Joseph Franklin : Associate Artist
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Photo: Shannon May Powell
Artist website: http://www.josephfranklin.net
Joseph Franklin is a composer and bassist from
Gunaikurnai country in regional Australia, currently based
between Philadelphia (US) and Narrm/Melbourne (AU). His
wide-ranging compositional practice combines formal and
spontaneous modalities, drawing from experimental music, sound
art, instrument design, and foregrounds a distinctive approach to
instrumentality.
He has composed for notable ensembles including
the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra,
Flinders Quartet, Australian Youth Orchestra, Geist Quartet, and
The Music Box Project. In 2022, he composed and performed solo in
the contemporary ballet Storm Approaching Wangi and Other
Desires.
His music is represented by the Australian Music
Centre. He is the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship
from the University of Pennsylvania, a Marten Bequest Fellowship,
a 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellowship finalist nomination, a 2020 Art
Music Award for 'Excellence in Experimental Music'-where he was
also a finalist in 'Performance of the Year
(Jazz/Improvisation)'-and multiple grants from Creative
Australia.
Joseph is a co-founder of The Opera Company and
maintains ongoing collaborations with Duré Dara, Lamine Sonko,
Satoshi Takeishi, and artist Tina Stefanou. He has released three
albums as a bandleader and performed in the USA, Senegal,
Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Turkey, and
Australia.
Notable residencies and intensives include
Critical Path (2023), Darmstadt Ferienkurse (2021), All That We
Are (2020), Stanford University intensive with Mark Applebaum
(2019), Bundanon Artist Residency (2019), the Australian Art
Orchestra Creative Music Intensive (2018), IRCAM Manifeste!
(2017), Time of Music Festival (2017) in Finland, and the
Australian Youth Orchestra Summer Music Program
(2017).
In 2024, Joseph's debut solo contrabass guitar
album, a thousand tiny mutinies, was released via Nice Music
label, and he is a participant in Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra's
2024/25 Australian Composer's School program.
He holds a Master of Music (Composition) and a
Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) from the University of
Melbourne and is currently undertaking a PhD in Composition at
the University of Pennsylvania.
Joseph Franklin — current to March 2025
Studied with
Ursula Caporali (2016)
Gerard Brophy (2018)
Simon Barker (2019)
Elliott Gyger (2020 - 2023)
Collaborated with
Australian Youth Orchestra Composers Ensemble (2017)
Flinders Quartet (2019)
Duré Dara (2021 - current)
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (2024 - current)
Selected Commissions
| Work | Commission Details | |
|---|---|---|
|
mutinies : for orchestra (2024) | Composed for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2024-2025 Australian Composers’ School. |
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|
an incomplete history of the art of the solo violin : violin solo (2024) | Commissioned by Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) for performance by The ANAM Set. |
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|
WATER. RUINS. EVERYTHING. : (or, the quaking zone) (2023) | supporting partner; TarraWarra Estate. |
|
|
you are meadow : for orchestra (2022) | Commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the 2022 Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program |
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|
(A)Biotic Forces : for solo prepared guitar (2021) | Commissioned for the Guitar Perspectives Composition Award. With thanks to Peter and Rasika Crowley for their generous support of this award. |
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|
Jouska : A Psychodrama in Three Acts (2019) | Commissioned for the Bendigo Festival of Exploratory Music |