Mark Gaydon

About

Mark Gaydon has been Principal Bassoonist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra since 2003

During this time he has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions performing solo works by Mozart, Weber, Zwilich, Williams, Franciax and Strauss. He has also appeared as guest
principal bassoon with the Sydney Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony, the Queensland Symphony and the Tasmanian Symphony orchestra. As a chamber musician he has performed with Ellision Ensemble, The Southern Cross Soloists, the New London Chamber Ensemble, the Tancibudek Wind Quintet and his own group Ensemble Le Monde.

An avid teacher, Mark has been Associate Instructor at the Indiana University School of Music, a guest
artist at the Australian National Academy of Music, bassoon tutor for the Australian Youth Orchestra, AYO National Music Camp and Young Symphonists programs, and Bassoon Instructor at the Elder Conservatorium since 2005. Mark has a PhD in music from the University of Adelaide and was awarded a Dean of Graduate Studies Special Commendation for Thesis Excellence. In 2005 he won the ABC Young Performer of the Year wind, brass and percussion section and in 1999 was awarded grand prize in the
Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition in the USA competing against players of all instruments.

Mark is a keen supporter of Australian composers and has commissioned and premiered works for the bassoon by Gerard Brophy, Andrew Schultz, Katy Abbott, James Cuddeford, Luke Altmann and Charles Bodman Rae. In December 2013 many of the commissioned works were featured on ABC Classic Fm’s New Waves Podcast series forming a bassoon odyssey into new Australian bassoon works. In 2011 he was a featured artist on 3MBS’s Musical Portraits series and performed Berio’s notorious Sequenza XII for solo in a live radio broadcast. Mark’s teachers include Kim Walker and Stephane Levesque.