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Stephen Leek's distinctive music is immediately recognisable, capturing the enigmas, drama, rhythms, colours and ethos of Australia. He has been accredited with having made a significant impact on and a major contribution to the development of Australian choral composition and performance and how that has been promoted and discussed throughout the world over the past 25 years.

Born in Sydney in 1959, Leek is an extensively commissioned freelance composer, freelance conductor, educator and publisher. Teaching composition and improvisation at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University until 2009, Leek resigned from this position in order to develop further his already hectic freelance schedule of commissions, workshops and guest appearances and to take up a non-remunerative position on the Board of the International Federation of Choral Music - a project of UNESCO.

A pioneer in developing composer residencies, Leek's involvement with numerous choral and music groups at every level of accomplishment has had vital influence on recent Australian music.

In 1993 Leek was joint founder and, in 1997-2009, Artistic Director/Conductor of The Australian Voices, an elite ensemble of young adult singers who, through their motivated commitment to the work of Australian composers, have significantly challenged and changed the landscape of choral music in Australia and taken Australian music to the most prestigious festivals and events around the globe.

Among Stephen Leek's array of personal accolades is the award in 2003 of the prestigious Robert Edler International Prize for Choral Music. Cited by an international jury for his 'decisive influence' on both the Australian music scene and the international choral community as a composer and conductor, Leek has been admitted into the pantheon of leading choral composers and conductors worldwide, alongside donductors Freider Bernius, Karmina Selic, Maria Guinaund, and major institutions such as the World Youth Choir. He has won numerous other national and international awards for his music - among others, in 2004, his work die dunkle Erde was selected by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to represent Australia at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris.

In recent years Leek's activities have included: composer in residence at the Marktoberdorf Musikakademie, Germany; guest conductor with the acclaimed Formosa Singers, Taiwan, The Crystal Choir, USA, and the Gondwana Voices, Australia; guest conductor with the Singapore Ministry of Education, The Taiwan National Youth Choir, The Crystal Choir in the USA, guest composer at the Sun Music Festival in Riga, Latvia, a juror at the World Choir Games in Austria, and presenter at numerous music, education and choral Conferences around the world. His list of national and international commissions reads like a list of Who's Who.

Stephen Leek's music is published by Morton Music, Oxford University Press, Boosey & Hawkes and through his own international publishing venture - www.stephenleek.com.

For a more detailed biography, please visit Stephen Leek's website.

Stephen Leek — current to February 2010