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Photo: Bridget Elliot

Much of Damien Ricketson's music explores the poetics of incomplete knowledge. Through open forms and unconventional modes of notation, many of his works are themselves incomplete requiring high levels of creative evaluation from the performer. The metaphor of incomplete knowledge is also manifest in frequent references to unfinished works or forgotten musical traditions. Other interests include microtonality and tactile approaches to composition where musical structures are generated from the physical movement patterns of the performer.

After completing a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Ricketson studied composition with the renowned Dutch composer Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and completed IRCAM's elite computer-music course at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. He attained a Doctor of Philosophy from the Sydney Conservatorium where he is currently Lecturer in Composition and Contemporary Music Studies.

Damien Ricketson is the founder and co-artistic director of Ensemble Offspring, a unique Sydney-based arts company dedicated to innovative new music. Much of his music has been written for Ensemble Offspring and received critical recognition through their performances. His works have also been performed by many national and international soloists, ensembles and orchestras including: MusikFabrik (Germany), Ensemble Plus Minus (UK/Belgium), Crash Ensemble (Ireland), 175 East & Stroma (New Zealand), the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Grainger Quartet and Continuum Sax.

Ricketson's works have received awards including the 2008 NSW State Award 'Best Composition by an Australian Composer' for his string quartet So We Begin Afresh and the International Lady Panufnik Prize (Poland) for Chinese Whisper. Commissions have included the Warsaw Autumn, the Transit Festival (Belgium), Symphony Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Ian Potter Foundation.

His recent show‐length multimedia work Fractured Again, was shortlisted for both the 'Instrumental Work of the Year' and 'Award for Excellence in Experimental Music' at the 2011 Art Music Awards. The work was premiered as part of the 2010 Sydney Festival and went on to receive productions at the newly opened Shanghai Museum of Glass, the Hell Hot Music Festival in Hong Kong and the Ox Warehouse in Macau. Damien recently completed Some Shade of Blue, a work for a newly designed violin‐like instrument, the Underchin Tarhu (by Peter Biffin), for the production Partch's Bastards presented by Ensemble Offspring.

He is currently collaborating with Theatre Kantanka on a new production, Bargain Garden, exploring the phenomenon of the two‐dollar shop.

Damien Ricketson — current to September 2011