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Photo: Bridget Elliot

James Ledger is an Australian composer who began his compositional life working as an arranger and music editor in the mid 1990s. During this time he began writing music for theatre and television as well as chamber music. His orchestral work from this period, Indian Pacific, has been played many times since then, and is regularly performed around Australia.

Ledger is currently composer-in-residence with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His Trumpet Concerto was premiered in April 2007 by the orchestra's principal trumpet player, David Elton, conducted by Sachio Fujioka. The orchestra has since gone on to perform Arcs and Planes and Chronicles, both under their chief conductor, Paul Daniel. In 2003-04, Ledger was the composer attached to the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, a result of this was Peeling, conducted by Hannu Lintu, who also conducted further performances of the work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2007.

In 2008, Ledger was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to travel to Europe to research contemporary compositional practice with a particular focus on new classical music in Estonia. Currently he is associate lecturer in composition at the University of Western Australia. He has also been a tutor at the Australian Composers' School and the Australian Youth Orchestra's National Music Camp.

Recent commissions include works for the Australian National Academy of Music, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Opera House. Future events include performances by Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras in 2010, and a large-scale orchestral work for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in 2011.

James Ledger — current to November 2009