Composer Biographical Sketches

A-D 

Works held by Red House Editions

Two Studies in Presence (cello)
Newton Armstrong

Work reproduced by Red House Editions

Ripple (guitar)

Michael Atherton composes for all mediums including chamber music, radio, theatre, and the screen. In 1997 he wrote the theme for the ABC TV series Children’s Hospital. His choral concert works include: The Mahogany Ship (1994) for the Sydney Children’s Choir; Namatjira (1996) for the Australian Voices; Exhortation (1996) for the Contemporary Singers and Synergy; Songs for Imberombera (1997) for Gondwana Voices, and Inside the Storm (1998) for the Hunter Singers. Michael’s recordings include Shoalhaven Rise an experimental album with Southern Crossings (1996), Cross-Hatch (1998) with Alan Dargin and Lyrebird with Matthew Doyle – both for didjeridu and percussion. His most recent recording, Ankh – the sound of ancient Egypt, is a conjectural reconstruction of pharaonic music performed on original instruments.

Works held by Red House Editions

Speleology (pno)
Down from North (pno)

Ernie Althoff is well known for his activities concentrated for some years in the areas of sound sculpture installation, instrument design, improvisation, low-budget electronics and graphic notation.

Works held by Red House Editions

Private Collection (pno-4 hands)

Richard Ayres was born in Cornwall in 1965 Richard Ayres has lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1989, studying for three years with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag. Since 1991 he has worked as a composer receiving commissions to write for ensembles in Holland and throughout Europe. In September 1994 he won the Gaudeamus prize for composition.

Works held by Red House Editions

Forward to End (pno)

Dalmazio Babarè performs regularly with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as a percussionist and timpanist and has a close involvement with theatre. His compositions include the musical Cho Cho San and circus music for The Flying Fruit Fly Circus. He devised, directed and performed in Flounder and The Kreation, and artistically directed Dancing in the Belly of the Beast for the Next Wave Festival.

Works held by Red House Editions

The Seventh Centre (pno)

Amelia Barden is a Melbourne-based oboist and composer who is now primarily working with sounds and shapes of the current time. She incorporates various new technologies in both composition and live performance.

Works held by Red House Editions

Vamp (guitar)

Michael Barkl spent the late 1970’s playing the Sydney rock circuit from the Stage Door Tavern to the Bondi Lifesaver before settling into jazz, showband and session work as an electric and acoustic bass player. In 1986 he spent 12 months as Composer-in-Residence for the City of Orange and in 1987 joined the Illawarra Institute of Technology where he became a pioneer of contemporary music education in TAFE NSW. Michael is a composition graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium, Trinity College (London) and the University of New England. He also holds the Ph.D. in musicology from Deakin University.

Works held by Red House Editions

Kaleidoscope (guitar duet)

Clarence Barlow was born 1945 in Calcutta. Clarence Barlow’s first compositions date from 1957. He obtained a BSc at Calcutta University in 1965 and studied the classical music of Northern India. He moved to Cologne in 1968 and studied electronic music and composition at the Music Academy with Eimert, Zimmermann and Stockhausen. In 1971 he began using computers as a compositional aid and developed an interest in tonality and metricism based on number theory. From 1973-75 he again lived in Calcutta, resumed studies of Indian music and worked with a rock group resulting in Kaleidoscope and other pieces. For the past ten years he has been active mainly as a teacher and organizer, since 1984 at Cologne Music Academy and also at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague since 1990.

Works held by Red House Editions

A Peculiar Object (woodwind trio)

Marguerite Boland is a Melbourne-based composer whose compositions have received performances from the ASTRA Chamber Music Society, The Composing Women's Festival (1994), La Trobe University, the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Two of her works can be found on a compact disk recording of women composers from La Trobe University. She is currently researching the music of Elliott Carter as part of her post-graduate studies in composition at La Trobe University.

Works held by Red House Editions

With Nowhere to Turn (pno)

Ross Bolleter explains that, his primary obsessions include "improvising and composing pieces which have their home in a variety of natural environments" and "devising pieces for musicians to perform simultaneously in different parts of the world." He lives in Perth and his compositions include works for children, film music and music for television.

