"All Heaven Shouted for Joy" Job 38:7   Stations of Creation 2008

There are two major celebrations in the annual church calendar ... Christmas and Easter.  These celebrations are shared with the wider culture and they address the mysteries that surround birth and death.  We need a poetic language to address these mysteries.  At St. Ives Uniting Church we have established two major arts programs and invited artists to address these mysteries on our behalf.  'All Heaven shouted for Joy': Stations of Creation, has invited 15 composers each to compose a special piece of music in relation to the commentary offered below.  These especially composed works were performed in concert at St. Ives Uniting Church on Friday November 28th and Saturday November 29th, 2008.

In the Stations of the Cross program at Easter we invite 15 leading artists each to respond to a commentary on the Franciscan Stations of the Cross for an exhibition in the church.  The works for 2007, 2008 and 2009 can be viewed here.

Stations of the Cross 2007

Stations of the Cross 2008

Stations of the Cross 2009

PROGRAM - 2008

Director of Music:  Dan Walker

Composers

Jessica Wells, Daniel McCallum, Judy Pile, Anthony Dunstan

Alex Garsden, Julian Day, Dan Walker, Claire Jordan

Scott Sanders, Alex Pozniak, Ben McDonald, Simon Charles

Christina Abdul-Karim, Kevin March, Andrew Batt-Rawden

Musicians

Lisa Osmialowski - Flute

Oliver Miller - Violoncello

Tek Xin - Horn

Genevieve Lang - Harp

Singers

Lindy Montgomery - Soprano

Natalie Shea - Alto

Dan Walker - Tenor

Corin Bone - Bass

Conductor

Morgan Merrell

Rev. Dr. Douglas Purnell

(with help from Rev. Elizabeth Raine and Margaret L. Hammer, Giving Birth, W/JKP Louisville 1994.)

In this commentary many of the Biblical stories are seen as having been written retrospectively, that is, looking backwards to address the mystery of being.

Station 1.  The Creation

Composer:  Jessica Wells

Genesis Chapter 1.

A poetic story that speaks of the mystery of creation.

When we consider the mystery of our origin, metaphoric story enables a knowing beyond rational speech.

What is creation?

What is the 'nothing' from which creation comes?

Composer's comment: "B"

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

The first word "Bereshith" begins with the Hebrew letter B (bet).  Israeli physicist Gerald Schroeder, author of Genesis and the Big Bang, points out in his book that the reverse cup-shape of Bet marks the very beginning of the creation, and the letter points to the left - in the direction of all that is to follow.  Furthermore Bet means "house" (Bethlehem means "house of bread", for instance).  We gain the immediate insight that the universe is a house to be inhabited.  The verb "created" in verse one has two objects, "the heavens" (plural), and "the earth".  The universe is a house, a dwelling, having an "upper storey" inhabited by God and the angels, and a "lower storey" populated by animals, men and other creatures of the material realm.

In "B" the opening sound you encounter is "pink noise" - a sound which is created from all frequencies in our aural spectrum.  This to me represents all the elements from which our earth and spirit are created.  From this "seascape wash" of sound comes the note "B" in a pulsating rhythm.  This pulsation is also a representation of waves of sound, light and particles.  The synthesized sounds are "the heavens" and the human elements are the performers on the stage interacting with the enveloping sound.

The title "B" therefore represents the beginning, and of course "to be" - to exist!

Station 2.  A song or paean of praise to the creation

Composer:  Daniel McCallum

Psalm 104.

When we spend time in or attend closely to the creation we are moved/compelled to song.

What in creation evokes the song?

What song is evoked by creation?

Station 3.  Joy expressed in creation

Composer:  Judy Pile

Ruth 4:13 - 15; Genesis 21:5-7; Psalm 127:3-5

Childbirth is seen as blessing, as a source of joy and a sign of God's presence.  To give birth is to be one with God the creator, one with the forces of creation.

There is laughter and joy at the idea of bearing a child.

How do we hold the tension between the anxiety and fear, and the ecstatic joy, associated with birth?

Composer's comment: Honeymouth

His cloud sits down with him, he tucks it into his pockets

A swarm of bees landed on his mouth as a baby

They called him honeymouth*

*From a bud (John Leonard Press, 2006; reproduced with kind permission of both poet and publisher).

