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TESTIMONIALS 

I am grateful for my violin journey and a big THANK YOU to all the incredible musical colleagues and friends I have worked with along the way."

​​Kirtley is one of the finest violin teachers in Sydney with a distinguished career in both performance and teaching. Her international career, coupled with her vast repertoire knowledge and ability to impart to students of all ages, makes her one of the most sought-after teachers in her field. Kirtley builds warm relationships with her students and families, providing a safe and happy environment in which to learn to play the violin. She challenges her students to excel and motivates all her students with ease. I would highly recommend Kirtley as she is a master teacher."
~ Barry Walmsley 
Director of Music, The King's School Sydney
​KSJ, MMus, BEd, DSCM, AMusA, ATCL, LTCL, LGSMD, MACE, MACEL, FAIM, Hon TCL

Click on photo for More info on Barry Walmsley

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My name is Pascal Rogé, and I am a concert pianist from France. 
I have known Kirtley Leigh Walker-Halstead for over 10 years. 
We met in Townsville, Australia, at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, where we were both guest artists there in 2005. Since then, she has invited me number of times to her concert series, the Paradise Concerts in Cairns, and we have performed together on number of occasions, not only in her series, but also in various Festival in Australia. I have always enjoyed working with Ms.Walker-Halstead. She is not only an excellent violinist, but is also an exceptional person with wonderful positive energy.  She is a wonderful teacher and a worthwhile addition to your institute.. Paradise Concerts is, as its name suggests it, a perfect Concert Series where happy selected musicians meet happy selected audience.

It gives me the highest pleasure to name Kirtley Leigh as a fellow musical colleague and friend. She and I have shared the concert stage performing together in many recital programs in her series, for both duo sonatas, and chamber music collaborations. Chamber Music represents the highest level of music inspiration and enjoyment. Most composers have given their best creations in chamber music (Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Faure...to name only a few) and most performers enjoy sharing music with other partners.

But it needs a special skill to coordinate the right performers with the right repertoire. For more than 10 years, Kirtley Leigh (Walker-Halstead) has been doing this with the utmost clairvoyance. Her address book, full of internationally famous musicians combined with her deep knowledge of the chamber music repertoire give her the ability to present to her audience an array of talented musicians with versatile and always enriching repertoire. It is certainly a privilege for the city of Cairns to host such a high class concert series that could make jealous many international capitals of the musical world.

As an international performer, I must say that it is a rare and unusual experience to find in a single concert series, every element that makes a professional musician happy: high level of
music making, stupendous nature and environment, utmost quality of life, knowledgeable audience and friendly relaxed atmosphere.
This indeed, may be called Paradise. I highly recommend her! 
Sincerely, Pascal Rogé "
~ Pascal Rogé, Concert Pianist 

Click on photo for more info on Pascal Roge

~I have known and worked with Kirtley Leigh for over 10 years and can confidently state that there are very few teachers worldwide who demonstrate her passion and total commitment. Kirtley Leigh is a superb performer too, as is borne out by her substantial professional CV. Her joy of performing is evident for all to see, especially her students and their parents, where at almost every lesson she will demonstrate appropriately at any level from beginners to Masters candidates. I travel worldwide for around six months of the year and as part of that I always make a point of scheduling a master-class day or two at Leigh’s private ​studio and this year will be the 11 th such occasion. I do this because I totally believe in Leigh and her teaching methods. It is exhausting but incredibly rewarding at the same time. During those days we see around 30 children ‘en masse’, from beginners to conservatoire entrants, each playing, listening and commenting on their performances in a caring and supportive environment. We work very closely together honing their musical, performance and technical skills, as well as developing their self-esteem. Leigh always invites parents to attend, thus the teaching is totally transparent, showing her confidence and excellence. In 2015 when Kirtley Leigh was travelling in the UK, I invited her to guest lead and coach the strings of my Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra, arguable the finest university orchestra in the UK (as a recent 4* CD review, April 6th 2018, in The Times will testify). Owing to Leigh’s experience with professional orchestras on the world stage she was able to gain immediate respect from the students who excitedly asked technical questions to pick up any tips they could about the finer points of orchestral playing. If Kirtley Leigh were UK based I would have no hesitation in employing her immediately to coach my string sections.I can thoroughly recommend Kirtley Leigh to you as an exemplary teacher at any level and as a consummate performer. She is an inspirational and stimulating personality who exudes positivity.."

