Sydney Male Choir at the Basketball!!

I had a great time on Friday night! The Sydney Male Choir, whom I have the honour of conducting, debuted at the Sydney Entertainment Centre singing the National Anthem and two other pieces (including a version of "The Saints Go Marching In" which was re-titled "When The Kings Go Marching In") as both warm-up and halftime entertainment for the Sydney Kings basketball in front of 9,000 people. The Sydney Kings Lion and announcer, Rodney O, joined in the latter, much to everyone's delight. It was a serious blast for everyone involved! Dignitaries and high fives everywhere!

This image is the choir singing the National Anthem. A terrific night for all of us, and plenty of "you have to come back" remarks. The Premiere of NSW, Barry O'Farrell even said, "You Were Good!" I wonder is he's going to be Minister for the Arts in the new state government?

So the lads go marching form strength to strength. It's going to be a great year!

Flying in Paradise

Here's the video of the premiere performance of this piece at the 2011 Tubamania Festival by Matt van Emmerick, euphonium, Steve Rosse, bass tuba and the E-tan quartet, conducted by James Ogburn.

Live from Bangkok

I've just spent a couple of extraordinary days at Steve Rosse's brilliant Tubamania Festival, held in Bangkok this year. My work for four euphoniums and 2 tubas, "Flying in Paradise" was premiered on Thursday night here (youtube video will apparently follow!)

There are lots fo great players from around S.E Asia here, many from Europe and the USA orginally, who are all very much at home here. The food has been brilliant, and Bangkok is its usual energetic, friendly, chaotic self, full of smells and sound - a complete assault on the senses.

I leave here with a long list of things to do, new friendships made and tremendous respect for a large group of players who specialise in low brass and who are as committed to their craft as any other serious musician.

I've also taken my first rides in a tuk-tuk and have come away knowing I have now stared insanity in the face and refused to blink. Those drivers are crazy!

And Bangkok is sinking. In 25 years much of it will be underwater. What shall we do for a new one?

Back to Sydney in a few hours to conduct the Sydney Male Choir in Kiama on Sunday afternoon. What a time to be alive.

Looking forward to 2011!

After a summer of Shakespeare, in which I played Dogberry in a professional production of "Much Ado About Nothing" (including some really nice scenes with my daughter, Margaret, see one below!)

it's time to get 2011 organised from the point of view of being a composer and conductor!

Full details are on my website but here are a few highlights:

A plethora of conducting gigs with the Sydney Male Choir the first one of which is on 8th March.

Several world and Australian premieres. These include:

26th March. World premiere of my "Flying in Paradise" for 4 euphoniums and 2 tubas at the 2011 Tubamania International Festival in Bangkok, Thailand! The performance will feature Matt van Emmerick, international euphonium artist, Steve Rosse, principal tuba of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the E-Tan quartet. 

10th July, Syzergy Ensmble, to give Austraian premiere of "To The Ends of The Ocean" for flute, clarinet and piano, for The British Music Society of Victoria (existing as Lyrebird Music Society, Inc)  at Wyselaskie Auditorium, Uniting Church Centre for Theology and Ministry, 1 Morrison Close, Parkville, Vic.


3rd December, world premiere performance of "A Kiss Before The World's End", my concerto for Viola and Symphonic Wind Ensemble; Brett Deubner, vla and the Grainger Wind Symphony conducted by Roland Yeung.

So it's a good start to the new freelance life, and who knows what else will turn up? There's  some teaching to organise and other projects on the boil with some fantastic artists. Stayed tuned!!

A short message :)

A Merry Christmas to you all and a wonderful 2011!!!

A little taste of the new career :)

As of the end of January 2011, I will be deemed surplus to requirements at the University of Wollongong where they have, to put it bluntly, cut the composition program and offered Voluntary separation to three world-class creative composers and researchers. In the meantime, while acknowledging that the Faculty has too many governmental position, they have managed to restructure the Faculty with THE SAME NUMBER OF GOVERNMENTAL POSITIONS BUT WITH DIFFERENT NAMES!!! All of the senior executive staff have received new job titles and, one assumes, carry on as normal. Meanwhile I can hear the scraping of deck chairs around the games deck on the Titanic.

One of the ways to put such unpleasantness behind me, is to think on the fantastic opportunities and adventures that await outside the whinnet-ridden walls of academia.

Here is one such adventure. In August I began my tenure as Musical Director of the Sydney Male Choir - one of the oldest choirs in Australia. My first performance with them was on 12th September 2010 at the Sydney Town Hall. Here is an excerpt from the DVD of that concert.

Enjoy!!!

A lovely premiere!

The Sutherland Shire Choral Society, conducted by Melissa Kenny, premiered Laura's and my "4 Christmas Carols" today at 2:30 pm in St Patrick's Catholic Church, Sutherland. They did a really nice job with some very difficult music. The final one, in particular has some real rhythmic challenges for the singers, as well as setting the bar pretty high when it comes to getting the right balance between soloist and choir. All in all, it was a very satisfying performance, as the choir's diction was very good, and the silvery voice of soloist Judy Rough was delightful to listen to as the "difficult child" of the last carol.

The piece has been performed in bits at other times by the Illawarra Choral Society, although the final carol has never been performed. Thus, this counts as a world premiere of the collection. It was great to sit next to Laura and think, "This is really what we both wanted from these carols." The singers were very gracious and fulsome in their praise of both the words and the music, with some even saying that they'd like to perform more of my music. They may have been just being polite, but it's still nice to hear all the same!

That's the last premiere scheduled for this year. 2010 began with a new work for flute and organ played in the "Organs of the Goldfields" by Jean Penny and Andrew Blackburn in January, and, after several more pieces have been premiered in Taiwan, the USA, Melbourne and Sydney, it finishes with this one close to home. In all, six new works got airings this year - a record for me.

And there's more to come in 2011!