Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

November is Australian Music Month on ABC radio. This year the November schedule presents a feast of live music and premieres, alongside several acts of remembrance, from our re-broadcast of Paul Stanhope's Jandamarra on 1 November to Sculthorpe tributes across the programming in the final week. The month's concert broadcasts include more than 30 world premieres of new Australian music by composers across the spectrum, from the established classical mainstream to emerging artists to the experimental not-so-fringe.

Among the many concert broadcasts are seven free concerts presented by ABC Classic FM. We kick off in Brisbane with a solo recital on Saturday 1 November featuring one of the country's leading new music percussionists and all-round creative musicians Vanessa Tomlinson. It's a program of all world premieres live-to-air on New Music Up Late. We stay in Brisbane the next day for Sunday Live featuring University of Queensland's new White Halo ensemble and another Australian world premiere.

The following weekend we head to Sydney for 'After Julia' - a Saturday Evening Concert special hosted by New Music Up Late featuring Perth's Decibel ensemble and an evening of new music reflecting on the Gillard prime ministership. Julia Gillard herself will be in attendance and in conversation with presenter Julian Day. The month continues with four more Sunday Lives in Adelaide and Melbourne, including a concert of recent music for the curious combination of trumpet, trombone and classical guitar. Check the schedule to be in the audience.

Among the wealth of other Australian music on offer across the month, another broadcast deserves special notice - 20UP - Australian Art Orchestra's Twentieth Anniversary Gala Performance, coming to you live from the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne on Friday 7 November with a program that celebrates the breadth of AAO's membership and achievements as well as presenting a brand new work for the current ensemble line-up.

Continuing the thread of old and new, on 16 November we mark the 80th birthday of influential composer Larry Sitsky with the re-broadcast of his main-stage epic collaboration with poet Gwen Harwood, The Golem. The month ends two weeks later with a double bill of new Australian chamber operas from Victorian Opera and Sydney Chamber Opera, with two very contrasting composer voices in Iain Grandage and Michael Smetanin, but featuring librettos by the same writer - Alison Croggon. We also remember another great opera-making collaborator, the theatre-maker and writer Margaret Cameron, who died in October this year. We end November's New Waves podcasts with a special extra-long podcast of Minotaur - the labyrinth - the second part of the MINOTAUR trilogy she created with composer David Young and Melbourne's long-running and influential Chamber Made Opera.

On the theme of endings and legacies, the final week of November sees a number of broadcasts celebrating the music and cultural influence of composer Peter Sculthorpe who died in early August. The programs include the re-broadcast of a Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert for the composer's 70th birthday in 1999, and a new recording of the celebration of his life held at Sydney University where he taught for 35 years, including speeches by some close composer colleagues of his.

And on Saturday 29 November, we announce the six winners of the Gallipoli Songs competition, hosted by ABC Classic FM and Radio New Zealand Concert with the support of the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs. It's a competition which both looks back to one of our country's founding myths, and forward to the creation of new music that enriches our cultural legacy.

Online, the ABC Classic 2 streaming station is celebrating Oz Music Month at midday every Wednesday to Sunday with an hour's worth of beautiful music from a different Australian composer each day. Featured composers include Edwards, Howlett, Hyde, Kats-Chernin, Sculthorpe and Westlake, with tracks selected from the ABC Classics catalogue.

We continue to add to the Rewind collection with a 1987 recording of Bozidar Kos's unusual Quartet for flute, viola, piano and percussion (1980) and a new recording by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra of the WWI composition Elegy for String orchestra: In Memoriam Rupert Brooke by Frederick Septimus Kelly. The New Waves podcast continues the 'WESTERN' series of recordings of new music from Western Australian composers performed by Decibel, before wrapping the month with the aforementioned special opera podcast of Minotaur. Just go to ABC Classic FM's Australian Music page and follow the links.

