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Johanna Selleck : Represented Artist

Selleck's compositional style draws upon diverse tonal and atonal influences She devotes much of her time to environmental causes and the idea of ‘connectedness’, particularly between humanity and the environment, is a theme in many of her compositions.

Random Audio Sample: Spindrift : for solo harp by Johanna Selleck, from the CD Celebrating twenty years


Photo of Johanna Selleck

Photo: Richard Kelly

Johanna Selleck (born 1959) is a composer, flautist, and musicologist. She holds a PhD in composition from the University of Melbourne, where she is an honorary fellow. She also teaches flute and composition at Presbyterian Ladies' College (Melbourne). Her compositions have been performed in Australia and overseas including in South Africa, Malta, Israel, Italy, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Hong Kong, and the USA. Current commissions include a string orchestra piece for performance at the 2022 PUENTE Festival Interoceánico in Chile.

In Australia, Selleck's works have been performed by the Melbourne, Queensland, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. She has composed across a wide range of genres and styles including orchestral, opera, chamber, choral, and electroacoustic music. These include works performed by some of Australia's most highly regarded performers (such as soprano Merlyn Quaife, pianist Michael Kieran Harvey, and shakuhachi master Anne Norman) and chamber groups (including Astra, the Song Company, the Australian Contemporary Chorale, and Silo String Quartet). Johanna is a regular participant at festivals and conferences in Australia and internationally. In October 2012, her flute concerto, Unspoken Dialogues, was performed by the Israel Chamber Orchestra at the opening concert of the 30th Asian Composers' League Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is also a regular contributor (as performer and composer) to Melbourne Composers' League concerts.

Selleck's research (including cultural history, multimodal discourse, and semiology) is widely published including by Cambridge Scholars Press and Lexington Books and in scholarly journals such as Australasian Music Research and Context. Upcoming publications include book chapters in publications by Hollizer Verlag (Vienna) and another by Palgrave Macmillan (London). Her compositions are published by Reed Music, Lyrebird Press, Allans, Hal Leonard, the Centre for Studies in Australian Music, and the Australian Music Centre. Her recordings appear on labels including Move Records, Tall Poppies, Fluteworthy, Navona (USA) and Albany Records (USA). Prizes for composition include the Herbert Maggs Award and the Percy Grainger Prize for Composition.


Johanna Selleck — current to May 2021

Teacher/Influence on

Leah Blankendaal

Taran Carter (2000)

Sebastian Harris (2002 - 2003)

Evan Lawson (2009 - 2011)

Katherine Rawlings

Awards & Prizes

Year Award Placing Awarded for
2006 Albert H Maggs Composition Award First Prize Four Tapestries

Selected Commissions

  Work Commission Details
Crossing points : flute with piano (2012) Commissioned by Andrew Day.
Spindrift : for solo harp (2008) Commissioned by Jacinta Dennett.
Digital sheet music sample Becoming : for soprano, countertenor, and bass voices, shakuhachi, and string quartet (2007) Commissioned by Sen Forster for the the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival in 2006.
Soundscapes and Omens : for Symphony Orchestra (1998) Commissioned by the Australian Composers' Orchestral Forum 1998
Digital sheet music sample Déjà Vu : for solo flute (1994) Composed for an audition for a masters degree at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Symphony no. 1 : the four elements (1992) Written for the 1992 National Orchestral Composers School.

Analysis & Media

- Program note: Boult to Marina Johanna Selleck