Aussie Maestro Daniel Smith will conduct the Mariinsky Orchestra in Hindson and Barton’s Kalkadungu.

Australian conductor Daniel Smith will conduct the acclaimed Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Didgeridooist William Barton in the European premiere performance of Barton’s compositional collaboration with Matthew Hindson, Kalkadungu, in July. The performance at the Stars of the White Nights International Music Festival Gala in St Petersburg will be the first time an Aboriginal performer has ever performed in Russia.

Acclaimed indigenous performer Barton and the 33-year-old Australian Maestro will then go on to represent Australia at the World Expo 2015 Gala performance in Milan, later that same month. The World Expo performance will also include the world premiere of The Expo Variations by Italian composer, Nicola Campogrande. Barton has established an unrivalled prestige for his performances with classical music collaborators, including appearances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Youth Orchestra. The ARIA award-winning performer has also made a number of notable international performances including appearances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Daniel Smith

The landmark performances in Russia and Italy are the latest achievements in Daniel Smith’s impressive resumé of world firsts for Australian music. The conductor was the first Australian conductor to be invited by Maestro Valery Gergiev to conduct at the Mariinsky Theatre, and also the first Australian to perform at the distinguished Stars of the White Nights Festival. Smith was also the first Australian Music Director for a production at the Rossini Opera Festival, in Pesaro, Italy, joining a venerable stable of maestro alumni that include the late Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Jurowski and Sydney Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director David Robertson.

While Smith maybe unfamiliar to some Australian music lovers, he has built a superb reputation internationally with recent conducting engagements including performance with the London Philharmonic, Italy’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at the invitation of Gustavo Dudamel. 

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