Australian Composers Orchestral Forum provides emerging composers the opportunity to work with a professional symphony orchestra
COMPOSERS_CONNECTING_COMMUNITY
Update No. 144 2006
Youth Orchestras Australia's project is still in progress updates will be made to this page.Siobhan Lenihan writes about Youth Orchestras Australia’s involvement in the Composers_Connecting_Community project, an initiative of the Music Board of the Australia Council.
YOA, the network of leading state and territory youth orchestras administered by the Australian Youth Orchestra, is delighted that Iain Grandage is composer-in-residence with the network. Iain’s residency is generously supported by the Music Board of the Australia Council under its Composers_Connecting_Community initiative. The residency entails Iain travelling to youth orchestras around Australia developing and rehearsing works in collaboration with the participants in those ensembles. The four works together comprise a larger work, Quadrants, with each composition relating to a point on the compass. The first work completed was Magnetic, for symphonic wind band. The other three works, to be completed by May 2007, are Exotic for junior string orchestra, Wild for intermediate orchestra and Deep for senior orchestra.
This residency has many factors to recommend it: it yields a body of Australian works composed especially for youth ensembles; the young musicians will play through the works-in-progress in the presence of the composer and offer their feedback; the composer will hear his works in draft (usually composers hear their pieces for the first time at the first rehearsal for the premiere); the composer and the young players will meet and talk at least once, and the players gain an insight into the composition process.
Magnetic - Fanfare for Band, was written for Jim McMullen and the Canberra Youth Music Symphonic Winds. The piece underwent changes during its gestation, at the suggestion of the players themselves, during workshop sessions held in April and July. CYM Symphonic Winds were thrilled with the final version of the work and performed it several times during their tour of New Zealand in August this year.
Iain Grandage lives in Perth where he has recently completed a residency with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He has won many awards for his theatre scores and orchestral music. Forthcoming premieres include a 45-minute work for narrator and WASO, and a song cycle for Sara Macliver.
CYM Symphonic Winds recently returned triumphant from the 19th New Zealand Concert Bands Festival, with four Gold awards. Magnetic was played in two of these prize-winning performances!