~ H. Mark Eager Hon. D.Arts; ARAM; Dip.RAM; ARCM; LRAM
Principal Conductor: The Welsh Sinfonia
Conductor: Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra UK

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Click on photo for more info on Mark Eager

I am pleased to recommend my dear colleague, violinist, impresario, and artistic director, Kirtley Leigh.  Her artistry and scope of work are known on an international level, and she can— without a doubt—hold her own on any stage or studio.

Kirtley and I met in 2010, when I was the newly-appointed General Director of the Cairns Festival in Queensland, Australia. She proved a dynamic chamber music programmer, performed numerous concerts for Australian festivals, and was the driving force and artistic director behind Paradise Concerts. I found her to be that rare combination of world-class violin performer, soloist and chamber musician, as well as a visionary presenter and producer of music for live audiences and special projects.

Kirtley and I worked together in all these capacities, including collaborative productions involving interdisciplinary concepts and frameworks. We are both greatly inspired by the power of collaboration, cross-pollination, and bespoke audience experiences. Knowing her creative powers, I can confirm Kirtley’s remarkable capacity to program, produce, perform in, and deliver world-class events—and I can affirm the global connections, sincere passion for music, and vibrant personality she brings with her.

As an audience member, I have personally experienced many of Kirtley’s solo and chamber music performances. Whether she is leading a chamber orchestra from the Concertmaster position, or 
playing an intimate piano trio or string quartet, she is a thrill to hear.

I encourage you to consider Kirtley Leigh for any musical enterprise and am happy to reiterate my knowledge and whole-hearted support of her potential to contribute to whatever endeavours arise."
Warmest Regards
​
~ Eric Holowatz 
formerly Executive Director Sedona Arts Center and presently 
Chief Executive at Creative Capital Arts Trust, Wellington NZ

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Click on photo for more info on Eric Holowatz

I have been familiar with and experienced the distinguished teaching skills and successful entrepreneurial ventures of Kirtley Leigh for nearly a decade, when we first met as participants in The 2006 Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The purpose go my engaging her was that since arriving in Australia, upon completion of her post-graduate studies in the USA, she had clearly established herself as the most important pedagogues of very successful young violinists in northeastern Australia, Queensland to be exact.
In 2004, she established a concert series, Paradise Concerts, which quickly became, and remains, the most prestigious such series in that portion of Australia, featuring regular performances with some of the greatest celebrities in the musical profession. Most importantly, that distinguished series has thrived based on Ms. Leigh’s strong friendships and the respected artistry which she has always demonstrated as a violinist of the first rank. Her highly informed and humorously entertaining presentations have made this series an institution of her adopted country.
I cannot recommend Kirtley Leigh strongly enough for any musical career path she sets her sights on, and will be delighted to elaborate in further depth should you so desire.
Most sincerely,
​
~ Theodore Kuchar
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela
Music Director and Principal Conductor, Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra
Music Director and Principal Conductor, Reno Chamber Orchestra
Artistic Director, Nevada Chamber Music Festival
Distinguished Visiting Artist, The Cleveland Institute of Music
Conductor Laureate, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine

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Click on photo for more info on Theodore Kuchar

I write on behalf of myself and my husband, cellist, Gwyn Roberts, to highly recommend the violinist Kirtley Leigh.
We have known Kirtley Leigh for a number of years and have performed on numerous occasions both in Orchestral and Chamber Music situations. As The Serendipity Trio we have performed for enthusiastic audiences in Cairns and Innisfail in the Chamber Music series “Paradise Concerts”, of which Kirtley is the Artistic Director.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our collaboration with Kirtley over the past five-plus years. We are always impressed by her enthusiasm for performance, her professionalism and musicianship, and her flair for communicating with her audience. Her vibrant disposition makes collaborative occasions very pleasurable.
I had the opportunity to perform with one of her advanced violin students, who has just been accepted into the Bachelor course at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. I was impressed by the standard of Kirtley’s teaching, her obvious commitment to achieving good educational outcomes, while also maintaining a warm relationship with her student. Gwyn and I have no hesitation in recommending Kirtley ,as we are certain she will be a committed and dedicated addition to any music position.
Yours Sincerely,
~ Jenni Flemming 
Lecturer in Keyboard at Queensland Conservatorium of Music
AMEB examiner

