Arts and Entertainment

Professor, orchestra to premier concerto by noted Australian composer

University Park, Pa. -- Robert Nairn, associate professor of music at Penn State and adjunct faculty member at The Juilliard School, and the Penn State Chamber Orchestra will perform the world premier of a new concerto tomorrow evening (April 7) by famous Australian composer Barry Conyngham titled About K.I.: Concerto for Double Bass.

The composer wrote the five-movement piece -- which features movement titles reminiscent of Australian landscapes and native wildlife, among other subjects -- specifically for Nairn, who will perform it in a world premier with the Penn State Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. Tuesday evening, April 7, at Penn State's Esber Recital Hall. Maestro Gerardo Edelstein also will conduct Mozart's Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543. Nicholas Hodges will conduct the chamber orchestra's performance of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in C minor to start the evening's program.

Nairn is principal double bassist of the Handel and Haydn Society and president-elect of the International Society of Bassists. He teaches studio double bass at Penn State and directs the University's Baroque Ensemble. A native of Australia, he received his bachelor of music degree with distinction from the Canberra School of Music and a postgraduate diploma from the Berlin Musikhochschule through a two-year DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) German government scholarship.

More information about Conygnham is available online at http://www.conyngham.net. More information about the April 7 Penn State Chamber Orchestra performance is online here.

Robert Nairn Credit: Penn State School of Music / Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated November 18, 2010