Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Annie Hsieh will compose a new work for ELISION ensemble  

More than $110,000 has been awarded to nine Australian and NZ composers for the creation of new works through the second funding round of the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund. The 2017 recipients are Natasha Anderson, Newton Armstrong, Lisa Cheney, Erik Griswold, Annie Hsieh, Eve Klein, Dylan Lardelli, Kate Moore and Eugene Ughetti. 66% of funds available this year went to the five female composers.

The funded projects range from a major operatic work for young audiences to an experimental work using custom-built ice instruments. In line with the aims of the Fund - to create commissioned work that is complemented by an exploitation program - the works already have performances lined up around the world in countries including the USA, China, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland and Japan, as well as at home in Australia and New Zealand.

AMC's CEO John Davis said, 'These works present a broad spectrum of contemporary practice in Australasian art music. It's fantastic to see the Art Music Fund again reflect the diversity and breadth of the work being created by local composers.'

In its second year, the Art Music Fund received a $10,000 boost from an Australian Cultural Fund crowdfunding campaign. Applications were assessed on the viability of the proposed project, the quality of the work, and the strategy for the life and reach of the work.

2017 Art Music Fund recipients

Natasha Anderson (VIC), for the composition of Suppression, a 30-minute ensemble work for 12 players and spatialised electronics. To be performed in Australia, the USA and Germany.

Newton Armstrong (UK), for the composition of a new ensemble work which engages with the complex perceptual dynamics activated by the paintings of Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri. The work will be presented in the UK and recorded for release on the Another Timbre label.

Lisa Cheney (VIC), for the composition of a 40-minute operatic work for children, based on Edward Lear's poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat'.

Erik Griswold (QLD), for the creation of a new work Action Music 2, for performances in Australia, USA, Canada, France and Ireland.

Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh (US), for the composition of a new work for an octet line-up of the ELISION ensemble, to be developed from 2017-2018 for a premiere in early 2019 and subsequent performances in the USA and China.

Eve Klein (QLD), for Vocal Womb, a sound installation and operatic performance work externalising the hidden, fleshy and deeply personal workings of the voice from inside a singer's body. Audiences enter a reverberant dome where they manipulate real-time audio and video feeds taken from inside the body of an opera singer who is performing an intimate work composed for the dome.

Dylan Lardelli (New Zealand), for the composition of a new work for Musikfabrik, for three musicians, with performances in Germany, New Zealand, and Japan.

Kate Moore (NSW), for the composition of Eximia, a song cycle about the history, heritage, environment and women's culture of the lower Hunter Valley, using the personified metaphor of Eucalyptus trees native to the Hunter Valley dry sclerophyll forest. A 60-minute set of short compositions for two sopranos, violin, percussion, electronics and sound engineer, designed for touring in Australia and the USA.

Eugene Ughetti (VIC), for Polar Force, an immersive live performance combining custom-built ice instruments with Antarctic field recordings, set within a chilled inflatable performance space. Polar Force is a phenomenological investigation of extreme wind and temperature through hyper-realistic art.

> More information on the APRA AMCOS website