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Home / Compositions / Orchestral / Chamber orchestra

Chamber orchestra

In this section there are works such as Contradance and Dance Maze for large ensembles of single instruments, as well as pieces for more conventional small orchestras.

Please click work titles for more information and resources (audio, sheet music, program note etc.) about individual works in this category.

Contradance (2015)

13 minutes
for 11 players

1(=picc)-1-1(=bass cl)-1(=contrabsn) / 1-0-0-0 / pno / 1-1-1-1-1

Commissioned by Steven Alward for the Omega Ensemble to celebrate the 60th birthday of Mark Wakely

First performance by the Omega Ensemble, City Recital Hall, Sydney, 20 April 2016

More Info

The Drowners (2009-15)

30 minutes
song cycle for baritone, vibraphone, harmonium, celesta, harp and string orchestra

The first song in this work is A Dream of Drowning.

Text: Tim Winton, George Barker, Georgiana Molloy, Bruce Dawe, Stevie Smith and William Shakespeare

Commissioned by Ruthless Jabiru and the Camerata of St John's with a project grant from the Australia Council for the Arts

First performance by Morgan Pearse (baritone), Ruthless Jabiru conducted by Kelly Lovelady, Chapel of King's College, London, 10 March 2018.

More Info

A Dream of Drowning (2009)

6 minutes
for baritone, vibraphone, harmonium, celesta, harp, strings

The first song in the song cycle The Drowners.

Text:

Tim Winton (from his novel Breath)

Commissioned by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra

First performance by Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Daniel, Perth Concert Hall, 12 March 2010

More Info

Scenes from Bruegel (2006)

20 minutes
for chamber orchestra and prerecorded sounds

i . Children's Games

ii. Hunters in the Snow

iii. The Peasant Wedding Dance

1(=picc)-1(=cor ang)-1(=bs clar)-1(=contrabsn) / 1-1-1-1 / 2 perc / accord / pno / hp / strings*

* String parts may be played by small sections (say, 5-5-3-3-2), or by soloists

Commissioned by the New Juilliard Ensemble and the West Australian Sympohony Orchestra, funded by a composer fellowship from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts

First performance by the New Juilliard Ensemble conducted by Joel Sachs, Alice Tully Hall, New York, 24 April 2006

More Info

Dance Maze (1996)

13 minutes
for large ensemble

1(=alto fl, picc)-1(=cor ang)-1(=bs clar)-1(=contrabsn) / 1-1-1-1 / 2 perc / pno / hp / 1-1-1-1-1

Commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble with the support of the Music Board of the Australia Council.

First performance by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble conducted by the composer, Rodef Shalom, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 20 January 1997

More Info

The Widening Gyre (1993)

20 minutes
for 2 solo violins, solo cello and chamber orchestra

0-2-0-1(=contrabsn) / 2-0-0-0 / 4-4-3-2-1

Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra

First performance by Richard Tognetti and Julian Shevlin (violins), Cameron Retchford (cello), Australian Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer, Eugene Goossens Hall, Sydney, 23 July 1993

More Info

Epilogue to an Opera (1982)

7 minutes
for small orchestra

1(=picc)-1(=cor ang)-1(=bass cl)-1(=contrabsn) / 1-1-0-0 / 1 perc / hp / 4-4-2-2-2 (or 1-1-1-1-1)

First performance by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Patrick Thomas, Arcadia Theatre, Sydney, 1 November 1985

More Info

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