Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Peter Tahourdin at 80 by Anni Heino

In 2008, at the age of 80, Peter Tahourdin is still producing new music from his home in Melbourne. Here, he talks about his work and life to the resonate editor Anni Heino. Most recently, Tahourdin’s work list has grown with music for solo piano, as well as several works involving the clarinet, including the so far unperformed Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra (2007).

Ann Carr-Boyd at 70 by Anni Heino

Ann Carr-Boyd has music well and truly ingrained in her family. Her Bohemian grandfather, Albert Wentzel, was a musician in an orchestra that came to play in Australia for the centenary celebrations in 1888. Her father and uncle, Norbert and Charles, both played viola in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In her teens, Ann Carr-Boyd herself was contemplating a career in visual arts, but music took over.

David Worrall: Any artist who is not emerging is dead by Anni Heino

David Worrall describes his musical education as 'mainstream'. His career has been anything but. Early on, he got interested in computer and electronic music, sound sculptures, and spatiality in music – at the University of Sydney, Worrall found his studies in mathematics and philosophy far more useful than those in music. . .

James Hullick: Independence does not exist by Anni Heino

Composer-pianist-vocalist-sound artist James Hullick - who, according to his website, is 'even better than colour television' - kindly agreed to elaborate on some of the recurring themes of the resonate journal issue three. We also asked him about his own work and let him use the resonate soap-box for pointing out that it is not necessary for all of us to be artists forever.

David Worrall: Any artist not emerging is dead by Anni Heino

David Worrall describes his musical education as 'mainstream'. His career has been anything but. Early on, he got interested in computer and electronic music, sound sculptures, and spatiality in music – at the University of Sydney, Worrall found his studies in mathematics and philosophy far more useful than those in music. . .

The Navigator at Melbourne International Festival by Anni Heino

I approached Liza Lim’s opera The Navigator with a certain amount of trepidation. This had to do with my slightly complex relationship with her earlier opera Yuè ling jié (Moon Spirit Feasting, 1999). It wasn’t the certain uncompromising nature of Lim’s compositional style, as I tend to feel that Lim’s work is yet another, convincing proof of the fact that an original voice makes all debates about audience accessibility seem irrelevant. . .

Halcyon and B3 by Anni Heino

I'd hazard a guess it was sheer coincidence that the three composer names in Halcyon's B3 program all started with the letter B. But we did have other, common denominators to make for a well planned evening of new music for an ensemble with solo voices. There were three composers, three pieces, and a generally similar kind of attitude towards composing music based on a text. Gavin Bryars, George Benjamin and Nigel Butterley seem to belong to the school of composing that treats with respect both the original poem and the human voice.

Rosemary Joy and the sound world in miniature by Anni Heino

Ensemble Offspring will premiere two new Australian works in their forthcoming concert on 10 December: Michael Smetanin's new piece and Rosemary Joy's Beauty Boxes - a structured improvisation for two percussionists. In this interview, Joy talks about her exquisite, wooden miniature instruments, about the people who play them and the people who get involved by observing and listening.

chronology arts - electric id by Anni Heino

Chronology arts organisation is rapidly gaining a reputation in Sydney's new music scene for attracting sizeable audiences to hear music by relatively young composers. The season's first concert at Sydney Conservatorium's Music Workshop had the theme 'electric id – chamber music electrified'. Most works were composed especially for the occasion, and included electronics, together with an instrumental ensemble...

Claire Edwardes - Coming a full circle by Anni Heino

A dozen or so years ago, Claire Edwardes was a talented young woman studying percussion at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and performing as part of the newly-founded 'Spring Ensemble'. In 2009, with a wealth of experience under her belt, she is working with young composers from the Sydney Conservatorium as part of the Kammerklang initiative – and remembering her own immersion into contemporary music as an opinionated, second-year student...

Richard Meale 1932-2009 by Anni Heino

Composer Richard Meale (1932-2009) passed away in the early hours of 23 November 2009, at the age of 77. Meale was one of the most important composers of his generation, and his opera Voss is regarded by many as the most important Australian opera to date...

Editorial by Anni Heino

This issue of Resonate Journal is all about the latest in Australian choral music. What are the current developments in commissioning, workshops and community choral music? Which are the new works? How did they come to exist? Who commissioned, rehearsed and performed them...

2009: a year of choral music by Anni Heino

Choral year 2009 has been an encouraging one. Numerous new works - of all shapes and sizes, from spiritual choral works involving choirs and orchestras, to simple a cappella miniatures - have seen the light of the day, and hopefully these are just the first performances of these compositions, with many more to come. Commissioning new work for a choir is an art in itself, but an unexpected result is not necessarily a bad result, as our short interviews with three Victorian conductors reveal.

On the road with Tony Backhouse by Anni Heino

Composer and conductor Tony Backhouse has spent much of the latter half of 2009 on the road, running workshops and leading a group of singers and choir directors from Australia and New Zealand on a gospel tour of churches, choir rehearsals and quartet programs in Memphis, Chicago and New York. In this interview, he explains his approach to workshops and tells us about some of the places they have taken him to

#5: Something to Sing About: the good health of Australian choral music edited by Anni Heino