Station 4.  The risk

Composer:  Anthony Dunstan

Job 38-39

There is risk in childbirth, a risk in creation.  There is always the risk of barrenness, the closed womb.  There is the risk of life itself.  Life in its beginning moments is fragile and vulnerable.  There is the risk of imperfection, illness and death.  The birthing mother is very vulnerable in childbirth.

To seek to conceive and give birth is to enter a vulnerable and risky place.

What is fear when associated with conception and birth?

What is fear for the life of the child?

And what is the fear of the mother for her own life?

Composer's comment:  Split

Split tries to capture the thoughts and concerns of a pregnant woman who wakes from her sleep to find herself in an odd place - the place of doubt.  She is 'split' between what is real and what is unreal.  The unknown, the obscure frightens her to desperately feel around for life, for movement in her belly.  She feels the baby kick and thinks he is suffocating.  She cries out for reassurance, for comfort, but is lost in her own world of fear.

Station 5.   The fear of barrenness

Composer:  Alex Garsden

Genesis 18:9-15

Joy tinged with fear.  In Biblical times to give birth to a son was to provide economically and socially for the family.  In the present, infertility raises deep questions about whether a women is fully a woman, and whether a man is fully a man.  These questions are not always addressed openly or publicly.

What is the fear of barrenness that inhabits so many birth stories?

How do we acknowledge the pain of those, who for any reason, are unable to share in the birthing process?

Composer's comment: Barrenness

For many, the notion of fertility takes a crucial role in defining gender and justifying a purposeful existence - particularly in religious contexts, as one strives for the opportunity to "be like God" in the act of giving birth to new life.

The piece is a prayer of a women in fear of infertility and an absence of a connection to God in being without;  a woman who is willing to resort to the somewhat brutal methods which were often employed to cure the affliction in ancient Jewish culture.  Using images of the desert as an allegory for the barrenness, she fears within her body, she passes through various states (from anxious discomfort through to hysteria) in a desperate plea in which she surrenders her body to the Lord that she would be granted deliverance from an unbearable absence.

Station 6.  Conception

Luke 1:26-45

The Song of conception, the hymn of joy;  being at one with the forces of creation.  Rejoicing in the ability to give life.

How great is the joy, the song that is sung in conception.  At the same time we need to recognize that sometimes conception is unwelcome and that it foreshadows major disruption, sometimes socially disproved disruption.

What is the anxiety of, and, the joy, in conception and how do we acknowledge these feelings?

We can see conception as a miracle that links and gathers us into the mysterious and divine forces of creation.

At the same time can we acknowledge the disruption that conception may bring?

Composer's comment:  Conception

Like many of Day's works, Conception is a simple meditation on different types of dualities:  movement and stasis, thick densities versus thin, open harmonies against closed.  The conception and heralding of Christ, the Annunciation, is of course one of the most famous instances of duality:  human versus spirit.

Day has long worked with choral forces, having written several award-winning works for The Australian Voices and having worked with The Song Company in their ongoing ModArt series.  "Writing for voices represent a kind of freedom for me", he says.  "There is something weightless about the human voice, as if you're conjuring energy out of mid-air.  I love the flexibility and other-world quality".

Station 7.  Muteness

Composer:  Dan Walker

Luke 1:5-24, 57-80

Zechariah, the father becomes mute beside his wife's pregnancy.

Often the possibility of new birth takes away our capacity to speak, for the mystery is beyond words.

In what ways does pregnancy, imminent birth and birth itself take our words away?

Composer's comment:  A Wandered Fragment of Silence

Muteness, the inability to articulate one's thoughts or emotions, is a concept both foreign and frightening, but most likely a sensation that most will experience at some point in their lives.  In this piece of music I wanted to explore the idea of young man's speechlessness upon learning he is soon to become a father;  the profound joy, the subdued realisation of deep commitment, the trepidation; intense emotions perhaps being felt and processed for the first time.  Musically this is represented by a vocalised pattern from the quartet, moving through vowel shapes together to create harmonic overtones.  I wanted the movements of the singers to allude to speech, but the result is unintelligible.  The two instruments featured in the work, 'cello and harp, take us on the journey through various emotive states, happiness through to unease, throughout which the vocalists, unable to move with the instruments, are resigned to their bouts of incomprehensibility.  These bouts are short-lived, as finally the ensemble, exhausted, slip into a state of peace.

