Bassist Volkan Orhon presents a special concert as part of his latest CD release tour. Performance highlights include Carl Friedrich Abel’s Solo Sonata, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No.3 in C Major, BWV 1009, Hans Fryba’s Suite im Alten Stil, a new work by composer David Gompper and more.

New This Year: Digital Programs!

Shenandoah Conservatory is launching digital programs for the 2021/22 season! We’re always looking for ways to improve your audience experience and provide more ways to connect with our students, faculty and guest artists from around the world. The digital program is best viewed on your mobile or tablet device.

View Digital Program

Meet the Artists

Volkan Orhon

Acclaimed for his musicality and virtuosity, Volkan Orhon has established himself as one of the top double bassists in the world today. He was a finalist and prizewinner in the Concert Artists Guild Solo Competition in New York City, and was the co-first place winner of the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition. Additionally, he distinguished himself as the first double bass player ever to win the grand prize overall and first prize for double bass at the American String Teacher’s Association Solo Competition.

Orhon has performed with internationally recognized musicians including Gary Karr, Fazil Say, JACK, the Emerson and Tokyo String Quartets, and has performed recitals as a soloist with orchestras around the world including the Bursa State Conservatory and Eskisehir Anatolian University (Turkey), Paris Conservatory, Norwegian Academy of Music, Arizona State University, University of Michigan, Butler University, Northwestern University and North Carolina School of the Arts.

As an orchestra musician, he served as principal bass in the Orchestra Iowa and performed with the Detroit Symphony, Hartford Symphony and Connecticut Opera Orchestras.

Orhon has recorded CDs under the Albany, Centaur and Crystal Records labels. Most recently he recorded the Double Bass Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London (2020), a work written for him by composer David Gompper.

As a pedagogue, Orhon has been an invited clinician to workshops across the United States and abroad, including European double bass conferences Bass2018 LUCCA, Bass Bass2010 Berlin, Bass2008 Paris, Ouro Branco Festival in Brazil, Suzuki Association of the Americas, American String Teachers Association and the International Society of Bassists.

Orhon was born and raised in Turkey and spent much of his youth touring Europe. After graduating from the Ankara State Conservatory under the tutelage of Tahir Sumer, he became a member of the Ankara Presidential Symphony Orchestra. He came to the United States to continue his studies with Gary Karr.

Orhon is currently professor of double bass at the University of Iowa.

David Gompper

David Gompper has lived and worked professionally as a pianist, a conductor, and a composer in New York, San Diego, London, Nigeria, Michigan, Texas and Iowa. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Jeremy Dale Roberts and Humphrey Searle. After teaching in Nigeria, he received his doctorate at the University of Michigan and taught at the University of Texas, Arlington. Since 1991, he has been professor of composition and director of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. In 2002 to 2003, Gompper was in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching, performing and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. In 2009 he received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, and a Fromm Commission in 2013.

Gompper’s compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Merkin Halls (New York), Wigmore Hall (London), Konzerthaus (Vienna) and the Bolshoi and Rachmaninoff Halls (Moscow Conservatory). For the Naxos label, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded his Violin Concerto with Wolfgang David, and a new disc of works that include four concerti (Double, Clarinet, Cello and Double Bass), as well as two orchestral works. As a pianist, he has maintained an active profile accompanying musicians and singers since 2002, including Wolfgang David (violin), Stephen Swanson & John Muriello (baritone), Michael Norsworthy (clarinet) and Volkan Orhon (double bass).

Visit davidgompper.com to learn more.