Oonagh Sherrard : Associate Artist
Oonagh creates music and sound works to bring stories and places to life and has been commissioned to create over 70 works for radio, theatre, film, dance, live performance, public art, installation and with the community.
In 1996 Oonagh received a Graduate Diploma In Music Composition from Sydney University, studying with Peter Sculthorpe, Ann Boyd and Ross Edwards. During this time Oonagh also studied North Indian classical music with Ashok Roy, Sarod Master and Artistic Director of the Australian Institute for Eastern Music. Oonagh received a BA from Macquarie University in 1991. In 2002 through 'Women In Film and Television', Oonagh was under the mentorship of composer and musician David Bridie.
Recent work includes 11 Stories From the River Dyarubbin, 11 site specific audio-walks along Dyarubbin / the Hawkesbury river, featuring an original music work in 11 parts and 11 time, incorporating Dharug songs by Jasmine Seymour and Stacy-Jane Etal. The music underscores stories of the rivers people, places, history, geology and ecology. The project was supported by Create NSW, the Australia Council for the Arts and Museums and Galleries NSW and won a MGNSW Imagine Award in 2024.
Commissions as composer / sound designer include a live cello score for Monkey Baa Theatre Co's adaptation of Jackie French's Diary of a Wombat 2017, a soundtrack for Circa's When One Door Closes 2016, a live cello score for Urban Theatre's adaptation of Michael Mohammed Ahmad's novella The Tribe Sydney Festival 2015, music for the multi-platform documentary Retrospect 2015 ABC RN, UNSW/Melbourne Museum icinema, feature film The Dinner Party 2008, and music for the Dictionary of Sydney's walking app of Old Irish Sydney 2014. Commissions from ABC RN include soundtracks for Cloud Cover 2013, Love Poetry 2012, settings of poems by Kenneth Slessor, Judith Wright and John Keats 2012, The Fox 2011, Concerto for Humans and Semtex 2008 and 2004's Fistful of Sand.
Oonagh has been
commissioned to produce four radio features with original music
for ABC RN, including
Yarramundi and the People of
Dyarubbin 2021 on the survival
of Dharug Culture,
An ear on my heart 2008
settings for poetry by Esther Ottaway and Kathryn Lomer,
The Earthbound Spirit
2004 settings of
the Sufi poetry of Rumi and Hafiz and
Heart of Conflict 2005 reflections on conflict. Oonagh is also
a singer/songwriter and has released 2 EPs of songs
www.oonaghsherrard.com
Oonagh Sherrard — current to June 2025