2005 Texas Double Bass Symposium
University of Houston
28–30 October 2005
Gain an Edge in Twenty-First Century Performance:
Understand the Practices of the Past
Guest Artists:
Rob Nairn, Jerry Fuller, Jay Elfenbein, Deborah Dunham
| Artist Profiles |
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Rob Nairn
Robert Nairn is a versatile performer on the Double bass with a career that has spanned Europe, the U.S. and Australasia. He is currently Associate Professor of Double Bass at Penn State University where he also directs the University's Baroque Ensemble. He is the principal bass player with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, MA and continues an active performing career in the U.S. and Europe.
A native of Australia, he 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. He has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique. He has acted as guest Principle Bassist with the Halle Orchestra, the London Mozart players, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and held the position of Principle bass with the Australian Chamber orchestra and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. In the Early Music world he has also worked with the Handel& Haydn Society, the Washington Bach Consort, the English Baroque Soloists and performs regularly in London as a member of 'Florilegium' (Baroque Ensemble-in-residence at the Wigmore hall) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has performed in such international festivals as Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Aldeburgh, Glyndebourne and the London 'Proms'
An active performer of new music he has given commissioned and given premiers of over twenty new works for solo double bass and ensembles featuring the bass.
As a soloist he has performed several concerti with the Australian Chamber and Adelaide Symphony orchestras (including Bottesini's Passiona Amoroso with Gary Karr) and has given many recitals in Europe, the U.S., and Australia. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphone, Sony, EMI, Decca, Virgin, ABC Classics and Channel Classics; His first solo CD is due for release shortly. |
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Jerry Fuller
Jerry Fuller began studying the double bass at age 16 and was invited to join the Lyric Opera of Chicago orchestra three years later. Within two years he was promoted to first desk of the double bass section in addition to performing with the Santa Fe Opera. Mr Fuller has also served as solo double bass of The Musikkollegium Winterthur Switzerland. While in Europe, Mr. Fuller became interested in historically-informed performance practice and has achieved international recognition for his work with period instruments. A Chicago Artists Abroad grant recipient, Mr. Fuller's performances in London, Rome, Geneva and Edinburgh have been broadcast worldwide. In addition, Mr. Fuller has performed at the Ravinia and the Aspen Music Festivals and both the Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals.
His recordings on the Musical Arts Society, Cedille and Centaur labels have been hailed by both critics and colleagues. Mr. Fuller also writes on period instruments and performance practice for The Strad, Double Bassist, and Bass World magazines and serves on the editorial board of the Online Journal of Bass Research. Mr. Fuller served as an officer of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Bassists 1990-1996 and has appeared as a guest artist with the American Bach Soloists of San Francisco, the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston and the Newberry Consort of Chicago. He is principal bassist of the period instrument forces for Chicago's Music of the Baroque and Chicago Opera Theater and serves as director of the period instrument chamber ensemble Ars Antigua. |
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Jay Elfenbein
The performances of Jay Elfenbein have been described by the New York Times as "virtuosic...played magnificently" and "with virtuosity and flair." Principal bassist and violone player with New York Collegium, The American Classical Orchestra and Concert Royal among others, he has performed with both early and modern orchestras such as St. Luke's, the Bach Ensemble (Joshua Rifkin), Boston Baroque, Portland Baroque (Monica Huggett), Handel & Haydn Society, and the American Symphony. He has appeared as a viola da gamba soloist in both Bach Passions throughout the Northeast, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has recorded for Sony Classics, CBS, PGM, and Newport Classics, among others, and can be heard playing vihuela and vielle on Paul Simon's Warner Brothers release, You're The One .
Mr. Elfenbein is the founder and director of the Ivory Consort, an early music ensemble that specializes in medieval music and has been heard on WNYC and WQXR, among other stations, and GambaDream, the only jazz/contemporary ensemble in the U.S. that features the viola da gamba.
He is also a composer whose work has been commissioned and performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America. He works in a wide variety of genres, and has written for many vocal and instrumental combinations, some with early instruments. His orchestral and large jazz ensemble works have been premiered in New York. |
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Deborah Dunham
Double Bassist Deborah Dunham is currently a doctoral student at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and continues to perform with Boston Baroque (principal bass), Handel and Haydn Society, Mercury Baroque Ensemble and Ars Lyrica Houston. She has also worked with the Houston Symphony and Houston Ballet Orchestra as an extra player.
Since 2001 Deborah has recorded annually for Telarc Records as a member of Boston Baroque and her past collaborations with other artists and composers can be found on Bridge, Mode, Naxos, New Albion and New World Records.
Deborah was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1987-1997 and worked with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestras as an extra player from 1996-2001. During this same period, she was also engaged as a private instructor and chamber music coach for the Community Music Center of Boston, the Joy of Music Program and the New England Conservatory of Music. |
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| Main Events: |
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Friday October 28, 7:30pm
High school all-State mock taping
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Saturday October 29, 7:30pm
College Student Recital
Moores Opera House |
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Sunday October 30, 2:00pm
Guest artist concert
Moores Opera House |
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