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31 July 2009

Composer notes August 2009


Phyllis Chen performed Andrián Pertout's work for toy piano and tape recently in Tokyo Image: Phyllis Chen performed Andrián Pertout's work for toy piano and tape recently in Tokyo  

Performances and residencies

Two premieres by Brenton Broadstock will be included in forthcoming concerts by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Made in Heaven is a 26-minute multi-instrumental concerto for James Morrison (trumpet, saxophone, trombone and flugelhorn), and a homage to the iconic Miles Davis album Kind of Blue. Tyranny of Distance is a 38-minute symphonic work for orchestra with soprano (Merlyn Quaife), didjeridu (Jida Gulpilil), choir and live visuals by video artist Tim Gruchy. For details of these performances on 4-5 September (in Geelong and Melbourne) and 17 October (Melbourne), please see the AMC calendar. The October concert will also include Julian Yu's reworking of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's forthcoming premiere features a specially commissioned score by Matthew Hindson. David Bintley's ballet, E=mc², explores Einstein's 'Special Theory of Relativity' in music and dance of breathtaking energy and speed. The ballet forms part of a triple bill of works, with performances in Birmingham, Plymouth, West Sutherland and London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. The season starts 23 September and finishes 11 November. More information about the Quantum Leaps ballets.

Pianist Panos Karan has premiered Alicia Grant's new work Voice Adrift in New York. The performance was included in Karan's recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Andrián Pertout has been researching material for a new solo piano work for Michael Kieran Harvey as part of a three-month creative fellowship at the State Library of Victoria. Recent commissions include a work for saxophone and piano for the Washington-based saxophonist Dr. Noah Getz, premiered in March in New York City, as well as a work for toy piano commissioned by New York-based pianist Phyllis Chen, scheduled for a premiere in New York later in 2009. Recent highlights include attending performances of Exposiciones for toy piano and tape by Phyllis Chen in Tokyo, Japan; and Rishis and Saints for prepared pianoforte and violoncello at the 2009 Asian Contemporary Music Festival in Tongyeong and Seoul, Korea.

Andrew Schultz's music will play a major role during MLC Australian Music Days in Sydney in October. Schultz's work Ether Etude, commissioned by the school, is a main point of reference for students preparing their 2-minute compositions for the Australian Music Days (22-23 October). The Australian Music Day E-Journal, which can be studied online, includes extensive resources on Schultz and his work: blogs, video tutorials, score excerpts, analyses and recordings. Ether Etude is a study on triplet motion, based on a phrase of music in Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 111 (the second movement, 'Arietta', bars 89-102).

Colin Black's Soundprints:The Prague Pressings - a 20-minute composition inspired by the history, spirit and magic of the Czech capital - has been featured on the influential Austrian Kunstradio program, gaining a broad European audience. The July broadcast adds to performances and airings of his portfolio of 'patchwork sonic quilts' in recent years in Spain, France, Brazil, Germany, the UK, Sweden, South Africa and New Zealand, and across Australia.

Prizes and new releases

Fred Hill's work Tiger's Tales has been chosen by Dr Randy Navarre as the winner of the inaugural Composition Challenge by the NSW School Band Festival. The entries for the 2010 Composition Challenge close in the beginning of February - more details are available on the festival website.

Jennifer Fowler has won the Sylvia Glickman Memorial Prize for her string quartet Towards Release. The prize is an international award for women composers, administered by the International Alliance of Women in Music. The judging panel was chaired by Professor Violeta Dinescu of the University of Oldenburg, Germany. Fowler was also announced as the equal winner, together with the Bulgarian composer, Emmerich Ambil, of the Marin Goleminov First International Composition Contest. The contest was for a chamber piece for the Bulgarian ensemble Orange Factory Psychoacoustic Arts. Members of the jury came from the Netherlands, Ireland, France and Bulgaria.

Anthony Pateras's work Morphous/Amorphous from 2006 (rev. 2007) for enclosed percussion sextet is included on a recent DVD by the renowned Percussion Group The Hague. More information on the DVD is available on the group's website. A forthcoming CD release PIVIXKI is scheduled to come out this spring on the Melbourne-based Sabbatical label.



As a national service organisation, the Australian Music Centre is dedicated to increasing the profile and sustainability of Australian composers and other creative artists. The AMC facilitates the performance, awareness and appreciation of music by these artists through: composer and other creative artist representation and assistance; resonate – its online magazine; library and retail services; sheet music publishing; and the management, administration and publication of project-based initiatives. Its library collection holds over 30,000 items by more than 500 artists.


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