Station 8.  The quickening

Composer:  Claire Jordan

Luke 1:39-45

The Quickening (consciousness of new life within) as the child grew and 'leaped' in the womb.

What is the mysterious miracle that enables a woman to conceive and grow in-utero a child?

What is the experience of the mother who feels her child growing as part of her?

What is the joy of feeling one's child move in the womb?

What song is shaped by that mysterious miracle?

Composer's comment:  Quickening

"Quickening" is inspired by the idea that life begins with a spark.  In a sudden instantaneous moment, a mysterious transition is made between an amorphous mass of matter and a new life, a new person, a new season, an idea, a realisation, an understanding, or even a new piece of music!

Station 9.  Gestation

Composer:  Scott Sanders

Psalm 22:9-10; Psalm 71

The patient waiting.  The concern for the health of the growing child.

How do we come to terms with the tiredness and tediousness of waiting, the challenges of changing self image and the anticipation of creating a safe and healthy place for this new creature?

How do we address the anxiety or fear of birthing an imperfect child?

Composer's comment: Miracle of Childbirth

This piece is an exploration of the fears and wonders that arise when a couple become pregnant for the first time.  The first couple are arguing about the miracle of childbirth.  The second couple are sharing their fears, hopes, anxieties and excitement in anticipation of their newest family member.  The harp represents the child growing in the womb, beginning as a simple collection of cells and becoming more complex over the human gestation period (which is scaled over the 6 minutes of the piece into nine months of forty seconds each).

This piece is dedicated to my daughter Charlie who makes me the proudest Dad in all the world.  

Station 10.  The birth

Composer:  Alex Pozniak

Psalm 22:9-10; 71:6

Jesus is born in the working stable with all its mess and smells.

The birth moment, the birth experience of every mother needs to be valued, the story told and heard, the experience acknowledged.

What is it to give birth?

What is it to be birthed?

What is it to hear the first cry of the newborn?

What is it to cry the first time?

What is it to hold that newborn child?

What is to be held outside the womb for the first time?

What is it for a mother to suckle or feed her child at the breast?

What is to be fed or suckled the first time?

Composer's comment: Ready for breathing.

Ready for Breathing responds musically to the powerful and diversely emotional experience of giving birth, by setting fragments of two texts from both male and female perspectives.  The first text, from William Saroyan's Births. presents birth as a universal phenomenon, objectively and directly quantifying aspects of the process.  The second text, from the "Transition" section of Toi Derricotte's Natural Birth. is a personal autobiographical account from a mother, both beautifully poetic and daringly realistic, illustrating the surreal intensity of physical pain alongside contrasting moments of tenderness, mystery, pure joy, and sheer radiance.  While working on this piece, my focus shifted away from my initial impulse towards birth's physical intensity, so to capture more accurately the varied tones within my chosen texts and to channel the lasting significance of joy.

Texts:  All right, the stage is set, the woman is ready, the midwife is ready, the foetus has long since moved a billion years through a billion variations of animal life and is a ripe and total entity, a body ready for breathing, for emergence into the light...

William Saroyan, Births, Tuesday June 26, 1979, 1:00pm

she is

that heart

larger

than my life

stuffed

in

me

like

sausage

black sky

bird

pecking

at the bloody

ligament

trying

to get

in, get

out

I felt something pulling me inside, a soft call, but I could feel her power.  Something inside me I could go with, wide, deep and wonderful .... we were through with pain, would never suffer in our lives again ... glorious spirits were rising, blanched with light, like thirsty women shining with their thirst.

From: "Transition" from Natural Birth by Tori Derricotte

Station 11.  The mothers' song of joy

Composer:  Benjamin MacDonald

Luke 1:46-56

Mary's undiluted joy at conception and birth.  Mary's song of joy.

What is birth?

What is/how do we acknowledge the joy of the new child who breathes and cries, and promises so much?

How do we contain the hope that this new, innocent, unshaped life promises for an as yet, unseen future?

Composer's comment:  The Mother Sings

My everything celebrates the initial moments between mother and child.  A time of incomparable joy.  It uses popular song to help capture the unanimity of such emotion.  And so the mother sings ....

