David Paterson : Associate Artist
Photo: Theo Moustakas
Artist website: https://www.davidpaterson.net/
Composer/pianist David Paterson began playing the violin at the age of 4, the piano at 7 and within five years had completed the initial eight grades of the A.M.E.B. piano scheme. His compositional quest began at the age of 7 with a series of short Bagatelles for solo piano. Soon after these first works were completed, the tutelage of Trevor Pierce was to guide and encourage a formidable body of work consisting of over a hundred solo violin caprices after Paganini (One of which was awarded a 'highly commended' in the 1996 'Sydney Morning Herald Young Composer Awards'), several sets of short piano pieces, a number of pieces for various chamber ensembles, movements for a Piano Concerto, Violin and Viola Concerto and two Violin Concertos to name but a few.
The proliferation of David's enthusiasm for the art form was to take a more focused approach at the age of 12 when he was placed under the mentorship of Richard Gill. For the following 3 years, David's compositional output consisted mainly of compositional exercises based on harmony (Riemenschneider) and counterpoint (Fux), which laid the basis for a number of works in the style of the past masters, most notably J.S.Bach. It is during this time that David entered Newington College as a music scholar where he was awarded the annual prize for composition for 5 consecutive years. After transferring to the Royal College of Music (London) from the Sydney Conservatorium in 2004, David interacted with composers Jonathan Cole, Kenneth Hesketh, Louis Andriessen and Mark-Anthony Turnage during a focussed development of his own musical language. In addition to his activities at the RCM, David was invited to study with Rolf Martinsson as a guest of the Malmö Academy of Music (Sweden) for a short period in 2006.
Past commissions include: Introduction and Rondo for small orchestra (Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia) 2009, The Legend of Nintendo for String Quartet (Ensemble Urbane) 2012, Tasting Notes (Tarrawarra Estate Yarra Valley) 2014, Quartettsätze and Scherzo (Australian String Quartet) 2016 and 2020, and Septet (Melbourne Ensemble for ABC Classics) 2020.
David Paterson — current to January 2021
Selected Commissions
| Work | Commission Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quartettsätze : string quartet (2016) | Commissioned by Stephen Newton for performance by Australian String Quartet. | |
| In Aeternum : for violin and piano (2015) | Commissioned by Angela Thiel in loving memory of her Grandfather, Andrew Oswald. | |
| Phantasmagoria : for solo violin (2009) | Commissioned by Monica Curro for the VOLUME series |