Rob Nairn worked as Associate Professor of Double Bass at Melbourne Conservatorium and Head of the Early Music Department for the past three years. He previous taught on the faculty of the Juilliard School for 11 years and Penn State University for 18 years where he was a Distinguished Professor. A Past-president of the International Society of Bassists he hosted the Society’s 2009 Convention at Penn State. Rob received his Bachelor of Music with distinction from the Canberra School of Music and a post-graduate diploma from the Berlin Musikhochschule by courtesy of a two-year DAAD German Government Scholarship. His teachers have included Klaus Stoll, Tom Martin, and Max McBride. In 2008 he was awarded a Howard Foundation Fellowship from Brown University. Rob has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the English, Scottish and Australian Chamber Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Oslo Philharmonic, The Gothenburg Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Halle Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, and the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Australia Ensemble, The Australian World Orchestra and the Australian String Quartet. Rob has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon, Sony Classical , EMI, Naxos, Tall Poppies, RCA and ABC Classics. In Historical Performance he is currently principal bass with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Handel Haydn Society of Boston and has worked with the Boston Early Music Festival, Juilliard Baroque, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, English Baroque Soloists, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Concerto Caledonia, Ironwood, Washington Bach Consort, the Aulos Ensemble, Rebel, Florilegium and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In 2009 he received a Recognition Award for Historical Performance from the International Society of Bassists. His recording of Mozart’s concert aria “Per Questra Bell Mano” with the Handel and Haydn Society and bass Eric Owens has garnered substantial critical acclaim; Gramophone magazine called it “all one could wish for” and Classic FM magazine selected it as its Record of the Month. Active in commissioning new works he has premiered more than forty compositions featuring the bass. In these performances, he has worked both alone and with such groups as the London Sinfonietta, Gruppe Neue Musik Berlin, Australysis, the Music Theatre of Wales, and the Sydney Alpha Ensemble. In 2009 he premiered a new concerto by Barry Conyngham and by Doug Bailliet in 2016. He has performed recitals Lunchtime Concert in Europe, Scandinavia, China, the U.S. and Australia. Heidi von Bernewitz viola Rob Nairn double bass
Friday 22 May, 1:10pm
PROGRAM Christian Woehr enjoyed a long career as Assistant Principal Viola of the Saint
Duo for viola and violoncello Walter Piston Louis Symphony Orchestra, retiring a few years ago. He has the distinction of being one of the most prolific composers of viola music in the US and has also I. Allegro risoluto written extensively for Orchestras and string ensembles. During a lockout of the II. Andante sereno St Louis Symphony in 2007 due to industrial action Woehr worked with the III. Allegro brilliante Pittsburgh Symphony where his sister and Heidi von Bernewitz were also working. Sharing a desk with Heidi for several months gave rise to the Nocturne for viola and cello Gordon Jacob Martimonial Duets. Momento per viola e contrabasso Sandor Veress Rufus Reid is one of the best known Jazz performers and educators in the U.S. While his performing credits include an enormous list of stars (Dexter Gordon, Luke’s Painting Elena Kats Chernin Thad Jones, Nancy Wilson, Eddie Harris, Bob Berg, Kenny Baron, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz etc) his compositions for chamber ensembles have been a focus of Waiting (Tango) John Hawkins the past decade and have attracted considerable attention. Rufus wrote this duo for Rob and Heidi in 2018. It was premiered in 2019 in Lucca, Italy and this will be the Australian Premiere. Love song from Matrimonial Duets Christian Woehr
Escapade (Australian premiere) Rufus Reid Heidi von Bernewitz has lived and worked professionally in England, Germany, Australia and America. Performance credits include the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, the London Philharmonic, the English National Opera and Halle Orchestras, the North Eastern Walter Piston respected especially for his chamber music considered the Duo Philharmonic and the Springfield and New Haven for Viola and Violoncello, composed in 1949, to be one of his best works. The Symphony Orchestras. In Australia she held positions with first movement, a sonatina, has two delicate themes in 3/4- a march-like one in the Sydney Symphony and Australian Opera Orchestras a-minor and a waltz-like one in E-flat. The second movement is in 12/8 time and and performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the while marked Andante Sereno has an extremely slow metronome marking. The Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. She