~ Gwyn Roberts
Principal Cellist - Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Former Senior Lecturer UQ School of Music
Conductor Young Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra

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Click on photo for more info on Jenni Flemming and Gwyn Roberts

It is my pleasure to write to you of my long association with Solo Violinist and Pedagogue Kirtley Leigh. Kirtley Leigh crossed my path when she was in elementary school and I a young teacher in
the Sandy Springs area, developing the new string program there. Over the following years, Kirtley Leigh was a shining star in each and every orchestra in which she participated. A natural leader, she was not only always concertmistress but an invaluable peer teacher of other students.. She led sectionals, coached younger students, and was in charge of chamber music from duos to octets throughout her grades 8-12. Taking private lessons in my studio, she never came unprepared (maybe once that we both remember)! She was a dedicated musician from the time she first held a violin; her standards were then, and still are, of the highest order. Having stayed in touch with Leigh’s family after moving away from the Atlanta area, I was most gratified to follow her career through Indiana University and on into the professional arena. No matter where her life has led, she has always participated in the musical world and created new and unusual, creative and artistic venues for her own and others edification.
Her professional website (www.paradiseconcerts.com) speaks to her continual professional development in both areas of performance and teaching. In my opinion, Kirtley Leigh will bring a great dedication to the arts program and students of her Sydney String Studio.. She will bring fresh, creative ideas to embrace all areas of musical pedagogy,  as well as being an outstanding teacher for all levels of violin (and viola). She is most capable of leading groups of all sizes, abilities and grades from duos to small chamber groups to orchestras. I feel she will be a teacher who will work well in any situation, and can recommend her to you with the highest confidence and assurance you can find no one better qualified to carry out this important role of String education and mentorship..
Through my 31 year career as an orchestra teacher that began in Atlanta, and continued into Texas and beyond, Kirtley Leigh is among the most accomplished musicians with whom I had the
privilege to instruct. Those students inspired me to record my experiences in a well-known orchestra curriculum entitled Orchestra Expressions Books I & 2, Alfred Publishing, Inc. I have also written Expressive Techniques for Orchestra (advanced middle school through high school) and Expressive Sight-reading for Orchestra, Tempo Press Publishing. I continue to adjudicate, clinic, conduct and offer teacher training at all levels of instruction. I hope you will sincerely consider Kirtley Leigh as an addition to all endeavors. She will not disappoint you!
My Best,
~ Kathleen(De Berry)Brungard
Author, Clinician, Conductor 
​Orchestra Expressions Books I & 2, Alfred Publishing, Inc.
Expressive Techniques for Orchestra 
Expressive Sight-reading for Orchestra, Tempo Press Publishing. 

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Click on photo for more info on Kathy Brungard

Dear Leigh - I barely had time to see you after the wonderful performance you and William Barton gave us all on the opening night of CIAF. I did call later, but you were in a rehearsal.
You both delivered everything that we hoped for. Those moments that you play for, when the music just kicks in and the hair stands up on the back of the neck, are rare, but you made the imaginary hair that I have stand up. The Premier was on her feet applauding too. Thank you for taking my comments at the rehearsal so well and resolving the piece for the audience and the night as a whole. We all had a lot riding on it and you made it all happen. I replay it often in my mind.. Most of all, thank you for bringing me the artistic idea.

"For the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair in 2010, the highlight of the opening night was a performance by Kirtley Leigh, on violin, and William Barton on didgeridoo and electric guitar, as they explored what could be done with Vivaldi's Four Seasons across cultures, instruments and time. While Kirtley Leigh strode restlessly around the stage ripping out the familiar phrases, Barton sat unshakeable, anchored to his instruments, and built accents and didgeridoo rhythms and tones into a dialogue about old and new, blonde and black, that was thrilling to witness.." 
best wishes
~ Michael Snelling 
​
former Director and CEO of the National Art School, Sydney. 
Michael has an extensive professional background in arts management, artistic direction and education. Most recently, he was Director and CEO of the National Art School, Sydney. He was founding Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and previously CEO of Major Brisbane Festivals, CEO and Artistic Director of the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane and the Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide., and has served on the Australia Council.

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Click on photo for more info on Michael Snelling

"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?”

- Albert Einstein