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.
Also available as part of Three Shakespeare Songs and as a SATB choir version.
Text: from Act IV of Shakespeare's Cymbeline
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 Yvonne Kenny (soprano), Andrea Katz (piano), Arts in the Valley, Kangaroo Valley, NSW, 21 April 2007.
Text: Christina Rossetti
First performance by Jane Edwards (soprano), Marshall McGuire (harp), Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney, 18 March 2005
A song from Learning to Howl
Text: poem by Ian Munro
First performance by Justine Anderson (soprano) and Peter Neville (vibraphone), Toorak Uniting Church, Melbourne, 25 September 2005
From Learning to Howl
Text: Wang Wei (English translation by G.W. Robertson)
First performance by Belinda Montgomery (soprano) and Margery Smith (soprano saxophone), Government House, Sydney, 3 November 2004
Text: Cathryn Strickland
First performance by Merlyn Quaife (soprano) and Stephen Delaney (piano), Neuer Konzertsaal, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Vienna, Austria, 12 January 2007
Text: poems by Chrstopher Reid, Martin Turner, Anne Ridler, Craig Raine and Thomas Shapcott
Commissioned by Gerald English for his 70th birthday concert
First performance by Gerald English (tenor) and Marshall McGuire (harp), Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney, 5 November 1995
Text:
poems by Onakatomi no Yoshinobu, Oshikochi no Mitsune, the Emperor Koko and Akahito (translated by Kenneth Rexroth)
First performance by Gerald English (tenor) and Helen O'Brien (piano), Piper's Brook Vineyard, Piper's Brook, Tasmania, February 1994
This is the original version of Epithalamium. There is also an arrangement for voice, flute and cello, and an extended version for mezzo-soprano and string quartet.
Text:
William Shakespeare, Act IV of The Tempest
First performance by Gerald English (tenor), Alice Evans (violin), Michael Askill (tubular bell), Huntington Estate Winery, Mudgee, NSW, 30 November 1991
Text:
poems by Elizabeth Smart
Commissioned by Elizabeth Campbell with funds from the Music Board of the Australia Council
First performance by Elisabeth Campbell (mezzo-soprano) and Anthony Fogg (piano), National Library of Australia, Canberra, 16 November 1986
Text: John Donne
First performance by Austin Allen (baritone), De Ijsbreker, Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 1984