Composer, Writer & Broadcaster
These pieces set to music poems by Anne Carson, Elizabeth Smart, Christina Rossetti and Shakespeare, together with words from the Book of Proverbs and the Girls’ Own Annual of 1919
Please click work titles for more information and resources (audio, sheet music, program note etc.) about individual works in this category.
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. Ultraviolet (Stephen Edgar)
8. Our Mother's Heart (Kate Fagan)
A song from the cycle Nature
Text: R.S. Thomas
A song from the cycle Nature
Text: Jen Hadfield
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
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
1. The Owl and the Pussy-cat 2. The Quangle Wangle's Hat 3. The Jumblies
Text: poems by Edward Lear
First performance by Michael Lampard (baritone), Shirley Trembath (piano), St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, 30 October 2013
Text: poem by Jane Taylor
First performance by Tobias Cole (countertenor) and Meriel Owen (harp), Canberra International Musica Festival, Fitters' Workshop, Canberra, 30 April 2017
Text: poem by Thomas Dekker
First performance by Iva Bittová and Lisa Moore, Canberra International Music Festival, Street Theatre, Canberra, 16 May 2008
Text: from the Book of Proverbs, Kanteletar and the Girl's Own Annual (1919)
Commissioned by Jane Edwards with funds provided by a composer fellowship from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts
First performance by Jane Edwards (soprano) and David Miller (piano), Manly Council Chambers, Sydney, 14 September 2008
1. Orpheus with his Lute (Henry VIII)
2. Chimney-sweepers (Cymbeline)
3. Winter Song (Love's Labours Lost)
Text: William Shakespeare
Nos 1 and 3 commissioned by the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. No 2 commissioned by the Kangaroo Valley Arts Festival (Arts in the Valley) with funds from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.
First performance by Margaret Schindler and Kevin Power Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Ballroom, Jupiter's Casino, Townsville, Queensland, 7 August 2009.