Australian music broadcast schedule

Saturday 1 November 1.00pm SATURDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT: Sydney Symphony Orchestra; Brett Weymark, conductor; Diana Doherty, oboe; Gondwana Chorale; Gondwana National Indigenous Children's Choir; Sydney Children's Choir; Yilimbirri Ensemble
Featuring Paul Stanhope - Jandamarra - Sing for the Country (world premiere)
7.00pm AT HOME: Showcasing Australia's finest composers and performers for an hour every Saturday evening.
8.00pm SATURDAY EVENING CONCERT: Adelaide Symphony Orchestra/Luke Dollman; Greta Bradman, soprano; Gary Sweet, actor.
Features Peter Sculthorpe - Small Town; Graeme Koehne - String Quartet No 2 (Shaker Dances): III 'Square order shuffle'; Natalie Williams - Our Don: A Symphonic Tribute to Sir Donald Bradman (world premiere)
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE (LIVE): '8 Hits' - Vanessa Tomlinson performs 8 new works for percussion and electronics for an intimate audience in Brisbane ABC studio 420.
Erik Griswold - Star of Ours; Vanessa Tomlinson - Still and Moving Paper; Lindsay Vickery - Semantics of Redaction; Rosemary Joy - Fratrem; Natasha Anderson - The Snakes are Loose; Peter Knight - new work; Kate Neal - Self Accusation; Cat Hope - Broken Approach. All works are world premieres.
NB: This is a free concert in Studio 420 at the ABC Southbank Centre in Brisbane. As Brisbane is not on Eastern Daylight time, the concert starts in Brisbane at 9.30pm. To attend, just arrive at the venue between 9 and 9.15pm in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 9.25pm.

Sunday 2 November
1.00pm SUNDAY LIVE: White Halo
Includes James Ledger - House of Stairs (Piano Quartet) (world premiere)
NB: This is a free concert in Studio 420 at the ABC Southbank Centre in Brisbane. As Brisbane is not on Eastern Daylight time, the concert starts in Brisbane at 12noon. To attend, just arrive at the venue before 11.45 in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 11.55.

Monday 3 November
8.00pm EVENINGS: Halcyon and Soundstream Collective
Features: David Harris - Yurrebilla Climbing (world premiere); David Kotlowy - Mitithi (world premiere); Gerard Brophy - When Peacocks Dance (world premiere); Andrew Ford - Willow Songs

Tuesday 4 November
9.30pm EVENINGS: Etica; Jonathan Tooby, conductor; Jennifer Barrington, soprano
Ross Edwards - Laikan; Christopher Tonkin - Transient States; James Ledger - Silver Swans

Thursday 6 November
9.30pm EVENINGS: 30th Anniversary Concert - The Song Company/ Roland Peelman; William Barton, didjeridu. Includes Mass movements by Graeme Koehne, Ross Edwards, Daniel Walker, Stephen Cronin, and Gerard Brophy.

Friday 7 November
8.00pm EVENINGS: Australian Art Orchestra 20th Anniversary Concert
Paul Grabowsky - Passion: 'Come Daughters'; Sandy Evans - Testimony (selections); Austin Buckett - new work; Eugene Ball - Struttin with some BBQ; Paul Grabowsky - Ringing the Bell Backwards: 'Spectre of a Rose'; 'Miracolo'
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE (DIGITAL & ONLINE): Off The Record - Cat Hope.
Julian Day talks to Cat Hope in studio at Perth ABC and we hear at musical selections from her early work and the artists who inspire her. First broadcast in October 2009.

Saturday 8 November
7.00pm AT HOME: Showcasing Australia's finest composers and performers for an hour every Saturday evening.
8.00pm SATURDAY EVENING CONCERT (LIVE): 'After Julia'- Decibel ensemble: Cat Hope, flute/director; Lindsay Vickery, clarinet/saxophone; Tristen Parr, cello; Aaron Wyatt, viola; Stuart James, piano, percussion, electronics
Gail Priest - Everything and Nothing (world premiere); Thembi Sodell - our sickness is felt in my body (world premiere); Cat Hope - Tough It Out (world premiere); Cathy Milliken - Shifrorl (world premiere); Michaela Davies - Goldfish Variation (world premiere); Kate Moore - Oil Drum (world premiere); Andrée Greenwell - Arrows I, II (lyrics by Hilary Bell, world premiere).
This is a free special event in the Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney. Bookings are essential. To book, visit abc.net.au/classic and follow the links. NB: You will need to arrive at the venue before 7.45 in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 7.55pm.
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE: In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub (Australian premiere) - a new radiophonic work by Colin Black responding to Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood on the 50th anniversary of its first broadcast in October 1954. Plus the broadcast premiere of Life, Death and Transience - an ABC studio recording of a new concert work by Romano Crivici for violin, viola and poet.