also last movement reprises the march-like character of the first movement. previously held the position of Assistant Principle viola of the Würtemburg Gordon Jacob’s Nocturne for viola and cello was written as a gift for the Chamber Orchestra in Germany. wedding of Lionel Tertis to Lillian Warmington in 1959. She is a graduate of Boston and Yale Universities and attended as a scholarship Memento for viola and double bass, composed in 1983, is one of many Sandor recipient the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals in the U.S. and the Veress works for his native Hungary. The score is engraved “in memoriam Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in Germany. Her teachers include Wolfram Martyrii Emericus Nagy et Paulus Maléter”—“in memoriam to the martyrs Imre Christ, Michael Zaretsky, Atar Arad and Nabuko Imai. Nagy and Pál Maléter,” two leaders of the insurgency against Soviet control of She has also performed with the Renaissance Chamber players (Pittsburgh), Hungary beginning in 1956, both of whom were executed in June 1958. Gruppe Neue Musik and Oriel Ensemble (Berlin) and at such international Memento was commissioned by the Hungarian Academy; its premiere on June festivals as Glyndebourne, the London Proms, the Edinburgh Festival, Cabrillo, 17, 1983, corresponded to the 25th anniversary of the executions. Aspen, Tanglewood, EMF, St. Endellion, Rencontres Musicales Internationales Elena Kats Chernin’s Luke’s Painting was written for Rob Nairn and Heidi von des Graves and the Evian St. Quartet competition with the Appalachian String Bernewitz in 2007 after a painting of an octopus by Luke Sciberras that is owned Quartet. by Elena’s son. There are now multiple versions for string quartet, solo piano In the Early Music world she has performed with the London Classical Opera and etc. Modern Musick of Washington D.C. and is a member of Adelaide Baroque. John Hawkins’ wrote ‘Waiting: Tango’, for Paul Silverthorne (viola) and Duncan She has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon, Sony Classical, Telarc, EMI, McTier (double bass) in 2002. Hawkin’s extremely short liner notes say: "A hot Naxos, and ABC Classics. A frequent chamber musician, Heidi has also night: she waits, he waits. Maybe they meet?" Hawkins conjures the image of a performed solo recitals in the U.S., U.K., Scandinavia, and Australia, and hot night and a certain feeling of expectancy while playing with a Tango together with her husband, bassist Rob Nairn is active in arranging and character. commissioning new works for viola and bass.
PROGRAM Christian Woehr enjoyed a long career as Assistant Principal Viola of the Saint
Duo for viola and violoncello Walter Piston Louis Symphony Orchestra, retiring a few years ago. He has the distinction of being one of the most prolific composers of viola music in the US and has also I. Allegro risoluto written extensively for Orchestras and string ensembles. During a lockout of the II. Andante sereno St Louis Symphony in 2007 due to industrial action Woehr worked with the III. Allegro brilliante Pittsburgh Symphony where his sister and Heidi von Bernewitz were also working. Sharing a desk with Heidi for several months gave rise to the Nocturne for viola and cello Gordon Jacob Martimonial Duets. Momento per viola e contrabasso Sandor Veress Rufus Reid is one of the best known Jazz performers and educators in the U.S. While his performing credits include an enormous list of stars (Dexter Gordon, Luke’s Painting Elena Kats Chernin Thad Jones, Nancy Wilson, Eddie Harris, Bob Berg, Kenny Baron, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz etc) his compositions for chamber ensembles have been a focus of Waiting (Tango) John Hawkins the past decade and have attracted considerable attention. Rufus wrote this duo for Rob and Heidi in 2018. It was premiered in 2019 in Lucca, Italy and this will be the Australian Premiere. Love song from Matrimonial Duets Christian Woehr
Escapade (Australian premiere) Rufus Reid Heidi von Bernewitz has lived and worked professionally in England, Germany, Australia and America. Performance credits include the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, the London Philharmonic, the English National Opera and Halle Orchestras, the North Eastern Walter Piston respected especially for his chamber music considered the Duo Philharmonic and the Springfield and New Haven for Viola and Violoncello, composed in 1949, to be one of his best works. The Symphony Orchestras. In Australia she held positions with first movement, a sonatina, has two delicate themes in 3/4- a march-like one in the Sydney Symphony and Australian Opera Orchestras a-minor and a waltz-like one in E-flat. The second movement is in 12/8 time and and performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the while marked Andante Sereno has an extremely slow metronome marking. The Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. She also last movement reprises the march-like character of the first movement. previously held the position of Assistant Principle viola of the Würtemburg Gordon Jacob’s Nocturne for viola and cello