Lean on me

Legendary violinist Wilma Smith returns to judge the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.

- RICHARD BETTS

In the Dark Ages before the internet, information was harder to come by. When violinist Wilma Smith left New Zealand to attend Boston's prestigious New England Conservatory of Music, she knew little about the place and less about the teachers.

"We had to audition for teacher placement," recalls Smith, on the line from her Melbourne home. "There was a roster of teachers, none of whom I knew. There was one person people were putting at the top of the list. I thought, she must be good, I'll put that name down." It was Dorothy DeLay and she was good, one of the greatest violin educators of the 20th century, whose pupils included Itzhak Perlman, Nigel Kennedy, Midori and Gil Shaham.

"She was a big influence early on and exactly what I needed at the time," says Smith.