Violin pedagogues Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Musicians from Perth, Western Australia Women classical violinists 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century Australian women musicians 20th-century classical violinists