Caroline Henbest is a violist and Feldenkrais Practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia.

During 2023 she has been Guest Principal Viola with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.  Chamber concerts have included appearances with Wilma & Friends, Kristian Chong & Friends, the Stradbroke Island Chamber Music Festival, Music By the Springs, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival and the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra.

In October she gives a solo performance with The Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra of Sally Beamish’s Under the Wing of the Rock.

Caroline undertook her Feldenkrais Practitioner training at the Feldenkrais Institute of Australia.  She runs weekly Awareness Through Movement classes at Green Monday Studios in Carlton, Melbourne.

Since 2015 Caroline has been Head of Viola at the Australian National Academy of Music.

Caroline moved to Australia from England in 1993 to be Principal Viola with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). She was a full-time member for eight years and a part-time member for ten.

In past years she has acted as guest principal with the SSO, TSO, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia, Glyndebourne on Tour, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

She studied in the UK at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Guildhall School of Music & Drama and her teachers included Robert Masters, David Takeno and Hans Keller.

Her career began as violist in the Mistry String Quartet, Principal Viola with the Scottish Ensemble as well as being a regular guest performer with The Guildhall String Ensemble.

As well as the viola, Caroline also loves to play the violin, though generally with friends who don’t earn their living as performers.  Her love of music-making with community musicians came from her father, a passionate amateur violinist, violist and cellist. Working with non-professional musicians, and reading chamber music with friends who love to play for fun brings another dimension to her musical life.  Caroline has taught on many occasions at the Mount Buller Chamber Music Summer School, a residential camp for chamber music lovers from the community. Caroline’s recent Master of Music Research degree (Griffith) explored  creative collaboration through composition and performance.

photo © Agatha Yim