Dr. Edward Tarr and Rosie Baldwin

From March 16-April 2, 2009, Dr. Edward H. Tarr was the guest of the Brass Unit of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  His last visit to Australia was nearly thirty years ago, when he performed as a soloist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. 

He presented a series of lectures and master classes on the concertos of Haydn, Hummel and Neruda. In each lecture, Tarr discussed the challenges and choices that confront an editor when preparing modern editions of these works.  To help his point, Dr. Tarr projected the composer’s original scores onto a large screen.  In master classes, trumpet students from the conservatorium presented movements from each of the aforementioned concertos.  Much of what Tarr discussed dealt with historically informed performance practice issues such as trill culture and articulation techniques.  In addition to the master classes and lectures, Dr. Tarr gave individual lessons on both modern and Baroque trumpets.

Before the residency, on March 4, Tarr joined trumpeters Andrew Evans and Bruce Lamont in St David’s Cathedral in Hobart, Tasmania for a performance, which included Benjamin Britten’s Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury and Adagio by Giuseppe Verdi.

Tarr, SCM trumpet lecturers Andrew Evans and Leanne Sullivan, and students