Art Music Fund projects see light of day as applications open for 2018

As a number of projects generated by the $100,000 APRA AMCOS Art Music Fundcome to light, applications have opened for the 2018 version.

APRA AMCOS Head of Member Services Dean Ormston says “It is greatly rewarding tosee the Art Music Fund now in its third year and to have the work of previousrecipients coming to fruition.

“APRA AMCOS is proud to support the innovative Australian and New Zealandcomposers of the art music sector and we look forward to seeing what comes next.”

Previous recipients have come from a range of art music backgrounds, fromimprovisational jazz to sound art to children’s opera.

The association explains on its website, “The funding pool of $100,000 isavailable for the creation of commissioned work that is innovative, displaysprofessional compositional craft and represents a benchmark of excellence in itsfield. The intention is to support composers to create works with a longartistic life.”

Applications close 5pm February 20, 2018 AEDT.

Lisa Illean’s piece Cantor (After Willa Cather), for voice and ensemble, wasperformed at Carriageworks in Sydney on September 23, and will now be presentedin the Netherlands, the UK (where Sydney-born Illean is currently studying herdoctorate at the Royal College of Music in London), China and Canada.

James Hullick’s electro-acoustic CityTopias will premiere at Melbourne Music Week,

Eve Klein’s Vocal Womb, a sound installation and operatic performance work, willhave its world premiere at MOFO in Tasmania at MONA 2018.

It externalises the working of the voice from inside the opera singer’s body.Audiences enter a reverberant dome where they manipulate real-time audio andvideo feeds taken from inside the body of a singer who is performing an intimatework composed for the dome.

“The Art Music Fund is important because it provides an avenue for contemporaryart music to flourish,” says Klein.

2016 recipient Hullick adds, “The Art Music Fund is a moment in Australianhistory where composers working outside the square finally get some kindacknowledgement of their incredible contribution to our diverse andtechnologized 21st century culture.”

Recipients this year are Natasha Anderson for the 30-minute Suppression, anensemble work for 12 players and spatialised electronics to be performed inAustralia, the USA and Germany.

Newton Armstrong’s new ensemble work engaged with the dynamics activated by thepaintings of Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, recorded in London and released on theAnother Timbre label.

Lisa Cheney’s 40 minute operatic work for children was based on Edward Lear’spoem The Owl and the Pussycat.

Erik Griswold (pictured) created Action Music 2, for performances in Australia, USA,Canada, France and Ireland.

Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh is currently working on a piece for anoctet lineup of the ELISION ensemble, to premiere in early 2019 and performed inthe USA and China.

Dylan Lardelli’s Musikfabrik, is set to play Germany, New Zealand, and Japan.

Kate Moore’s composition of Eximia (Bloodwood) is a song cycle about thehistory, heritage, environment and women’s culture of the lower Hunter Valleyusing the personified metaphor of Eucalyptus trees native to the Hunter Valleydry sclerophyll forest.

It is a 60-minute set of short compositions for two sopranos, violin,percussion, electronics and sound engineer designed for touring in Australia andthe USA.

Eugene Ughetti’s Polar Force combines custom built ice instruments withAntarctic field recordings, set within a chilled inflatable performance space.Polar Force is a phenomenological investigation of extreme wind and temperaturethrough hyper-realistic art.