Sunday 9 November
1.00pm SUNDAY LIVE: Kristian Chong, piano
Includes Michael Kieran Harvey - Toccata DNA; Carl Vine - Piano Sonata No 3
NB: This is a free concert in Studio 520 at the ABC Collinswood Centre in Adelaide. The concert starts in Adelaide at 12.30pm. To attend, just arrive at the venue before 12.15 in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 12.25.

Monday 10 November
8.00pm EVENINGS (LIVE): New Zealand Chamber Choir
Includes Andrew Ford - Chimney Sweepers

Thursday 13 November
9.30pm EVENINGS: Melbourne Recital Centre 'Local Heroes' - Duo Chamber Melange
Includes Jonathan Dreyfus - Standing behind giants, Part 2 (world premiere)

Friday 14 November
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE (DIGITAL & ONLINE): Off The Record - Larry Sitsky at 80. Julian Day talks to Larry Sitsky at his home in Canberra and we hear musical selections from across his career. First broadcast 20 September 2014.

Saturday 15 November
7.00pm AT HOME: Showcasing Australia's finest composers and performers for an hour every Saturday evening.
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE: The Secret Noise -We talk to composer and Damien Ricketson about his latest project with Ensemble Offspring, and preview music from the event, premiering in the Lower Sydney Town Hall this coming Thursday.

Sunday 16 November
1.00pm SUNDAY LIVE: David Griffith, clarinet; Svetlana Bogosavljevich, cello; Ian Munro, piano
Incl. Munro - Clarinet Quintet: 2. 'Campfire and night sky'
NB: This is a free concert in the Iwaki Auditorium at the ABC Southbank Centre in Melbourne. To attend, just arrive at the venue before 12.45 in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 12.55.
7.00pm SUNDAY OPERA: Larry Sitsky - The Golem
Opera Australia production: Raymond Myers, bass; Linda Thompson, soprano; Julie Dalton, soprano; Patrick Togher, tenor; Lindsay Gaffney, tenor; Garrick Jones, baritone; Kerry Henderson, baritone; Chrisopher Doig, tenor. Re-broadcast in the year of Larry Sitsky's 80th birthday.

Tuesday 18 November
8.00pm EVENINGS: Musica Viva - Goldner String Quartet
Includes Kat McGuffie - String Quartet No 2 (world premiere)

Wednesday 19 November
7.30pm EVENINGS (LIVE): Australian String Quartet with guest soprano Greta Bradman at the Adelaide Town Hall. Includes Paul Stanhope - Sea Chronicles; Peter Sculthorpe - String Quartet No 13 Island Dreaming

Thursday 20 November
7.00pm EVENINGS (LIVE): Australian Youth Orchestra/Fabian Russell; Karin Schaupp, guitar.
Includes Ross Edwards - Veni Creator Spiritus; Peter Sculthorpe - Nourlangie
9.30pm EVENINGS: The University of Melbourne Orchestra/Brett Dean
Percy Grainger - The Warriors; Barry Conyngham - Anzac (world premiere); Brett Dean - Fire Music

Friday 21 November
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE (DIGITAL & ONLINE): Off The Record - Brett Dean
Julian Day talks to Brett Dean at home and we hear pieces chosen by Brett including excerpts from his opera Bliss and a new work commemorating the tragic Black Saturday bushfires of 2009. First broadcast in November 2012.

Saturday 22 November
7.00pm AT HOME: Showcasing Australia's finest composers and performers for an hour every Saturday evening.
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE: From Inferno
Michael Kieran Harvey in recital at Carriageworks, Sydney, including movements from Elliott Gyger's new large-scale piano work, Inferno (world premiere) and Harvey's own Psychosonata.

Sunday 23 November
1.00pm SUNDAY LIVE: Ensemble Three: Joel Brennan, trumpet; Don Immel, trombone; Ken Murray, guitar.
Percy Grainger - Random Round; Christian O'Brien - PIT_T; Katy Abbott - Midnight Songs - I Lullaby; II Midnight Song; III Midnight Song Variations; Andrew Batterham - Organica; Andrew Ford - Slow Air
NB: This is a free concert in the Iwaki Auditorium at the ABC Southbank Centre in Melbourne. To attend, just arrive at the venue before 12.45 in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 12.55.

