About
Violist/Violinist Beverley Burlakov was in a group of musicians who came up from Newcastle Conservatorium to attend AYO’s early National Music Camps (1959-63): ‘We didn’t audition in those days – they just grabbed us’. Having played with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony and Opera Orchestras, Beverley found that ‘everywhere we played I met people from AYO’. She also worked with Haifa (Israel) and Halle Orchestras (Manchester UK) and taught composition and classroom music in schools for 14 years, which she absolutely loved.
Career highlight? ‘MSO UNICEF concerts with Danny Kaye; even the musicians who never normally laughed were smiling.’ Any regrets? ‘No – music is such an exciting life. You might complain about getting a sore back and a headache from the brass players, but you’d never want to change it.’