Wilma Smith

Wilma Smith, Director of the newly-independent Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. She studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Dorothy DeLay (violin) and Louis Krasner (chamber music). Wilma was founding First Violinist of the Lydian Quartet, winners of the Naumburg Award for Chamber Music and multiple prizes at Evian (now Bordeaux), Banff and Portsmouth (now Wigmore) International String Quartet Competitions.

She eventually returned to New Zealand as founding First Violinist of the New Zealand String Quartet.

Following distinguished tenures as Concertmaster of the New Zealand and  Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Wilma returned to her chamber music roots as Second Violinist of Melbourne’s Flinders Quartet, also curating her own chamber music series, Wilma & Friends.

She is Musica Viva Australia’s Artistic Director of Competitions, overseeing Strike A Chord, Australia’s national chamber music competition for school-age musicians. For her contribution to music in Australia, Wilma was presented with the 2025 Sir Bernard Heinze Award. She is still actively involved in music in New Zealand as Co-artistic Director of the Martinborough Music Festival and Board Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.