Works held by Red House Editions

Breath... in Time (pno)

Brenton Broadstock's music been performed throughout the world and at festivals including the Asian Contemporary Music Festivals and the ISCM World Music Days. His compositions have been performed by all of the ABC orchestras and by orchestras in Japan and Finland. He has won many awards; his first symphony Toward the Shining Light received an APRA Award, his second symphony a National Music Critics Award in 1989.

Works held by Red House Editions

Pluck It (guitar)

Gerard Brophy was born in Sydney in 1953, Gerard Brophy is a graduate of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and has studied with Richard Toop, Mauricio Kagel and Franco Donatoni. Gerard has won many composition prizes including the Internazionale Premio Casella from the Accademia Chigiana di Siena for composition and the NSW Premier’s Composer Award. Three of his works were selected for the 1981, 1984 and 1986 ISCM World Music Days and he is the recipient of two Australia Council Music Board’s composer fellowships, an Italian Government Scholarship and scholarships from the Accademia Chigiana and from the Paris Conservatoire. His music has been performed by a variety of ensembles including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, Het Nieuw Ensemble, II Gruppo Musica d’Oggi, Ensemble Octandre, Terra Australis and the Pittsburg New Music Ensemble.

Works held by Red House Editions

Shades of a breeze (woodwind ensemble)
An air is a serpent (guitar)

Brigid Burke is a clarinet soloist, visual artists, composer and educator. She has performed and composers extensively for solo and chamber recitals both nationally and internationally. Performances of her work include those at Experimenta 1996, Victorian Arts Centre Live, The Composing Women’s Festival (1994, 96), the Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals in 1997, the Australasian Clarinet and Saxophone Conference, and Queensland Art Gallery. She has been regularly recorded and broadcast by ABC radio, and has been interviewed numerous times about her work. Her performances and compositions appear on the CDs Intersect and Tri Duo.


Warren Burt
Photo by Lyn Poole

Works held by Red House Editions

German Music (cello)
War is a Dumb Idea (pno)
At Lake Wartook (guitar)
November Eighteenth (trb, pno)
The View from Beaumaris (ensemble)

Warren Burt Warren Burt is a composer, among other things, who uses technology, among other things, to write music. In Australia he has worked in academia (La Trobe University, NSW Conservatorium, Victorian College of the Arts, Australian National University), education, radio, and as a composer, film maker, video artist, and community arts organizer. His works have been performed and shown in the USA, Australia, Europe and Japan and he has had grants from the Australia Council, the Victorian Ministry for the Arts and the McKnight Foundation (USA), and has been artist in residence with a number of organizations. His work with electronic and computer music is recognized internationally, including 1989 performances at Ars Electronica, Linz; and Steirischer Herbst, Graz; and 1994–95 performances and installations in New Zealand, Australia, the USA, and Germany.

Works held by Red House Editions

Maladies of Love (pno)

Ann Carr-Boyd.

The output of Sydney composer Ann Carr-Boyd includes most forms of musical expression. Her piano works include Look at the Stars (1978), Fourteen Short Pieces in Varying Styles and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1990/91). She has won the Albert Maggs award (1975) and was a finalist in the Aliènor Competition (1986) in Washington DC.

Works held by Red House Editions

Prelude (pno)

Linda Ceff is a composer, performer, musicologist and teacher who lives in Melbourne. She has a background of classical piano, voice training and is involved in computer music, performing in the community and research in spectral analysis. Her particular interests are in experimental composition and performance with both electronic and acoustic instruments, and multimedia.

Works held by Red House Editions

Choral (pno)

David Chesworth's career has embraced many areas of contemporary music including orchestral, electronic and computer music, dance, film music, installations, opera and music theatre. His works have been performed and broadcast extensively in Australia as well as the Americas, Europe and Japan. Music Theatre works include Recital and Lacuna (Chamber Made Opera) and Sabat Jesus. He was an entrant in the 1994 Paris Rostrum and has won a Prix Ars Electronica award for his soundscape Southgate.

Works held by Red House Editions

Rain V (pno & percussion)

Sunhee Cho, born in 1961, is a graduate in composition from Seoul National University and the University of Rochester (USA). She has been a music instructor at various Korean Universities, including Hanyang, Dankuk, Seokang and Seoul National. Her chamber works have been performed at various festivals both in Korea and the United States.

