AARON
BARNDEN
VIOLIN
Photograph by Marcus
Thomson
Aaron
Barnden began learning the violin at age four. He has received
a number of awards, which includes the Gold Medal for Most Outstanding
String Player at the Dandenong Festival of Music and Art (1993-94),
The Westpac Bank Scholarship for Most Promising Student at the Queensland
Conservatorium of Music (1996), and Manningham Eisteddfod’s Special
Prize for the most outstanding violinist of the competition (1997).
In 1998, he was a featured artist on ABC FM’s Young Australia,
and began working with the Melbourne Symphony, continuing with them
until 2000. In 1999 he completed the Advanced Performance Program at
the Australian National Academy of Music, followed by a Master of Music
degree in 2001 at the University of Melbourne.
During spent a year in 2002 working with the Cologne New Philharmonic
Chamber Orchestra (Germany), and in 2005, Aaron and Uzbekish violinist
Attilla Sautov founded the Wesley International Chamber Orchestra. In
2007, he founded a new orchestra, the Dinicu Chamber Orchestra, which
performed at the Hume Winter Festival in 2007 and 2008. Also in 2007,
Aaron was concertmaster for the Australian Opera’s annual regional
tour.
For the last few years, much of his work has been in New Music, as a
member the Raga Dolls Salon Orchestra, the Dead Horse Band, Astra Ensemble,
Silo String Quartet, and in numerous projects for emerging music, including
a recent recording of string quartets by US composer, Johanna Beyer,
with the Astra String Quartet (New World Records, New York).
In 2008, Aaron performed Below the Star-Stretched Sky an Australian
and Korean New Music concert with Silo String Quartet and Barrie Webb
on trombone at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York City.
