A native of Kansas, USA, Douglas Beilman studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang at the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory of Music, followed by the completion of his Master of Music degree with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Before joining the New Zealand String Quartet in 1989 he was first violin of the Sierra String Quartet - the first resident quartet at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music‘s Chamber Music Centre. The Sierra Quartet was a prizewinner in the 1988 Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition (now the London International String Quartet Competition) and performed widely throughout the USA.

Artistic Director and co-founder of the New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music, he has also been soloist and guest leader of the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra here and in Australia, and has also performed concertos with other New Zealand orchestras. Both as a founding member of the twentieth century ensemble CadeNZa and as an individual he has participated extensively in premiere performances of New Zealand and international compositions.