was written as a gift for the Chamber Orchestra in Germany. wedding of Lionel Tertis to Lillian Warmington in 1959. She is a graduate of Boston and Yale Universities and attended as a scholarship Memento for viola and double bass, composed in 1983, is one of many Sandor recipient the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals in the U.S. and the Veress works for his native Hungary. The score is engraved “in memoriam Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in Germany. Her teachers include Wolfram Martyrii Emericus Nagy et Paulus Maléter”—“in memoriam to the martyrs Imre Christ, Michael Zaretsky, Atar Arad and Nabuko Imai. Nagy and Pál Maléter,” two leaders of the insurgency against Soviet control of She has also performed with the Renaissance Chamber players (Pittsburgh), Hungary beginning in 1956, both of whom were executed in June 1958. Gruppe Neue Musik and Oriel Ensemble (Berlin) and at such international Memento was commissioned by the Hungarian Academy; its premiere on June festivals as Glyndebourne, the London Proms, the Edinburgh Festival, Cabrillo, 17, 1983, corresponded to the 25th anniversary of the executions. Aspen, Tanglewood, EMF, St. Endellion, Rencontres Musicales Internationales Elena Kats Chernin’s Luke’s Painting was written for Rob Nairn and Heidi von des Graves and the Evian St. Quartet competition with the Appalachian String Bernewitz in 2007 after a painting of an octopus by Luke Sciberras that is owned Quartet. by Elena’s son. There are now multiple versions for string quartet, solo piano In the Early Music world she has performed with the London Classical Opera and etc. Modern Musick of Washington D.C. and is a member of Adelaide Baroque. John Hawkins’ wrote ‘Waiting: Tango’, for Paul Silverthorne (viola) and Duncan She has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon, Sony Classical, Telarc, EMI, McTier (double bass) in 2002. Hawkin’s extremely short liner notes say: "A hot Naxos, and ABC Classics. A frequent chamber musician, Heidi has also night: she waits, he waits. Maybe they meet?" Hawkins conjures the image of a performed solo recitals in the U.S., U.K., Scandinavia, and Australia, and hot night and a certain feeling of expectancy while playing with a Tango together with her husband, bassist Rob Nairn is active in arranging and character. commissioning new works for viola and bass.
Rob Nairn worked as Associate Professor of Double Bass at Melbourne Conservatorium and Head of the Early Music Department for the past three years. He previous taught on the faculty of the Juilliard School for 11 years and Penn State University for 18 years where he was a Distinguished Professor. A Past-president of the International Society of Bassists he hosted the Society’s 2009 Convention at Penn State. Rob received his Bachelor of Music with distinction from the Canberra School of Music and a post-graduate diploma from the Berlin Musikhochschule by courtesy of a two-year DAAD German Government Scholarship. His teachers have included Klaus Stoll, Tom Martin, and Max McBride. In 2008 he was awarded a Howard Foundation Fellowship from Brown University. Rob has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the English, Scottish and Australian Chamber Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Oslo Philharmonic, The Gothenburg Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Halle Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, and the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Australia Ensemble, The Australian World Orchestra and the Australian String Quartet. Rob has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon, Sony Classical , EMI, Naxos, Tall Poppies, RCA and ABC Classics. In Historical Performance he is currently principal bass with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Handel Haydn Society of Boston and has worked with the Boston Early Music Festival, Juilliard Baroque, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, English Baroque Soloists, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Concerto Caledonia, Ironwood, Washington Bach Consort, the Aulos Ensemble, Rebel, Florilegium and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In 2009 he received a Recognition Award for Historical Performance from the International Society of Bassists. His recording of Mozart’s concert aria “Per Questra Bell Mano” with the Handel and Haydn Society and bass Eric Owens has garnered substantial critical acclaim; Gramophone magazine called it “all one could wish for” and Classic FM magazine selected it as its Record of the Month. Active in commissioning new works he has premiered more than forty compositions featuring the bass. In these performances, he has worked both alone and with such groups as the London Sinfonietta, Gruppe Neue Musik Berlin, Australysis, the Music Theatre of Wales, and the Sydney Alpha Ensemble. In 2009 he premiered a new concerto by Barry Conyngham and by Doug Bailliet in 2016. He has performed recitals Lunchtime Concert in Europe, Scandinavia, China, the U.S. and Australia. Heidi von Bernewitz viola Rob Nairn double bass
Friday 22 May, 1:10pm