BIOGRAPHY

Francine studied classical violin with Helen Ayres (AUS), Joshua Fisher (UK) and Yuri Zhislin (UK), as well as baroque violin with Lucy van Dael (Netherlands), Walter Reiter (Netherlands), Catherine MacKintosh (UK), Rachel Podger (UK), and Bojan Cicic (UK) . During her formative years she was accepted into the junior academy program of the Australian National Academy of Music wherein she studied with Mark Mogheilevski and Alice Waten, chamber music lessons with Monica Curro, and participated in weekly performances and masterclasses with visiting international pedagogues. She completed her undergraduate studies with concurrent degrees in Music and Sociology. In her final year she received a high distinction for her dissertation exploring the experience of music performance anxiety in adolescent music students, the findings of which were later presented at the Australian Society for Performing Arts Health conference in Brisbane in 2013. 

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After graduating with First Class Honours from the University of Melbourne, Francine worked as a freelance violinist and violist across Australia, most notably as concertmaster of the North Queensland Chamber Orchestra and the Cairns Concert Orchestra. During this time she also established herself as a versatile and dynamic strings pedagogue. She held numerous teaching positions throughout Victoria and Queensland, including heading the strings program at the Cairns Hinterland Steiner School and conducting the Cairns String Orchestra growing the ensemble from small beginnings to a multi-stage, dynamic training orchestra for young people. Keen to provide more educational opportunities for regional string students in the area, in 2016 Francine started the biannual Cairns String Orchestra Workshops, orchestral training intensives for young string players working with mentors from around Australia. She also worked as an orchestral tutor with the Victorian Department of Education's "State School Spectacular," Melbourne Youth Orchestras, Geelong Summer Music Camp, and the Blackburn Summer String Workshop. 

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​In 2017 Francine relocated to The Netherlands where she studied historical violin at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague, performing as a baroque violinist/violist across the Netherlands and Germany. In 2018 she moved to Cambridge, United Kingdom where she headed the music programme at the Cambridge Steiner School until 2021. She also had a very busy private studio in Cambridge, and in 2020 organised and conducted the Half Term Music School, which offered a four day orchestral workshop for young string students to expand their skills. In 2022 she completed her Masters of Educational Leadership and School Improvement at the University of Cambridge, wherein her thesis explored the signature pedagogies of mid to late career violin teachers. At this time she also completed the Professional Certificate of Kodaly Teaching from the British Kodaly Association.

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She currently lives in London where she is completing a Masters of Performance in modern and historical violin at the Royal College of Music. She is also Head of Music at the Falcons Pre-Preparatory School in Chiswick, teaches violin at Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School, and runs the Dunedin School of Music on Saturdays.

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