Biography

Marianne Edwards (nee Broadfoot) joined the first violins of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and in 2014 was appointed Associate Principal Second Violin. In 2015 she completed her doctorate at the Sydney Conservatorium, exploring Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto with supervisor Goetz Richter and professor Wanda Wilkomirska.

She is also the first violinist with the Enigma Quartet, which was selected for Musica Viva’s Rising Stars in 2012. The quartet has performed in Sydney and around the state at various venues, music festivals and for ABC Classic FM, including the Huntington Estate Festival and the Musica Viva’s Coffee Concerts series. The quartet has premiered new compositions by Lachlan Skipworth, Phillip Jameson, Gerard Brophy and Alice Chance and is currently working on a new project with shakuhachi master Riley Lee called ‘Five Elements’, commissioning more than ten new works by Australian composers.

In 2004 and 2005 Marianne Edwards studied with Igor Ozim at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg with the assistance of the E.V. Llewellyn Memorial Fund. She has also played in masterclasses with Pinchas Zukerman, David Takeno and Anthony Marwood. In 2004 she was won first prize in the Australian Concerto Competition in Townsville and later that year was awarded second prize at the Gisborne International Music Competition in New Zealand.

Marianne Edwards is vice president of the Sydney Schubert Society, a volunteer-run organisation whose aim is to share Schubert’s rich and beautiful chamber music output in the longstanding tradition of Schubertiade concerts.