Station 12.  Awe.  The angels sing

Composer: Simon Charles

Luke 2:13-14

The mystery and drama inherent in childbirth evokes awe.  There is an ecstatic joy in birth.  A song to be sung.  The whole of creation joins to sing the joy of each new birth.  The angels sing in the heavens.

What is the joy of being one with the mysterious life force that we sometimes name as God the creator?

What is breath - the first breath, the continuing breath?

What is the gentle fragile body that holds breath and life?

What is the innocence of this new life?

What is the song we sing when we see new birth?

Composer's comment:  Cutting the Net of Birth and Death

What interests me about this passage is the reciprocal relationship between the new born and the world they are born into.  This piece isn't a programmatic description of birth or angels, but instead is inspired by the way music, or any art form, can also be thought of as a new birth.  There is a similar reciprocal relationship between the music and the listener, new birth and the rest of creation, so much that when you really get to the crux of this relationship, you are led to the question:  is it really possible to really distinguish one entity from the other?  In the interest of having someone provoking to bounce off, intellectually and spiritually, I would entertain the answer: no - you can't really separate these things.  Hence the title: Cutting the Net of Birth and Death. This conceptual background doesn't need to be understood to enjoy the piece.  Put simply, thinking of music in this way has led me to think of it more as an offering than a statement, and that it is its own creature, independent from me, the composer.  If there is one thing to bear in mind, if you choose to (it's my job to write the music, not to tell you how to listen to it!), it is that this piece can only have meaning with you here to listen to it.

Station 13.  The naming

Composer:  Christina Abdul-Karim

Luke 1:26-33 and 59-66

How does a child live into and become the name that is given?  Jesus was given the name Emmanuel which would mean "God is with us and will save the people from their sins."  A big order to put on any newborn!

What is it to give a name to such a child that the child lives into and becomes the name?

How do we name that which is born?

What name, what language, does this encounter with the beauty of birth call out in us?

Composer's comment:  Emmanuel

In thinking of the concept of the naming of, and the preparation for, Christmas, I decided to compose a work specifically about the naming of Jesus, "Emmanuel".  The composition, Emmanuel, is a setting of texts related to the naming of the Lord.  The angels revealed the name "Jesus" and "Emmanuel" to both Mary, the mother of God, and Joseph.  The Lord was named "Jesus" because He is the Saviour.  "Jesus" is another form of the name "Joshua", whereas Joshua delivered the people from their enemies in the battle of Jericho, the Lord Jesus would deliver His people from their sins.  He was also called "Emmanuel", which translates to "God (is) with us".  The concept of God being with us is symbolically illustrated in this work through the recurrence of the phrase "For God is with us", often sung by bass, and later sung by all members of the choir; and the eventual juxtaposition of both the phrases "God is with us" and the name "Emmanuel", until "Emmanuel" is pronounced by the tutti choir at the climax.

The text is an important aspect of this work, and was drawn from biblical references; prophecies from Isaiah (Isaiah 9, Isaiah 7:14), the Gospels of Luke (Luke 1: 26-33) and Matthew (Matthew 1: 20-25, Matthew 16: 16), as well as some Orthodox Christian hymn texts and verses from the Festal Menaion and excerpts of God is with Us (translated by Fr. Ephrem Lash) from the Great Compline. In addition to references about His naming, I decided to include descriptive references and titles, given to Him, in the second main section of the work.  For example, "Christ" (Christos) was a title given to Him, "Christos" meaning "the anointed one".  He is the one anointed by God to be the Messiah, and Saviour.  Some other references included are "The God most High", "The Creator", "King of all Kings", "King of all the Ages", "Light of Lights", "The Radiance of the Father", "Son of the Highest", "Might God", "Ruler", "Prince of Peace".  Such references point to the significance behind His name, and enrich our understanding of who the Lord is, and who is with us.

Musically, although Byzantine chant is not directly quoted in the work, it is of substantial influence.  This is most exemplary in sections which feature a monophonic texture (single melodic line), sometimes supported by the isokratema (drone); modal and tetrachordal pitch material, ornamentation akin to those used in Byzantine music, and rhythm guided by the accentuation of the words.

Station 14.  The divine/human connection

Composer:  Kevin March

Psalm 139

Respect for the dangerously intimate associations of divine and human in childbirth.

