VESTIGE: A HIDDEN CURIOSITY

Anna Fraser has gained a reputation as a versatile soprano specialising predominantly in the interpretation of early and contemporary repertoire. Anna is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and New England Conservatory (Boston) and furthered her studies in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program featuring as a soloist at the Aldeburgh Festival (UK) under the direction of Richard Egarr and Antony Rolfe-Johnson.

As a core ensemble member of the Song Company for over a decade, Anna has had the pleasure of performing in a myriad of traditional and exploratory programming expertly demonstrating the versatility and virtuosity of a cappella singing. Equally at home as a dramatist on the stage presenting opera and historically informed chamber music, Anna is a strong exponent in music education, particularly with Moorambilla Voices and Gondwana Choirs.

Jack Symonds is a composer, conductor and accompanist, and Artistic Director of Sydney Chamber Opera. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music, London under Kenneth Hesketh and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he received the University Medal. Trained also as a pianist and trombonist, he continues to work regularly as an accompanist and pianist, giving the premiere of many new works as well as frequently conducting his own and others’ music.

Diana Blom, composer and keyboard player, has written several works for voice and piano including Southern Songs, Three Poems of Walter de la Mare (soprano); The Dark, the Light (contralto); Portrait of America, The Library (tenor); and Dance Set (bass). She has co-curated several composition/performance/CD projects of new compositions including New art song of the Pacific Rim, and War Letters – new music commemorating WW1.  Diana is co-author of Music Composition Toolbox, published by Science Press. Scores and CDs are published through Wirripang Pty. Ltd., Orpheus Music and Wai-te-Ata Press. Diana is Associate Professor of Music at Western Sydney University.

Anne Cawrse is an experienced and versatile orchestral and chamber music composer, having written for the Adelaide, Melbourne and Tasmainian Symphony Orchestras, the Australian String Quartet, Plexus Ensemble, Zephyr Quartet, and the Adelaide Wind Orchestra.

Anne is also a highly revered art song and choral composer, and is the most commissioned composer of the award-winning Adelaide Chamber Singers. Her first opera, Innocence, was developed with Singular Productions and the State Opera Company of South Australia. She has twice been a finalist in the APRA AMCOS Australian Music Centre Art Music Awards, winning the State award in 2018.

David Evans is an Australian composer based in London. His music has been performed throughout Europe, Asia and Australia by groups such as the MDI Ensemble, the Gildas Quartet, Aeolus Wind Quintet and the Magnard Ensemble. David’s work has been selected for performance in festivals by esteemed composers such as Harrison Birtwistle, Beat Furrer and Michael Finnissy. He holds degrees from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, and is a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, 2020 and 2021. David currently studies privately with Julian Anderson.

Robert McIntyre is an emerging Australian composer & flautist who draws from personal experiences, nature and important causes as potential frameworks, in order to create an atmosphere of discussion and reflection. So far, he has collaborated with Divisi Chamber Singers/Sally Whitwell, VYSO, Syzygy Ensemble, Jasper Ly, Collide Trio, the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and more.

Robert has a BH-MUS(Hon) in Music Composition from the University of Melbourne (MCM) and has commenced postgraduate study at the Melbourne Law School (JD). He is also working with Syzygy Ensemble in social media marketing.

More information about his current commissions, ambitions and existing music can be found at his website below.

Mark Oliveiro offers an exploration of the quintessence of ritual inherent in all human expression. Oliveiro’s work is riddled with themes from myth and legend, and with the tools that reflect the human-condition today. This artistic amalgam has been described as: ‘epic’, ‘ritualistic’ and “bristling with (…) primitive energy.”

Described as ‘protean, innovative, thorough, precise and imaginative’, Sean Quinn is a composer and writer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is currently studying Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and has studied with Christine McCombe, Melody Eötvös and Johannes Schöllhorn. He has worked
closely with performers such as clarinettist Richard Haynes, bassoonist James Aylward, accordionist Ghandie Rotari, percussion collective Speak Percussion and members of Ensemble MusikFabrik amongst others. His scores are published by the Paris-based publishing house, BabelScores.

Luke Styles is a composer, published by G.Schirmer/Wise Music. Luke was the first Glyndebourne Young Composer in Residence and the first composer in residence at the Foundling Museum since Handel.

Luke’s operas have been performed on the famous Glyndebourne main stage, and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Luke has recently completed his first Australian opera Ned Kelly which premiered to critical acclaim at the 2019 Perth Festival and is listed as a finalist for the 2020 Art Music Awards.

Looking further ahead Luke will compose a Saxophone Concerto, orchestral and chamber works and two new operas in the UK and USA.

Ian Whitney is a Sydney based composer, originally from Brisbane who is interested in fictional musical narratives. He is 2020-2021 Layton Emerging Composer Fellow.

His work has been performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera, PLEXUS, Arcadia Winds, Alice Giles, and Ensemble Françaix.

He is currently undertaking candidacy for a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, under the lead supervision of Carl Vine AO. Before returning to further study, Ian worked as a cultural bureaucrat at the Embassy of Australia, Washington DC and the Australia Council for the Arts.