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More about Nick Byrne and the Ophicleide

The Ophicleide

Invented by the Parisian maker Halary (Halari) in 1817 and Patented in 1821, the Ophicleide is a lower-pitched extension of the keyed Bugle family, that was essentially made redundant in the symphony orchestra and brass band by the bass tuba and euphonium by 1860-70. Occupying an era where composers required a lower voice to supplement the trombones, and where the piston valve was at a primitive stage, the Ophicleide utilizes a bassoon-like keyed mechanism. Performers, such as English Virtuoso's Samuel Hughes and the Royal Italian Opera's (Covent Garden) J.H. Guilmartin, continued to perform on the instrument late into the 1890's, however major manufactures (Courtois) ceased listing the instrument in their catalogues by the first decade of the 20th century. Built in sizes ranging from an alto in F or E flat, to the Contrabass in Eb and C, the most common are the bass variants pitched in B flat or C. Composers such as Berlioz, Meyebeer, Mendelssohn and Wagner all wrote specific parts for this most idiosyncratic of instruments, which utilised its unusual sound and timbre. Sweet and versatile in the upper register whilst open and gruff in its lower tones, the Ophicleide is wholly individual in character and temperament compared with its modern generic replacements.

Nick Byrne

Nick Byrne is Second Trombone with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Born in Sydney but raised in Canberra, Nick undertook his Bachelor of Music (Trombone-Performance), studying with Simone de Haan, Ian Perry, Ron Prussing and Michael Mulcahy, graduating with distinction from the Australian National University in 1992. He then undertook a Masters of Music at De-Paul University in Chicago studying with Charles Vernon, Michael Mulcahy, Jay Friedman and Arnold Jacobs. Previous to his appointment to the Sydney Symphony by Edo de Waart, Nick was Solo Trombone with the Hofer Sinfoniker in Germany. He has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Opera, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Chicago Chamber Orchestra and has performed and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was also chosen by Sir Georg Solti for his Orchestral Project at Carnegie Hall in 1994. As a chamber musician he has performed with Summit Brass, Millar Brass of Chicago, Canberra Trombone Quartet (2nd prize winner, Yamaha International Brass Ensemble Competition, Arizona,1993), Chicago Symphony Lower Brass ensemble and co-founded Australia's foremost Brass group, the Sydney Symphony Brass ensemble.

As an Ophiclidian he has performed with the Sydney Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, World Orchestra for Peace (Moscow, St Petersburg, 2003) with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Alain Lombard, Simone Young and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He also performed the first full Ophicleide recital in the Southern Hemisphere at the 2003 Melbourne International Festival of Brass performing works by Demersemman, Kummer, Bach and Rachmaninov, and has performed as a guest artist with Sydney's Grevillea Ensemble. As a recipient of a Churchill Fellowship in 2002, Nick worked with Marc Giradot in Lyon, France. He performs on a c.1860 Anon. Ophicleide in C (owned by the Sydney Symphony & restored by Steve Giordano) and a c.1885 Ophicleide in C by Halari/Sudre (restored by Rene Hagmann/Servette Music-Geneve).