Words soar beyond the limit of logic.  The baby knit together in its mother's womb, and, (at the same time), wrought in the depths of the earth.

How do the imaginative arts enable us to move beyond concept bearing words to express the mysterious connections that we have with the mysterious forces of creation?

How can we express in music what cannot be easily spoken in words about creation and birth?

Composer's comments:  Credo in Noctem

The text for Credo is quite unlike any other text I've used.  The first half of the text, ancient and mystical in tone, is an amalgamation of lines extracted from Polynesian Creation Chant (Hawaiian), the poetry of Fredrico Garcia Lorca (Spanish), and the poetry of Ranier Maria Rilke (German).  The lines were translated into English, rearranged, and paraphrased to flow poetically and thematically then translated into Latin in reference to the liturgical context of the event for which it was written and to highlight its mystical qualities.  The second half of the text is a translated, paraphrased version of Rilke's Gott spricht zu jedem nur, eh er ihn macht from his Book of Hours, sung in English to bring the listener out from the mystical and unsearchable and into the knowable and deeply personal.

Station 15.  The circle of creation

Composer:  Andrew Batt-Rawden

Colossians 1:15-20; John 1

Every birth, every life, is reflected upon and interpreted.  It is more than itself, it becomes part of the whole of humanity.  Creation somehow moves in a cycle, a circle.  We who have been born give birth, and we watch those whom we have birthed give birth too.  We die and the creation continues.  These texts reflect the fullness of this circle and the desire of humans to put words on it.

How do we mark and celebrate the emergent life?

How do we acknowledge the first grasp, the first sound, the first look, the first smile?

How does birth shape human hope?

What part does the divine have in the birth process?

How do we acknowledge the divine in birth?

How do we celebrate the mystery and the miracle that is birth?

How do we name birth when we know about death?

* * * *

The Composers

Christina Abdul-Karim

Christina Abdul-Karim studied composition with Gordon Kerry, Anna Pimakhova and John Peterson. Her compositional output includes vocal, chamber and solo instrumental music, electro-acoustic and electronic music, orchestral and chamber arrangements and music for short films.  Her music has been performed in numerous concerts and been internationally broadcasted on Greek National Radio.  Earlier in 2008 her chamber work Enter was premiered in a Chronology Arts concert themed Intimate Lines. Christina graduated in 2005 with B Mus (Hons. 1), B Arts at the University of NSW, and is undertaking a PhD in music at UNSW as a UPA Scholarship recipient, researching the influence of Byzantine chant in 20th Century music.  In 2007 Christina embarked on a UNSW funded research trip to Athens, and was awarded travel funding from the UNSW PRSS Scheme and the Australian Music Psychology Society to present her research at the ASBMH First International Conference in Byzantine Music and Hymnology, Athens.

Christina has been active in the field of contemporary music in a variety of ways.  She has directed a branch of the Australian Youth Choir, the UNSW New Music Ensemble, and UNSW Handbells Ensemble; performed experimental improvised music with the Splinter Orchestra; and page-turned for groups such as the Australia Ensemble.  Christina has regularly promoted concerts since 2000, has interviewed numerous Australian composers and has been broadcasted as a radio presenter on 2SER FM and ABC Classis FM.  She was a 2006 AYO "National Music Camp Words About Music" participant, and currently teaches piano at the International School of Music.

Simon Charles

Simon lives in Melbourne, plays the saxophone and is currently studying for a Masters degree in performance and composition at the Victorian College of the Arts.  His music has been performed in Sweden and in Thailand as part of the Asian Composers' League Festival for Contemporary Music.  He has also had music performed at the "This is Not Art" festival (Newcastle 2007) and the "Next Wave" festival (Melbourne 2008), in collaborative projects involving contemporary dance and performance.

Julian Day

Julian Day is a composer and sound artist based in Sydney and Canberra.  His music is typically insistent and atmospheric with a blackly humorous undertow.  He has been inspired by such artists as Gyorgy Ligeti, Michael Gordon, Philip Glass, Meshuggah, Boards of Canada, Andy Warhol and Matthew Barney.

