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Photo: Tod Clarke

Bruce Crossman's sound world embraces Asian traditional musics, free form improvisation and European influenced interval-colour sonority towards a personal Pacific identity. Peter Sculthorpe, Chou Wen-chung and Chinary Ung have influenced Crossman's Pacific-based aesthetic.

His music explores Asian-Pacific influences such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Filipino gongs and chant resonances with harmonic colour sonority emphasis in Shy Like Blushing Flowers (2017), Gentleness-Suddenness (2012), Double Resonances (2008) and Daragang Magayon Cantata (2001). Crossman's aesthetic is influenced by cross-disciplinary ideas from Chinese esthetics, Japanese aesthetics and architecture, Filipino-Australian poetry, abstract and traditional East Asian visual arts.

Crossman's music has been featured throughout the Asia-Pacific region including at the ISCM World Music Days (Beijing, Sydney), Tongyeong International Music Festival (Korea), Asian Composers League Festival (Taiwan), Asian Music Week (Japan), Tunugan (Philippines) and Pacific Rim Music Festival (USA). He has won a number of awards including the Queensland Philharmonic's Corbould Prize and a Finalist Nomination for 'Vocal or Choral Work of the Year' at the 2007 Australian Classical Music Awards. Filigree Films have published a DVD of the music-theatre work Gentleness-Suddenness (2014). Wirripang have released several discs of his music including an album of compositions, Double Resonances (2008), and one of piano improvisations with multi-instrumentalist Michael Atherton, Resophonica (2009). In 2017, Navona Records (USA) released Living Colours: Pacific Sounds And Spirit.

Crossman was born in Auckland in 1961. He studied composition with Ross Edwards, David Blake and Jack Speirs. His qualifications include a Doctor of Creative Arts from Wollongong University, Master of Philosophy from York University and Master of Music (Distinction) from Otago University. He holds the positions of Associate Professor (Music), Discipline Leader (Music and Music Therapy) and Coordinator of Composition in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University.

Crossman writes: 'I see the spiritual essence in my own work as an expression of a Christian faith whereby composition becomes a deep-felt emotion and spiritual sensibility linking heaven and earth. The aim of my creativity is to generate spiritual presence through stillness with colour-energy that speaks of the Asia-Pacific.'

Bruce Crossman — current to April 2020