Barry McKimm

Barry McKimm was born 1941 in Melbourne (Australia). He played the trumpet from an early age and first performed in theatres and jazz concerts and composed improvised music. In 1968 Barry McKimm was appointed third trumpet at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.

From 1970 Barry McKimm composed music in exact notation forms and wrote works for orchestral colleagues: concertos, chamber music, songs, choral works and for a variety of non-tradional instrumental groups. He received many awards for his music, for example the Dorian Le Gallienne Award in 1978. In 1983 he composed a work for brass band, which was selected as the A-grade test piece for the National Band Championships in 1985 and 1988. Since then nine of his compositions have been selected or commissioned as test pieces for the Nationals.

After his retirement from the MSO in 1997, he was appointed music director for the Eltham Concert Band (ECB) in 1998, a position he held until 2005. During this period he composed, orchestrated and arranged a large body of works (over 200) for community music groups; concert band, soloists, choirs.

Barry McKimm is a highly respected composer, his works have been performed and recorded many times in the whole world.

Barry McKimm resides in Melbourne (Australia).

Violin concerto

The Violin concerto was composed in 1980 and premiered the same year with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Thomas. Soloist was Leonard Dommett, the renowned concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The violin concerto consists of three movements, but on a special request by Leonard Dommett he played the second movement "Andante tranquillo" on a viola at the occasion of the world premiere.

In 2016 the violin concerto was revised and this second edition was dedicated to me, Tobias Broeker. I am very proud of this dedication because this composition is among the most brilliant and most beautiful violin concertos of the 20th century and part of my exclusive and precious list of outstanding violin concertos (see my complete recommendation list here)!

A full score and a recording of the complete world premiere can be found below.