Julian studied composition with Gerard Brophy and Stephen Leek at the Queensland Conservatorium with Elena Kats-Chernin at the Australian Academy of Music in Melbourne and with Louis Andriessen, Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe at the Bang On a Can Summer Institute of Music in Massachusetts, USA.  He was awarded The Australian Voices Young Composer Award and has twice been Australia's delegate to the International Rostrum of Composers, held in Paris and Dublin.

Julian has collaborated with a wide variety of artists including video artist Scott Morrison, film maker Sean Gilligan, choreographers Gareth Hart, Alice Lee Holland and Paul Zivkovich, electric guitarist Mark Stewart (USA), recorder player Genevieve Lacey, flautist Janet McKay, Orchestra Victoria, dominant SEVEN, Perihelion, Chronology Arts and The Song Company.  His work has featured at such festivals as Artrage (WA), Liquid Architecture (VIC), the Melbourne International Fringe Festival, the Sydney Children's Festival and the Queensland Biennial of Music.  For many years he co-directed the composers' collective COMPOST, presenting large scale independent music events around the country.

In addition to music Julian is also a writer and arts presenter, hosting New Music Up Late on ABC Classic FM.  He has interviewed countless musicians, visual artists and writers including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Bill Henson, Ricky Swallow and David Malouf.  He has also guest lectured at the Australian National University, Griffith University and the Sydney School of Audio Engineering.

Anthony Leigh Dunstan

Anthony completed a B Mus (1st Class Honours) at the Conservatorium of Music Sydney with the help of various scholarships and bursaries.  He began a Masters of Music in 2007 and was provided with a University Postgraduate Award.  Last year he travelled to Amsterdam, London and New York on the "Dame Joan Irvine Scholarship" where he met with a number of prominent composers and young performers from the Conservatorium of Music, Amsterdam, the Royal Conservatoire Den Haag, Manhattan School of Music, and Julliard.  He is writing a Chamber Opera set in the Sydney suburb of Mt. Druitt.  Once he completes his degree he hopes to study with Martijn Padding at the Royal Conservatoire in Den Haag, The Netherlands.

Alexander Garsden

Awarded young composer Alexander Garsden is currently completing his Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts after beginning compositional studies at Monash University.  His accolades include the 2008 Spivakovsky commission and the Victorian College of the Arts Elfie Blake award, as well as state winner of the National Young Composer Competition.  Alexander has also composed in a variety of successful cross-media environments such as film, dance, animation, and most recently including sound design for Talya Chalef's green-room awarded performance In Other Words. Having studied under such diverse tutors as Anthony Pateras, Donna Coleman, David Chisholm, Mark Pollard and Thomas Reiner, his compositions draw largely on free-improvisation, noise music and spectral harmonic devices in the pursuit of a constantly explorative musical language.  Alexander is also a teacher and performs both in bands and as a soloist.

Claire Jordan

Claire Jordan studied Composition with Bozidor Kos and Richard Toop at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she also taught Harmony for many years.  She holds a Masters Degree in Composition for Screen (film and television music) from the Royal College of Music, London, where she was awarded the prestigious Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial Scholarship for Composition.  She composed the scores for the acclaimed feature films Feeling Sexy and A Cold Summer and contributed music for the major international feature Ned Kelly. Her concert music has been performed by the Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir, Halcyon, London vocal ensemble Sounds Wicked, Synergy Percussion, Ensemble Offspring, pianist Stephanie MacCallum, the Sydney Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Youth Orchestra Camerata.  She is currently completing a PhD in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium with Michael Smetanin, and teaching Harmony and Composition at the Australian International Conservatorium of Music.  She has sung with Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers (nee Motet Choir) since 1996, and has also sung with the Sydney Contemporary Singers and the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir.

Kevin March

Kevin March is a Melbourne-based composer.  His works have been performed in Australia, Europe, and the United States.  His most recent premiere was on 23 November 2008 when Sarah Curro (violin, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) and David Jones premiered Metal Angel for violin and metal percussion.  His last Sydney premiere was in May 2008 when his piano trio, Valley of the Moon, was premiered by Chronology Arts.

