About Us
Craig and Elizabeth are both musicians with many years’ experience and expertise in different facets of music.
Craig is an established composer, arranger and music typesetter. He has an M.Mus. in composition and was a finalist in all three of the NZSO's Douglas Lilburn Composition Competitions. He typesets music for major European publishers, and has played viola in the Wellington Orchestra. He also enjoys teaching many highly talented piano, music theory and composition students.
Elizabeth has played violin in professional orchestras, in both America and New Zealand, for several decades. She led the University of Wisconsin Orchestra and was a first violinist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra while she studied for her Ph.D. in Mathematics and minor degree in Music. She has also been a first violinist in the Wellington Orchestra. Elizabeth divides her time between running the Virtuoso Strings shop, teaching around fifty violin students, tutoring maths, and dashing around after her own five kids, aged between three and fourteen years.
In 2012 Elizabeth and Craig founded 'The Virtuoso Strings' string orchestra to help young kids in Wellington learn the magic of good ensemble playing.
Elizabeth, Craig and their children all play instruments from Virtuoso Strings. The kids have progressed from very basic instruments when they were toddlers through to lovely Chinese-made instruments and bows that really enhance their enjoyment of the music they play. Elizabeth plays only Chinese-made instruments which she pairs with a W.E Hill & Sons bow when she practices or performs, a Chinese pernambuco bow when she teaches advanced students, and a carbon fibre bow for most of her other teaching as well as outdoor gigs. Every few months she has a new 'favourite' violin or viola! If you would like to dicuss the progression through different sizes and/or grades of instruments or bows please contact Elizabeth for more information.