Young Composer in Residence at Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2021)

This residency was supported by the Cybec Foundation, and awarded having participated in the MSO's Cybec Young Composer Showcase in 2020 with the work If they knew. In many ways this was a dream come true; the MSO is my home orchestra, and having sat in the viola section many times over the years it was a surreal experience to have my work performed by the orchestra. 

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Like most things at this time, 2021 wasn't the perfect time to be in this position! While a number of ideas came and went for what my residency would look like, it ended up being one significant work, a bassoon concerto Of Paradise Lost for my friend and principal bassoonist of MSO Jack Schiller, conducted by Vasily Petrenko, about 15 months and 3 attempts after the planned premiere. 

 

The concerto has since been performed by Lyndon Watts with the University of Melbourne Orchestra, and with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Bangkok in 2023.

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My thanks to Jo Selleck and my friends in Barragga Bay for their support in writing If they knew, and to Jack Schiller, Vasily Petrenko, the MSO, my composition mentor for the program Elliot Gyger, and artistic planner Matt Hoy for their faith in making and presenting Of Paradise Lost.

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