In 2007 his chamber work Ophelie, was premiered by Halcyon, for whom it was composed, and he was one of three emerging composers to have orchestral works premiered and recorded by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra during 2007 Australian Composers' School.  His orchestra work, Falling Apostles, was inspired by the 2005 collapse of one of the limestone monoliths on Victoria's Great Ocean Road.  Other recent premieres include Sky Shalom (2006) for harpsichord and shakuhachi and a choral cycle, Songs from the Book of Hours (2006).  His two most recent chamber operas www.love and Leading Lady were both premiered in New York by the New York City Opera and the Dixon Place WARNING!  Not for Broadway! festival respectively.  Current projects include Water Dreamers, a new string quartet for the Ironwood Ensemble for 2009.  Kevin holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in music composition from the University of Michigan, where he studied with William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty and William Albright.  In Australia, through the Australian Composers' School he has received tutoring from Richard Mills, Gerard Brophy, Andrew Schultz, Maria Grenfell and Paul Stanhope.  He currently lives with his partner in Melbourne.

Ben McDonald

Ben is an emerging Australian composer/performer based in Melbourne.  He does not align himself with any particular musical genre, and believes all sounds have their own inherent beauty.  Considering his eclectic listening habits - from the lyrical to the fragmented outbursts of the everyday, from the sublime to the mundane - it is not surprising that his compositional voice is often described as 'quirky' and his output so varied.  He is excited by the cross-pollination of ideas between artistic disciplines and passionately explores creative opportunities opened by new media.  He is currently working on several collaborative projects and is researching the application of music technology in film and contemporary dance.  Most recently he has been invited to write for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Ben has been engaging in the organisation of sound from a very young age; however only turned to formal studies after a chance encounter with the Melbourne Composition Choir elevated his passion.  At the time he was studying piano performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music under Anna Goldsworthy.  He later transferred and completed a bachelor degree in Music Performance (Composition) at the Victorian College of the Arts where he was the recipient of the Spivakovsky scholarship for composition.  He has studied with some of Australia's most respected composers including Mark Pollard, Brenton Broadstock, Stuart Greenbaum, Julian Yu, Johanna Selleck and Kate Neal.  He has written for and performed in a wide variety of ensembles, is frequently engaged in scoring for film, and has formed collaborative partnerships with contemporary dancers/choreographers.  His work was selected for Live Clips Mudfest 2008, and his score for The Stars down to Earth was recognised with the Music and Effects Award VCA, 2008.  He has also been offered an internship with Los Angeles based film composer Christopher Young.  His notated works have received radio airplay on ABC Classic FM and 3MBS, and live performances in venues around Melbourne including BMW Edge, the Iwaki Auditorium and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.

Daniel McCallum

Daniel McCallum completed his HSC at the Conservatorium High School in Sydney in 2007.  His earliest musical training was with Lyn Williams OAM at the Sydney Children's Choir and the National Gondwana Voices Choir.  At the Conservatorium of Music he majored in oboe and composition, as well as playing piano and baroque oboe in the second studies program.  Daniel's ability as a composer has been recognised with various prizes and awards.  He won the Composers' Day competitions at the Conservatorium High School in 2004, 2006 and 2007.  In 2006 he was awarded a scholarship from Ars Music Australis to study with Paul Stanhope.  He was also awarded the Fellowship of Australian Composers Award and a special encouragement grant from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for the study of aboriginal heritage and music.  He was a winner of the 2007 Groove Search Competition run by the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, which involved travelling to London to witness his piece being recorded by the orchestra in the Abbey Road Studios.  In 2006 and 2007 he was a winning participant in the composition program with the Sinfionetta Orchestram run by the Sydney Symphony.  There he had two works performed which were conducted by Richard Gill.  In 2006 he had a piece performed by the Sonic Arts Ensemble as part of the Australian Music Day Concert.  In 2007, Daniel was commissioned by Warringah City Council to write a piece for its Ripple Festival.  The work was part of an installation involving the beach with pictures projected onto the sand accompanied by music.  The same year Daniel was commissioned by Ars Musica Australis to write a short chamber work for the Sydney-based Omega Ensemble, later premiered at the beginning of 2008.

At the beginning of this year Daniel has his HSC composition performed at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Encore Series Concert.  In July he also had three works performed at the Sounds by the Sea concert in Wollongong run by the Chronology Arts.  Finally, in August, one other work was premiered at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as part of the 2008 CHAOS (Conservatorium High School Association of Old Students) concert.  His compositions range from solo instrument through to full orchestra.  Daniel is currently studying full-time at the Royal Academy of Music in London on the ABRSM Scholarship.

