Annabelle Traves

BMus(Perf)

At St Margaret’s 2008-2014; Prefect, Music Captain, Strings Captain

Annabelle Traves is an international award-winning violinist, currently based in the Netherlands.

At age fourteen, Annabelle was awarded a scholarship to attend the Rising Stars Program at the Sydney Conservatorium, University of Sydney. She was also the youngest member chosen for the Australian Youth Orchestra. 

In her final year at St Margaret’s, Annabelle was Prefect, Music Captain, Strings Captain and the Old Girls’ Association Prizewinner. During her senior year, Annabelle toured Europe as soloist and concertmaster of the St Margaret’s Chamber Strings performing in London and Paris.While on tour she competed in the Llangollen International Music Festival in Wales, a competition which attracts over 4000 international competitors, and was awarded first place.

After graduating from St Margaret's, she studied a Bachelor of Music Performance with Professor Alice Waten at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Annabelle was a scholarship recipient at the University of Sydney and at The Women’s College. In 2018, she was added to the Dean’s List of Excellence in Academic Performance at the University of Sydney and was also awarded the Sydney University Alumni Convocation Medal for leadership.

Also in 2018, Annabelle was appointed Concertmaster of the Australian Youth Orchestra and the following year was reappointed as Concertmaster to lead the AYO’s international tour, which saw the orchestra performing in world renowned venues such as The Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Kurhaus (Wiesbaden) and the Sydney Opera House alongside soloists Daniel Muller-Schott and Jan Lisiecki, and conductor Krzysztof Urbanski. Annabelle has also been Concertmaster of Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz Cologne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Apex, Conservatorium of Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Modern Music Ensemble and the AYO NMC Chamber Orchestra.

Annabelle toured as soloist with the Tagiev Chamber Orchestra and performed with them in the Sydney Opera House, Estonia, Shanghai, Seville and at Carnegie Hall, New York. 

She was awarded the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Prize.

Annabelle was selected to attend the Estivo European Chamber Music Summer School on scholarship held at the Conservatorio E.F Dall’Abaco in Verona, Italy, where she performed and studied under internationally renowned professors Eberhard Feltz, Wayne Foster-Smith and Niklas Schmidt.

Annabelle has also performed in masterclasses for renowned names such as Maxim Vengerov, Anne- Sophie Mutter, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Rudolf Koelman, Linus Roth and Krzysztof Wegrzyn and has performed alongside musicians such as Vilde Frang, Lawrence Power and Nicolas Altstaedt.

In 2018, Annabelle was the recipient of the Henderson Traveller’s Scholarship from the University of Sydney for her quartet, which included mentoring programs in Europe and performance opportunities in Paris at the commencement of 2019. Annabelle was mentored by professors Niklas Schmidt, Oliver Wille and Gunter Pichler, former Concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic and first violinist of the Alban Berg Quartet. Following this, Annabelle was offered a full scholarship to study with Professor Pichler at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.

Aside from her classical music endeavours, Annabelle has also enjoyed performing on television, as a semi-finalist for Australia’s Got Talent, The Voice, X Factor, and on tour, accompanying Delta Goodrem, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Buble.

This year Annabelle was thrilled to accept a master’s position for solo violin performance at the Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz Cologne, studying under Professor Barnabas Kelemen.

Ten years on from graduating from St Margaret's, Annabelle has been playing the concert stages of the world touring with Andre Rieu. She also recorded her first solo release, 'Sequence (Four)', at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London, working with 'Bridgerton' composer Peter Gregson.