Login

Enter your username and password

Photo: Ross Calia

Melbourne-based composer Angie Coffey writes music that balances lyrical expressivity with textural richness. Her work often explores the interplay between melody and layered counter-melody, shaped by close creative relationships with performers whose distinctive sounds directly inform her compositions.

The world around us is physical, but how we perceive it is shaped by feeling. Coffey resists emotional detachment in music, instead embracing the awareness of how extraordinary it is to experience life.

Her fresh and emotive musical language juxtaposes tradition with modern process, and accessibility with sophistication. With a particular affinity for strings, she frequently writes with specific musicians in mind. Coffey believes music should feel alive and values the opportunity for listeners to bring their own interpretations to her work-what she describes as their "beholder's share."

In a recent interview with the Australian Music Centre, when asked whether any Australian artists or works had inspired him recently, pianist Joe Chindamo replied: "I've been inspired by Angie Coffey, a Melbourne composer who writes such beautiful songs. I had the pleasure of reimagining one of them recently."

Coffey is currently composing and producing a suite of songs and instrumental works inspired by the fantasy trilogy The Rapunzel's Sister Series.

Recent releases from the project include Gone for flute and viola featuring Eliza Shephard and Christopher Moore (2025); Phantasy for violin and viola featuring Zoe Black and Christopher Moore (2024); Draevon for string trio featuring Zoe Black, Christopher Moore and Molly Kadaurach (2024); Starfly for Piano featuring Simon Tedeschi (2024); and Starfly for Violins featuring Zoe Black and Sarah Curro (2023).

As part of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Chamber Music Series, Coffey's Draevon for string trio received its world premiere on 6 May 2025, performed by Transfigured String Trio in the concert Draevon - Between Light and Darkness at Hanson Dyer Hall, with Zoe Black, Caroline Henbest and Molly Kadaurach.

Across this project Coffey has collaborated with an extensive roster of artists including the Grigoryan Brothers, Simon Tedeschi, Joe Chindamo, Olivia Chindamo, Zoe Black, Sarah Curro, Christopher Moore, Molly Kadaurach, Eliza Shephard, David Berlin, Ben Hanlon, Jess Hitchcock, Nathan Slater, Kaylie Melville, David Jones, Jacob Abela, Harrison Craig, Janine Maunder, Harriet Allcroft and Kathleen Halloran.

Coffey continues to receive commissions, including a forthcoming work for concert pianist Catherine Broadstock to be premiered in October 2026 as part of her Poetry and Music series, inspired by the poem Lyrebirds by Judith Wright, and a new work, The River, for Transfigured String Trio.

In 2020 Coffey received a nomination for Best Music for an Advertisement at the APRA Screen Music Awards for her Women Run soundtrack. Earlier work includes music for theatre productions such as Alex Buzo's Pacific Union (directed by Bruce Myles) for Playbox Theatre and Peta Murray's Salt (directed by Aubrey Mellor), as well as music for television and cinema commercials.

Coffey is an Associate Artist with the Australian Music Centre and a composer member of APRA AMCOS. She is also a member of Katy Abbott's Catapult Collective, a group of established artists who are alumni of Abbott's Catapult program. Coffey holds a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Music from La Trobe University.

Angie Coffey — current to November 2025