Judy Pile

Judy Pile's eclectic musical interests and passion for social justice have led her everywhere from the concert platform to political street theatre.  She lives and works in Melbourne as a freelance composer, singer and teacher.

Alex Pozniak

Alex Pozniak is currently in his final year of a Masters in Musical Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, under the guidance of Matthew Hindson.  Working with composers Anne Boyd, Nicholas Routley and Ian Shanahan during his undergraduate years at the University of Sydney (beginning in 2000), alex went on to obtain First Class Honours and the University Medal in 2005.  Alex completed a BA alongside his music studies in which he studied philosophy, psychology, art history and theory, while majoring in English literature.  He has had works performed by the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bourbaki Ensemble, the Sydney Symphony Fellows, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and Kammer and the Song Company.  He co-founded Chronology Arts with Andrew Batt-Rawden, of which he is Artistic Director, and is a board member of the Fellowship of Australian Composers.

Scott Sanders

BA (Music) La Trobe University 1999, Dip Ed (Secondary Music) Melbourne University 2001, Master of Music (Composition) Melbourne University 2006, Teachers:  Meil Kelly, Stuart Greenbaum.  Inspirations: Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, Charles Ives, Sonic Youth, Trans Am.  Performs in: Astra choir (tenor), Andersen (guitar, synth, vocals, songwriting), www.myspace.com/ificanmusic, www.myspace.com/andersenrock.

At the age of seven, Scott decided that when he grew up he would be a composer of music.  He didn't even really know what that meant at the time, and promptly forgot about it.  A serious car accident at the age of 18 made him re-evaluate his direction in life.  "I was always going to be a computer programmer, all through high school", he says.  "But coming that close to death made me realise that life is too short not to follow your heart".  An enrolment in music at La Trobe University ensued.  "I originally decided to major in computer music as a mediation between my two major academic interests.  But completing the stream showed me that I wanted to write the tunes more than the sounds.  Don't get me wrong though - I still love the synths!".  A list-minute switch to composition in his final year confirmed that this was the right decision, and he has been a composer ever since.

Scott's research into the nature of music has revealed a particular interest in the correlation between the structure of nature and the universe, and the perception of sound as music.  "It seems to work the same way, on the most basic level.  I also have this secret fascination with discovering the purpose of music, specifically the direct effect music has upon the soul.  I don't expect to see it in my lifetime but I intend to do my part of the search for this purpose throughout history".  His music also explores harmonic densities, macro tonalities and manipulation of the perception of time.  His compositions include works for symphony orchestra, eclectic chamber ensembles, music theatre and choir.  He is currently working on a suite of nine Dylan Thomas poems for choir, bass ensemble, percussion ensemble and double bass.

Dan Walker

Composer, arranger and performer, Dan Walker is quickly building a reputation as one of Australia's most promising young artists.  He has had works commissioned and performed by such groups as The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Gondwana Voices, The Australian Voices, The Song Company, The Murrumbidgee Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.  Recent work includes:  The Arafura, written specifically for Gondwana Voices and premiered in Mexico City as part of the 2004 Songbridge festival; Hopes and Dreams, written as part of the Australian National Day celebrations at the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya, Japan; Tu Es Petrus, written for the official World Youth Day Papal arrival; The Aftermath, written for the 2008 World Shakuhachi Festival gala concert; along with various arrangements for ABC Classics and several School commissions.  As a performed Dan is a regular member of Sydney Chamber Choir, Chroma vocal ensemble and Cantillation.  He has also been a member of baroque opera company Pinchgut for five years, and is currently also a guest member of the Song Company.

Jessica Wells

Jessica Wells has obtained a Bachelor of Music and a Masters Degree in Composition (Sydney Conservatorium) as well as a Master of Arts in Screen Composition at AFTRS.  Jessica's compositions cross many genres in the classical, commercial and film music worlds.  Her work Ainulindale, performed by the TSO in 2001, was nominated in the APRA classical Music Awards for Best Orchestral Work in 2002.  The AFTRS short film The Saviour was nominated for an Oscar at the Academy Awards in 2007.  She recently wrote the TV theme for Q&A on ABC1.  She runs a successful business working as an orchestrator, arranger and copyist, currently completing work on Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia.

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