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Andrew Ford

Composer, Writer & Broadcaster

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Home / Compositions / Vocal

Vocal

Andrew Ford’s vocal works are among his best known, and several of them have won awards, notably Learning to Howl, which won the prestigious Paul Lowin Prize in 2004.

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

The Dingo’s Noctuary (2021-22)

45 mins
for mezzo-soprano, narrator, instruments and laptop

Text: Judith Nangala Crispin

mezzo-soprano, narrator, clarinet in A (= bass clarinet), oboe (= cor anglais), percussion, harmonium, harp, viola and laptop

Commissioned by Music Viva Australia

More Info

The Blessing (2021)

28 minutes
for mezzo-soprano and oboe

Text: J.M Coetzee, based on an episode from his novel Elizabeth Costello

Commissioned by the McLaren Vale Music Festival Association for the Coriole Music Festival

First performance by Elizabeth Campbell (mezzo-soprano) and Celia Craig (oboe), directed by Mitchell Butel, Coriole Music Festival, Coriole Vineyards, McLaren Vale, South Australia, 21 May 2022

More Info

Red Dirt Hymns (2020 -)

Voices and instruments

This is a work in progress. Each song has words by a different Australian poet. Individual songs have different and variable instrumentation.

  1. Gone (Jordie Albiston)
  2. The New Summer (David McCooey)
  3. Hymn of the Garden (John Kinsella)
  4. dark cloud (Ellen van Neerven)
  5. Isolation Hymn (Judith Bishop) *
  6. Rain Hymn (Judith Beveridge)
  7. What Desire Knows (Sarah Holland-Batt) +
  8. Ultraviolet (Stephen Edgar) *
  9. Our Mother's Heart (Kate Fagan)
  10. Between Birds (Merlinda Bobis)
  11. To Whom Do We Sing? (Mark Wakely)
  12. Respair (Felicity Plunkett)
  13. This Is to You (Philip Harvey)
  14. The Shape of a Vase (Erik Jensen)
  15. Stand and Weep (Jill Jones) #
  16. Syreeni (Maria Takolander) ##
  17. My Octopus Teacher (Alison Flett)
  18. Waiting for the Clouds (Martha Marlow)
  19. South Golden Beach (Lisa Brockwell)
  20. Looking for Corners (Melanie Horsnell)

* Commissioned by Kim Williams AM + Commissioned by Opera Queensland for its Young Artists Program # Commissioned by Evergreen Ensemble ## Commissioned by Luminescence Chamber Singers

More Info

Nature (2019)

23 minutes
for mezzo-soprano and ensemble

Text: poems by Jen Hadfield, R.S. Thomas, Robert Adamson, Maria Takolander, Tomas Tranströmer, Robin Robertson, Maija Konttinen, Edward Thomas and W.B. Yeats

flute (= piccolo), percussion (tabla, crotales, wind chimes and temple block), guitar and cello

N.B. the percussion part is written for an improvising tabla player, though it can be played on other hand drums

Commissioned for Halcyon (Sydney), Haga Duo with Karin Lovelius and Suranjana Ghosh (Stockholm), Lina Andonovska and Crash Ensemble (Dublin) and Elisabeth Holmertz and Poul Høxbro (Oslo), with financial assistance from the Australia Council of the Arts, the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body.

First performance by Karin Lovelius (mezzo-soprano), Sareidah Hildebrand (flute), Suranjana Ghosh (percussion), Joakim Lundström (guitar), Mattias Rodrick (cello), Norrtullskyrkan, Söderhamn, Sweden, 5 September 2019

More Info

The Moor (2019)

2 minutes
for mezzo-soprano and guitar

A song from the cycle Nature

Text: R.S. Thomas

More Info

Nigh-No-Place (2018)

3 minutes
for mezzo-soprano and flute

A song from the cycle Nature

Text: Jen Hadfield

More Info

No One Could Relax around Jezebel (2017)

14 minutes
for soprano and percussion

Text: Anne Carson

soprano, metal percussion

Commissioned by Julian Burnside AO QC for Jane Sheldon and Claire Edwardes

First performance by Jane Sheldon and Claire Edwardes, Port Fair Spring Music Festival, Reardon Theatre, Port Fairy, 13 October 2018

More Info

Comeclose and Sleepnow: six Liverpool love songs (2016)

27 minutes
for singer and 14 instruments

Text: poems by Adrian Henri, Brian Patten and Roger McGough

  1. Evening Song (Henri) - 2. Her Song (Patten) - 3. Comeclose and Sleepnow (McGough) - 4. Dial a Poem (Henri) - 5. Sometimes It Happens (Patten) - 6. Aubade (Henri)

flute (= piccolo), clarinet in B flat, bass clarinet, alto sax, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, vibes, drum kit, piano, electric guitar, violin, double bass

Commissioned by the Monash Art Ensemble

First performance by Gian Slater, Monash Art Ensemble directed by Paul Grabowsky (piano), Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University, Melbourne, 13 October 2017

More Info

In transit (2014-16)

15 minutes
for piano and speaker

Text: Andrew Ford

Commissioned by Ian Munro, Roy Howat, Joel Sachs and Aura Go, with the support of a project grant from the Music Funds of the Australia Council for the Arts

First performance by Ian Munro (piano), Andrew Ford (speaker), Arts in the Valley Festival, Kangaroo Valley, NSW, 6 May 2017

More Info

A Pitch Dark Night (2014)

4 minutes
for baritone, piccolo, trumpet and piano

Text: Arthur Taylor, from his Gallipoli diary

First performance by David Greco (baritone), David Shaw (piccolo), Leanne Sullivan (trumpet), James Huntingford (piano), conducted by Roland Peelman, Canberra International Music Festival, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 8 May 2015

More Info

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Katie Yap plays In My Solitude for solo viola

30 May, 2022

Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award to Andrew Ford

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The Music Show turns 30

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