Cindy Watkin is presently a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra viola section.
As a member of the MSO Education and Community Outreach team she is involved in innovative and challenging projects. The MSO team works within the framework of a nominated theme and employs a combination of narrative, body percussion, rhythmic chanting, vocal improvisation and percussion instruments to create performances with children. As a trainer of the ArtPlay Ensemble, Cindy has guided young school-age musicians as they participated in two-day workshops culminating in the creation and performance of their own music.
Cindy has also worked with Rawcus theatre company. In the productions of Collusions for the Melbourne Fringe Festival and the award winning season of Hunger for the Melbourne International Festival Cindy participated as actor/musician, doing voice improvisation, dance, movement and writing original compositions. Cindy collaborated with the Music Therapy Unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital in research that culminated in the publication of Music in Health: Guidelines for musicians playing music in hospitals.
Cindy has a private teaching practice and enjoys tutoring the young musicians of Melbourne Youth Music. She has tutored at National Music Camp and directed the Thomson Strings at State Camp (Victoria).