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Photo: Rudi Lorimer (they/them)

Drawing on nature, important causes, society and the personal, Robert McIntyre (he/him) is a Melbourne-based award-winning composer, whose music discusses, focuses and reflects on moments, holding space for them in order to achieve a multi-faceted sense of visibility. McIntyre holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Composition with First Class Honours from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, supervised primarily by Prof. Stuart Greenbaum and Dr. Katy Abbott, a Juris Doctor from the Melbourne Law School and is a University of Melbourne Wattle Fellow. In 2024, McIntyre was invited back as the annual Alumni Speaker for the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM) to deliver a 10-minute commencement speech to the incoming 1st-year cohort.

Described as "strikingly contemporary" by Limelight, McIntyre has strong local and international presence, working with leading ensembles, collaborators, and stakeholders such as Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Recital Centre, Flinders Quartet, Creative Australia, Syzygy Ensemble, 3MBS Melbourne 103.5FM, Australian Flute Festival, Collide, Midsumma Festival, Melbourne International Saxophone Festival and more. He has showcased his works across the US, EU and Canada, including University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, University of Alaska, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Sao Luiz Teatro Municipal Lisbon, Washington State University, University of Southern Mississippi and more, and has won several competitions and call for scores.

Noteworthy programs to date include the MSO Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers' Program, AYO National Composition Program, ICEBERG New Music Institute (Vienna/New York), Divisi Chamber Singers' Inaugural Compose Queer, and Composing in the Wilderness (Alaska, USA). Composed in Alaska, 'the distance between' for mixed quartet was also awarded the 2022 David Henkels Composition Award. Composed for Austrian trio Immersio, 'See through me' receives regular performances, placed 2nd in the 2022 Belvedere Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition (USA) and received selection for WSU's Festival of Contemporary Artists in Music (FOCAM) in 2024.

McIntyre's work 'A Sea Spray of Ash' for soprano and piano, based on the 2019 Global Climate Strikes, has received extensive notice and performances local and broad, notably put forward by the AMC for submission and subsequent selection by the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) jury for McIntyre to represent Australia at the 2025 ISCM World New Music Days festival in Portugal, with assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia as part of its Export Development Fund, as well the work having won the 2022 No Divide KC International Art Song Competition (US, Kansas City), dual-selection in Kammerklang's 2021 'Hidden Curiosities' programmes, and an honourable mention in Arcady's the 2020 International Emerging Artist Composition Contest.

Initially through his Wattle Fellowship, McIntyre composed his cross-disciplinary climate justice song cycle about the Sharma litigation 'Our Duty to Care' for soprano and piano trio (text by Savanna Wegman), which was awarded the prestigious 2023 Dorian Le Gallienne Composition Award. His titular 'Our Duty to Care' climate change curation series continues to receive acclaim, with its premiere at Hanson Dyer Hall co-presenting with the FFAM and Melbourne Law School in 2023, Tempo Rubato and National Sustainability Festival in 2024, and next with the Melbourne Recital Centre at the Primrose Potter Salon, pre-launched in 'Ready your ears', and featured as part of its 2025 Classical Season.

Robert McIntyre — current to August 2025