Works held by Red House Editions

Akkord II (guitar)

Brendan Colbert studied piano at secondary college and played keyboards with various bands before undertaking composition studies with Brenton Broadstock and Riccardo Formosa. His output ranges from orchestral pieces (including Jericho’s Strange performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra) to solos (including those for Stefano Cardi. Marshall McGuire & Stephen Morey) and larger chamber works (for Duo Contemporain & ELISION amongst others).

Works held by Red House Editions

My Hoss#2 (pno)

Carolyn Connors is a composer, keyboardist and vocalist. She is a specialist of extended vocal techniques and has performed widely throughout Australia and internationally. Her career has included collaborative works, solo shows and works incorporating a variety of improvisational forms.

Works held by Red House Editions

Canticles (pno)
cover me with delicate foliage (woodwind ensemble.)

Tim Dargaville is a composer, pianist and percussionist whose work has been represented in music festivals in India and Poland. He has performed in theatre productions by Kickhouse and Desoxy in the Melbourne and Sydney International festivals. He has been published by La Trobe University Press and his work Canticles for solo piano has been released by Red House Editions. In 1995 Tim was awarded the inaugural Asialink Performing Arts Residency which enabled him to study Carnatic percussion music at the Karnataka College of Percussion, in Bangalore, South India. He has performed and lectured at the Fourth East/West Music and Dance Encounter.

Works held by Red House Editions

Monody & Arabesques (pno)

Stuart Davies-Slate is a composer based in Western Australia. He has been commissioned and received performances by groups including Flederman, The Nova Ensemble, Evos Music and the Western Australian Opera Company. He has received a Creative Development Grant which enabled him to further develop his work particularly in the area of music technology.

Works held by Red House Editions

It Gets Complicated (pno)
Sono VI : Plaka (guitar)

Roger Dean is a composer and sound-artist, who involved with improvisation and composition. He has composed about eighty works for chamber and improvisation groups, and has more than 30 works on commercial recordings. He has performed in more than 30 countries, both as double bass player (for whom many works have been written) and as keyboardist. His compositions include the computer music works Silent Nuraghi (on the Rufus label), Dust (Frog Peak), and Lowering the Sky (Crayon); sound and text technodramas in collaborations with Hazel Smith 9Nuraghic Echoes; Poet Without Language; and Returning the Angles (all comissioned by the ABC); as well as instrumental works, such as SonoPetal for the Australian Chamber Orchestra. His works are published in print by Open University Press in his two books on improvisation, by Red House Editions, La Trobe University Press, and by Sounds Australian. Roger is director and founder of the creative sound arts group austraLYSIS.

Works held by Red House Editions

rushes (pno - 2 or 4 hands)
mem(e) (pno & bass flute)
asymptotic freedom (guitar)

Chris Dench was born in London in 1953 and is now an Australian citizen. He has been commissioned by ELISION, resulting in his Driftglass, the French Ministry of Culture (Enoncé), the BBC (Afterimages), the Arditti String quartet (Strangeness), austraLYSIS (heterotic strings), and many others. His works have been performed by Ensemble Accroche Note of Strasbourg, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, ensemble Exposé, Ensemble InterContemporain, the London Sinfonietta, Music Projects/London, the Xenakis Ensemble, and such eminent soloists as Julie Adam, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Andrew Ball, Giuseppe Bruno, James Clapperton, Michael Finnissy, Rolf Hind, Stephanie McCallum, the late Yvar Mikhashoff, Rocco Parisi, Michael Riessler, and Carl Rosman.

Works held by Red House Editions

Where are you now? (guitar duet)
Not Yet (woodwind ensemble)

Eve Duncan was born in 1956 and gained a BA Hons in Composition at La Trobe University. She was awarded the 1992 Modern Music Award for Composition, Vienna. Her works have been performed at the 1994 Days of New Music Festival, Moldova, the 1994 Composing Women's Festival, the 1995 Vienna Summer Seminar for New Music and the 1995 Bangkok Music Festival. Eve is a founding member of the Melbourne Composers' League, which is a meeting point for Victorian composers with aims of fostering links with composers in the Asia-Pacific area. Currently she is music coordinator of the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School.