Tuesday 18 November
9.30pm EVENINGS: Plexus
Featuring Gerard Brophy - Trinity (world premiere); Robert Davidson - Lost in Light (world premiere); Larry Sitsky - Blood from the Moon (world premiere); Julian Yu - Classical Stories (world premiere)

Wednesday 26 November
8.00pm EVENINGS: Raymond Hanson - Violin Concerto. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra; Elizabeth Layton, violin; Thomas Woods, conductor. A new ABC Classic FM studio recording.

Thursday 27 November
7.00pm EVENINGS (LIVE): Huntington Festival - includes Enigma String Quartet, performing Philip Jameson's String Quartet No 1

Friday 28 November
8.00pm EVENINGS (LIVE): Huntington Festival - includes pianist Bernadette Harvey and Goldner String Quartet performing Carl Vine's Fantasia
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE (DIGITAL & ONLINE): Off The Record - Peter Sculthorpe. Stephen Adams talks to Peter Sculthorpe at home in his composing studio and we hear selections from across his career along with some other music that holds a special place in his heart. First broadcast 2 May 2009.

Saturday 29 November
12.00pm MUSIC MAKERS: Barry Conyngham feature - about his music, including reflections on Sculthorpe, his influence and legacy
1.00pm SATURDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT: re-broadcast of most of Peter Sculthorpe 70th Birthday Tribute Concert (recorded 13 October 1999). Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Lawrence Foster, conductor; John Williams, guitar. Peter Sculthorpe - Nourlangie; From Kakadu: two final variations; My Country Childhood: From the River; plus Dvorak, followed by works by Sculthorpe students and protégés (incl. Anne Boyd, Ross Edwards, Matthew Hindson and Paul Stanhope).
7.00pm AT HOME: Showcasing Australia's finest composers and performers for an hour every Saturday evening.
10.30pm NEW MUSIC UP LATE: Soundstream Emerging Composers' Fellowship Concert. New works by emerging composer finalists performed by the Soundstream Collective.
Alex Chilvers - Trio 1 (world premiere); Daniel Portelli - Mapping Australia (world premiere); John Pax - Six Figures (world premiere); Michael Terren - As Rendered (world premiere); Samuel Smith - Things Are Become New (world premiere); Sebastian Phlox - Ephemera (world premiere)

Sunday 30 November
1.00pm SUNDAY LIVE: Australian Chamber Choir
Includes Christine McCombe - Lexicon of Dreams; Brett Dean - Now comes the Dawn; Ann Boyd - As I crossed a Bridge of Dreams; Brenton Broadstock - I had a Dream
NB: This is a free concert in the Iwaki Auditorium at the ABC Southbank Centre in Melbourne. To attend, just arrive at the venue before 12.45 in order to be seated by the time the doors close for the broadcast at 12.55.
2.00pm SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT: Peter Sculthorpe Memorial Concert; Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Wind Symphony, conducted by Dr John Lynch; Chamber Choir, conducted by Dr Neil McEwan; Symphony Orchestra, conducted by professor Eduardo Diazmuñoz. Guest artist: William Barton, didjeridu
Peter Sculthorpe - Burke & Wills Suite; Requiem: 5. 'Canticle'; Kakadu
7.00pm SUNDAY OPERA: Iain Grandage, with libretto by Alison Croggon - The Riders (world premiere). Victorian Opera production: Jessica Aszodi, Jerzy Kozlowski, David Rogers-Smith, Barry Ryan, Dimity Shepherd; Richard Mills, conductor; Marion Potts, direction
8.45pm SUNDAY OPERA: Michael Smetanin, with libretto by Alison Croggon - Mayakovsky (world premiere). Sydney Chamber Opera production: Lotte Betts-Dean, mezzo-soprano; Simon Lobelson, baritone (Mayakovsky); Jessica O'Donoghue, soprano; Mitch Riley, baritone; Brenton Spiteri, tenor; Jack Symonds, conductor/piano; Sarah Toth, soprano