Eleanor Betts

Eleanor is a freelance Cellist, performing with orchestras such as the Sydney Symphony and Opera Australia Orchestra alongside teaching privately at her studios in St Leonards and Pennant Hills, and at a number of Sydney schools.

She began learning the Cello with Phillippa Jackson at the age of eight, and received her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the Sydney Conservatorium in 2005 and Masters of Music in 2009, studying with Susan Blake.

Eleanor has performed in masterclasses for Steven Isserlis, Antonio Meneses, Michel Strauss, Natalie Clein, Jian Wang and Howard Penny, and in 2007 she was able to study intensively in Europe and the UK with Cellists such as László Mezo (Bartok Quartet) and Michael Williams (Vienna Chamber Orchestra) with the support of a Reg Waite Award, an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant, a JB Seed Fund Grant and a Sydney Moss Travelling Scholarship.

In 2008, Eleanor received tuition scholarships to study at the Summer Cello Masterclass Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada and the Toronto Summer Music Festival with artists such as Raphael Wallfisch, Paul Katz, Menahem Pressler, Andre Laplante and Andres Diaz. Eleanor has performed numerous recitals both in Canada as part of the Toronto Summer Music Festival and in Australia for groups such as the Killara, Roseville, Macarthur, East Killara, Lane Cove and Wahroonga Music Associations and the Historic Houses Trust.

Eleanor is a committed chamber musician – in 2009, her group the Strelitzia Piano Trio won the Musica Viva Chamber Music Award, and in 2010 made the first recordings of Elena Kats-Chernin's 'The Spirit and the Maiden' and Matthew Hindson's Piano Trio for ABC Classic FM. The Trio has performed for Musica Viva's 'Rising Stars' Utzon Room Series and has performed for various music associations and festivals across NSW, Victoria and Queensland as well as maintaining a Sydney based concert series supported by the Australia Council. Eleanor was also a core member of contemporary music ensemble Chronology Arts from 2008 – 2011, performing as part of the ISCM World Music Days in 2010, and the Musica Viva Rising Stars Utzon Room Series in 2011.

Eleanor has performed with the Sydney Symphony, Canberra Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Sydney Sinfonia and the Australian Youth Orchestra. In 2010, Eleanor was chosen as one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra's 'Emerging Artists', performing across Australia with ACO2, and with the ACO in the 2011 Sydney Festival.

In 2012, Eleanor was a member of the prestigious Sydney Symphony Fellowship program, and toured to China with the orchestra in October of that year, and then again in 2014. She continues to perform with the Sydney Symphony and with her chamber ensemble Strelitzia, which currently has a subscription series based in both Sydney and Newcastle.