A trombonist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1995, Nick Byrne was born in Sydney but raised in Canberra, Australia. He started his musical education at the Canberra School of Music studying with Simone de Haan, Ian Perry, Ronald Prussing and Michael Mulcahy, thereafter undertaking further studies in Chicago, again with Michael Mulcahy, Jay Friedman, Ed Kleinhammer, Arnold Jacobs and Charles Vernon at De Paul University. As a student he performed and recorded with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Lower Brass and was also chosen by Sir Georg Solti for his Orchestral Project at Carnegie Hall in 1993. Prior to his appointment in Sydney he was solo trombone with Hofer Symphoniker in Germany. As an ophicleide player, Nick Byrne made the first complete CD recording for the ophicleide, Back from Oblivion, for Melba Recordings in 2006 and is widely recognized as the first performer to rediscover the ophicleide as a solo instrument, as well as being its leading exponent. In recital he has performed in Australia, Asia and the USA and continues to revive the instrument’s repertoire with numerous commissions and several dedications. He has performed on ophicleide with ensembles and orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the World Orchestra for Peace, under conductors including Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Simone Young. In this present recording Nick Byrne performs on a Halari Sudre 10-Key instrument in C, dating from c. 1885.