Lyndon Watts

Lyndon Jeffrey Frank Watts (born 19 January 1976) is an Australian bassoonist. He is principal bassoonist of the Münchner Philharmoniker and an academic teacher.

Lyndon Watts
Born1976 (age 43–44)
GenresClassical music
Websitelyndonwatts.com

Professional career

Watts studied the bassoon from 1988 and completed his senior school education at Newington College in 1993.[1] He collaborated with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1992 to 1993, winning prizes at Australian competitions. From 1994 he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Eberhard Marschall and, in 2000, finished his master's degree with distinction.[2]

In 1997 Watts won the international music competition pacem in terris of Bayreuth.[3] In 2000 he was awarded the Yamaha Scholarship for Woodwind Instruments, which he used to study Baroque bassoon from 2001 to 2005 with Alberto Grazzi in Verona.[4] He won a third prize at the ARD International Music Competition in 2002, he was the first Australian woodwind player in the competition's history to win a prize, and an "award for the best interpretation of the commissioned work by Heinz Holliger",[2] Klaus-ur from Three Pieces for bassoon.[5] Holliger's composition was recorded by the Bayerischer Rundfunk on the CD 21st Century Instrumental Solos, a collection of works commissioned by the ARD competition since 2002.[6][7] On another recording of the prizewinners of 2002 he plays Mozart's bassoon concerto with the Münchener Kammerorchester.[8]

Since 1998 Watts has been principal bassoonist of the Münchner Philharmoniker.[2] He has also performed as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Münchener Kammerorchester. At the 2004 conference of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS) he appeared with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.[2] He is a supporter of the Australian World Orchestra, founded in 2010.[9]

As a chamber musician, he commissioned and first performed in 2001 the first of four quartets for a woodwind instrument and string trio, called "Finnische Quartette", by Jörg Duda. In 2003 he premiered the Bassoon Quintet of Graham Waterhouse at the Gasteig.[10] At the 2009 IDRS conference in Birmingham he played in several recitals, for example with bassoonist Thomas Eberhardt Lacrimosa of Louis Andriessen,[11] Holliger's Three Pieces, Sofia Gubaidulina's Duo for two bassoons, and the premiere of Bernd Redmann's Secret doors for two bassoons and orchestra.[12] In December 2009 he took part in the festival of contemporary music Klangaktionen in Munich.[13] In 2011 he premiered Redmann's Migrant for bassoon and string quartet in Munich.[14][15]

Playing a Baroque bassoon built by Peter de Koningh after Eichentopf, Watts recorded arrangements of arias from Handel's operas, "The Gentleman's Flute", in an ensemble with Stefan Temmingh, recorder, and his wife Olga Watts, harpsichord, among others.[16]

Watts was one of 16 bassoonists in the concert The Proud Bassoon, celebrating William Waterhouse on 16 April 2011 in Wigmore Hall. He played Waterhouse's arrangement for two bassoon choirs of Giovanni Gabrieli's Sonata Pian' e Forte, Anton Reicha's Quintet for bassoon and strings, on an 1807 instrument from Waterhouse's collection, and the Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet of Jean Francaix, dedicated to Waterhouse.[17][18]

Watts taught the bassoon at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München between 2002 and 2007, and has worked as a professor at the Bern University of the Arts since October 2005. He has conducted regular courses in Switzerland and Germany, and masterclasses in England, Portugal, Australia, Japan, China and Korea,[2] such as a masterclass of the Australasian Double Reed Society in 2008.[19] He has been a teacher for the Junge Münchner Philharmonie.[20]

gollark: Also eternal youth/relatively good health, but I figure you would basically have to have that for immortality anyway.
gollark: That's higher than average life expectancy basically everywhere, and for much of it you are an old person and unable to do much.
gollark: I mean "immortality" as in "will not randomly die of old age and such", not "live for an infinite amount of time", which would have problems.
gollark: Ideally I would just be immortal, but who knows how that's likely to go.
gollark: Alternatively, attain VAST quantities of money somehow and die on the moon.

References
  1. Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp 209
  2. "Lyndon Watts". Bern University of the Arts. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 March 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  3. "Internationaler Musikwettbewerb "pacem in terris"" (in German). kulturatlas-oberfranken.de. 2006.
  4. "Eine Auswahl von Stipendien-Gewinnern der vergangenen 20 Jahre" (in German). Yamaha. 2005.
  5. "KLAUS-UR". Schott. 2011.
  6. "21st Century Instrumental Solos". Bayerischer Rundfunk. 2008.
  7. Uncle Dave Lewis (2005). "21st Century Instrumental Solos". Allmusic.
  8. "51. Musikwettbewerb der ARD". Bayerischer Rundfunk. 2002.
  9. "21st Century Instrumental Solos". Australian World Orchestra. 2010. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  10. Graham Waterhouse Kammerkonzert (in German). Gasteig. 5 October 2003.
  11. Door Sander Bakker (31 July 2009). "Impressie uit "Birmingham"" (in Dutch and German). FagotClub Nederland. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  12. "International Double Reed Society 38th Annual Conference" (PDF). International Double Reed Society. 2009. pp. 27 (Recital 5), 49 (Recital 27), 129 (biography). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  13. "Klangaktionen III – Neue Musik München 2009" (in German). Gasteig. 12 December 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  14. "Uraufführung" (in German). Bernd Redmann. 14 March 2011.
  15. "Komponisten in Bayern Kammerkonzert des Tonkünstlerverbandes" (in German). Graham Waterhouse. 14 March 2011.
  16. The Gentleman's Flute oehmsclassics.de
  17. Nick Breckenfield (18 April 2010). "William Waterhouse Memorial Concert at Wigmore Hall". classicalsource.com.
  18. "William Waterhouse Celebration / The Proud Bassoon" (PDF). Park Lane Group. 2011.
  19. "Bassoon Masterclass with Lyndon Watts". ADRS. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  20. "Junge Münchner Philharmonie – Künstler" (in German). Bayerische Philharmonie. 2011. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
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