Keyna Wilkins : Associate Artist
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Random Audio Sample: Titan Tango (solo piano) by Keyna Wilkins, from the CD Keys Across the Sky |
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Photo: Phyllis Wong - Phyllis Photography
Email:
Artist website: http://www.keynawilkins.com/
Artist website: http://www.ephemeraensemble.com/
Artist website: http://australiancomposers.com.au/authors/keyna-wilkins
​Keyna Wilkins is a pioneering Australian/British composer-musician at home in many musical worlds. She was one of three finalists in the Australian nation-wide APRA/AMCOS Art Music Awards for Excellence by an Individual 2018 and her works have had numerous international performances. Characterised by an ongoing fascination with astronomical phenomena and the incorporation of jazz harmonies, improvisation, electroacoustic elements and dance forms into her compositions, her works are engaging, diverse and linked to her personal spirituality. Her music has been described as "Arresting, genre-blurring, disquieting music with massive depth and high drama" by Sydney Morning Herald.
Published by Wirripang, her works have been performed in USA (concert series at Universities of South Carolina, Vandebilt and Georgia), Asia (Singapore Saxophone Symposium), UK (Bristol Victoria Rooms, Bridgwater Arts Centre), Croatia (World Saxophone Congress, Zagreb), Ireland (Cork School of Music), Germany (Hildesheim Audimax Theatre), as well as Australia (Sydney's City Recital Hall, Art Gallery of NSW, Royal Easter Show Main Arena, Melbourne's Preston Town Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium Melba Hall, Adelaide's Univeristy Henze Room and Beamont House, Brisbane Conservatorium) by artists and ensembles such as Preston Symphony Orchestra (Melbourne), Australasian Saxophone Quartet, Collide Trio (Melbourne), Ensemble Muse (Sydney), Sydney Conservatorium Sax Orchestra, Spanish Encounters International Piano Symposium Ensemble, flamenco ensembles Pena Flamenca and Arrebato and soloists saxophonist Joseph Lallo (AUS), pianist Elodie Sablier (France), flutist Alison Mitchell (UK/AUS), Kosmas Lapatas (Greece) as well as performing her own works as a soloist and in her ensemble, Ephemera. She has has four tunes in The Australian Jazz Realbook and writes music for independent films.
In addition, Wilkins is a versatile improvising
flutist and pianist. With international classical training
(Bristol University UK, Bath Spa University UK, Hildesheim
University Germany, Sydney Conservatorium) she has branched into
jazz, experimental live theatre, flamenco fusion and
improvisation in a wide range of ensembles. In 2019 she will present solo recitals of her compositions
and improvisations at the Australian Flute Festival and
Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference.
In 2015 she formed her own trio, Ephemera, and after a series of
successful shows around Sydney, were invited to feature at the
Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival in 2017 and at
Extended Play Festival of New Music at City Recital Hall in 2018.
In 2017 Ephemera released their debut album Orbits and Riffs to
critical acclaim. In the same year she presented her Keys Across
the Sky solo piano album as a lecture/recital at the Australasian
Piano Pedagogy Conference held at Adelaide University and
launched her flamenco and jazz-infused solo flute album, Air in
Motion, at the Flute Tree Studio (Leichhardt). In 2013 Sydney
Conservatorium Spanish Encounters Piano Symposium commissioned
her to devise one of her own pieces Luna Llena for their ensemble
and Marquez Laundry Theatre Company commissioned her to write the
music for the abstract play Fred and Ginger at Sydney Fringe
Festival. Other highlights include opening the Adelaide Fringe
Festival with Flamenco Australia in 2012 and opening the Picasso
Exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW with French noir trio Les
Violettes in 2011.
Having completed her Master of Music Composition
at Sydney Conservatorium in 2016 under the supervision of
Professor Anne Boyd and Doctor Rosalind Page, she also studied
composition with Sadie Harrison (Bath Spa University, UK),
Jessica Wells and Martin Wesley-Smith (Sydney Conservatorium),
jazz piano with Oliver Gross (Hildesheim Univeristy, Germany) and
flute performance with Nicholas Vallis Davis including completing
her MA Flute Performance at Bristol University in 2008 and BA Mus
in 2003.
Keyna Wilkins — current to January 2019
Studied with
Tenzin Cheogal (1999)
Jessica Wells (1999)
Martin Wesley-Smith (1999)
Sadie Harrison (2001 - 2002)
Anne Boyd (2012 - 2015)
Rosalind Page (2016)
Collaborated with
Elsen Price (2013 - current)
Gumaroy Newman (2019 - current)
Awards & Prizes
Year | Award | Placing | Awarded for |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | Art Music Awards: Award for Excellence by an Individual | Finalist | activities in original art music throughout 2017 as a composer-musician including releasing three original albums. |
Selected Commissions
Work | Commission Details | |
---|---|---|
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Dunes of Pluto : for solo double bass (2018) | For Elsen Price |
La Luna Sobre Tierras Catalanas (quintets: flute, percussion, piano, violin, cello) (2013) | Commissioned by Sydney Conservatorium for "Spanish Encounters - Spanish Piano Music Festival" Oct 2013 |